Xylorimba


The xylorimba is a pitched percussion instrument corresponding to a xylophone with an extended range.
Like the xylophone and marimba, the xylorimba consists of a series of wooden bars laid out like a piano keyboard "with a compass sufficiently large to embrace the low-sounding bars of the marimba and the highest-sounding bars of the xylophone."
"The lower notes of the xylorimba sound like a xylophone rather than a marimba on account of the bars being thicker and narrower than those of a marimba and of the different size and shape of the resonators".
"As the marimba-xylophone it was a popular instrument in the 1920s and 30s, particularly in vaudeville".
The name has been a source of confusion. Many composers have called for ‘xylorimba’, including Alban Berg, Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen, but written parts requiring only a four-octave xylophone However, Pierre Boulez wrote for two five-octave xylorimbas in Pli selon pli.

Compositions including xylorimba

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