Lithophone

Lithophone

A lithophone is a musical instrument consisting of a plurality of rocks or pieces of rock, in which musical notes are sounded by striking one or more of the rocks in combination (harmony) or succession (melody).

Notable examples

*A rudimentary form of lithophone is the rock gong, usually a natural rock formation opportunistically adapted by indigenous peoples to produce tones for a variety of purposes. Examples include the rock gong on Mfangano Island, Kenya, in Lake Victoria.
*Lithophones dating back to ancient times, called "đàn đá", have been discovered in Vietnam and have been revived in the 20th century.
*The ritual music of Korea features the use of stone chimes called "pyeongyeong", derived from the Chinese "bianqing".

*The British composer Will Menter [http://www.willmenter.com] invented the llechiphone, a marimba with keys made of slate, while working in North Wales. [http://www.neufportes.net/inst.htm]
**Other slate lithophones, called stonaphones, are made in the U.S. state of Maine by Jim Doble out of recycled slate roofing. [http://www.tidewater.net/~xylojim/edstone.html]
*One of the most celebrated examples of a lithophone is The Great Stalacpipe Organ of Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA, which uses 37 stalactites to produce the tones of the Western scale.
*The Musical Stones of Skiddaw from Cumbria, England, found in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery and Ringing Rocks Park in Pennsylvania are other well known lithophones.
*Prehistoric lithophone stones have also been found at Sankarjang in Orissa, India.

Use by composers

The German composer Carl Orff calls for a lithophone called "Steinspiel" in his later works.

Electric lithophone

Some lithophones include electric pickups to amplify the sounds.

Examples of electric lithophones include an installation in [http://www.princetonoccasion.org/quarkpark/pages_statements/PerryCook.html Quark Park] by Perry Cook and Jonathan Shor, consisting of 17 bars stretched over a convert|35|ft|m|sing=on long path.

Other similar musical instruments

The lithophone is similar to the glockenspiel, tubular glockenspiel, metallophone, xylophone, marimba, and to the glass percussion instruments created by Barry Prophet of The Music Gallery, not to be confused with the verrophone (a musical instrument that makes sound by rubbing, not by hitting, glass).

External links

Video

* [http://www.footprintsvietnam.com/vietnam/culture_art_performaces/lithiphone.htm Vietnamese Lithophone Video]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtHRPqFDg1k The Musical Stones of Skiddaw being played]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdC-RPjTMg Video of the Great Stalacpipe Organ]

ee also

*Ringing rocks
*Sankarjang

ReferenceP. Yule/M. Bemmann, Klangsteine aus Orissa Die frühesten Musikinstrumente Indiens?, "Archaeologia Musicalis" 2.1, 1988, 41–50 (also in English und French)


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • lithophone — ● lithophone nom masculin Idiophone composé de pierres sonores taillées et polies, frappées avec des baguettes. lithophone n. m. MUS Instrument à percussion d Asie et de certaines régions d Afrique composé de pierres plates que l on frappe avec… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Lithophone —   [zu griechisch phōne̅ »Laut«], Singular Lithophon das, s, in der Systematik der Musikinstrumente Bezeichnung für geschlagene Idiophone aus Stein, v. a. für Steinplattenspiele mit abgestimmten, horizontal oder …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Lithophone — Le lithophone est un instrument de musique datant de la Préhistoire, rencontré en Chine notamment. Il s agit d un instrument de percussion formé d un ensemble de pierres sonores, soit posé à terre soit suspendu par divers moyens, qui est frappé… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • lithophone — /lith euh fohn /, n. a Chinese stone chime consisting of 16 stone slabs hung in two rows and struck with a hammer. [1885 90; LITHO + PHONE] * * * lithophone Surg. (ˈlɪθəfəʊn) [f. litho + Gr. ϕωνή sound.] An instrument for rendering audible the… …   Useful english dictionary

  • lithophone — /lith euh fohn /, n. a Chinese stone chime consisting of 16 stone slabs hung in two rows and struck with a hammer. [1885 90; LITHO + PHONE] * * * …   Universalium

  • lithophone — medical instrument that makes audible sound upon contact of probe with a concretion Stones and Rocks …   Phrontistery dictionary

  • lithophone — n. Chinese musical instrument …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Lithophon — Aus Phonolith gefertigtes Lithophon im Botanischen Garten Schellerhau Als Lithophon (von griechisch λιϑος „Stein“ und φωνή „Klang“) bezeichnet man Idiophone, deren Klangkörper aus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Musical Stones of Skiddaw — Der Berg Skiddaw Als Musical Stones of Skiddaw (deutsch: Lithophon von Skiddaw) wird ein Lithophon im Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Keswick, in der Grafschaft Cumbria in Großbritannien bezeichnet. Die Klangsteine dieses Instruments wurden aus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • The Great Stalacpipe Organ — is likely the largest and oldest naturally formed lithophone and is located in Luray Caverns. It is harnessed by a custom console that produces the tapping of ancient stalactites of varying sizes with solenoid actuated rubber mallets in order to… …   Wikipedia

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