glockenspiel [Ger.,=bell-play], percussion instrument. The medieval glockenspiel was a sort of miniature carillon (see bell), sometimes played mechanically by means of a rotating cylinder with protruding pins. In the 16th cent. it was given a keyboard. The 18th-century glockenspiel had metal bars instead of bells, and in the 19th cent. the keyboard disappeared and the bars were struck by hammers. It has been used in the orchestra since the 18th cent. Related modern instruments are the tubophone, which uses a keyboard with tubes instead of bars, and the vibraphone, which has resonating tubes beneath its bars that vibrate using electricity. See also xylophone.

Percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned steel bars, arranged like a piano keyboard, which are struck with hammers. An alternative form of the instrument is played by means of an actual keyboard. Its normal range is 212 octaves. The bell lyre, held vertically, is the portable form of glockenspiel used in marching bands.

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