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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The glockenspiel (German, "set of bells" or "play-bells", also known as orchestra bells and, in its portable form, bell lira or bell lyre) is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It is similar to the xylophone, in that it has tuned bars laid out in a fashion resembling a piano keyboard. The xylophone's bars are wooden, while the glockenspiel's are metal, thus making it a metallophone.

In Germany, a carillon is also called a Glockenspiel.

The glockenspiel, moreover, is much smaller and higher in pitch. When used in a marching or military band, the bars are sometimes mounted in a portable case and held vertically. In orchestral use, the bars are mounted horizontally. A pair of hard unwrapped mallets, made of rubber, plastic, or metal, are generally used to strike the bars, although if laid out horizontally, a keyboard may be attached to the instrument to allow chords to be more easily played.

The glockenspiel's range is limited to the upper register, and usually covers about two and a half to three octaves. The glockenspiel is a transposing instrument; its parts are written two octaves below concert pitch. When struck, the bars give a very pure, bell-like sound.

Glockenspiel in modern music

Glockenspiels are still quite popular and appear almost all genres of music. It is used in pop music, as well as hip hop, indie rock, jazz and world music.

Artists using glockenspiel

Glockenspiel is used on some albums of the following artists:

• Metallica
• The Beatles
• Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Bruce Springsteen
• Beck
• Radiohead
• Sigur Rós
• Rush
• Los Campesinos!
• Patrick Watson
• Sagapool
• Arcade Fire
• Coheed and Cambria
• OneRepublic
• Detektivbyrån
• Motörhead
• Gov't Mule

One classical piece where such an instrument is used is Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (although the part has most often been played with a celesta in modern times). A modern example of the glockenspiel is Steve Reich's 1974 composition Drumming, in which the glockenspiel becomes a major instrument in the 3rd and 4th movements.

Other instruments which work on the same struck-bar principle as the glockenspiel include the marimba and the vibraphone. There are also many glockenspiel-like instruments in Indonesian gamelan ensembles.

External links

• Glockenspiel at the Vienna Symphonic Library
• Royalschoolsources Percussion Pages Online sources for the prescribed music of the Royal Schools of Music practical exams