Lithophone

Alithophoneis amusical instrumentconsisting of a rock or pieces of rock which are struck to produce musical notes.Notes may be sounded in combination (producing harmony) or in succession (melody). It is anidiophonecomparable to instruments such as theglockenspiel,vibraphone,xylophoneandmarimba.

1906 postcard of a lithophone played inLuray Caverns,Virginia

Lithophone sculpture inSchloss Freudenberg

In theHornbostel-Sachsclassification system, lithophones are designated as '111.22' – directly-struck percussion plaques.

Notable examples

A rudimentary form of lithophone is the "rock gong",usually a natural rock formation opportunistically adapted to produce musical tones, such as that onMfangano Island,inLake Victoria,Kenya.TheGaval DashinGobustan State Historical and Cultural ReserveoutsideBaku,Azerbaijan is a natural stone that sounds liketambourinewhen struck with smaller rocks.TheGreat Stalacpipe OrganofLuray Caverns,Virginia, USA uses 37 stalactites to produce theWestern scale.Other stalactite lithophones are atTenkasiin South India, and atRinging Rocks Parkin Pennsylvania. An example that is no longer used is atCave of the Winds,inColorado Springs.

TheTxalaparta(or Chalaparta), a traditionalBasqueinstrument, can be made of wood or stone, but is traditionally wood.

More sophisticated lithophones utilize trimmed and individually mounted stones to achieve full-scale instruments:

• Probable prehistoric lithophone stones have been found atSankarjanginOdisha,India.
• Recent research into usage wear and acoustics of prehistoric stone artefacts in North America and Europe has revealed a number of possible portable lithophones.
• Vietnameselithophones dating back to ancient times, calledđàn đá,have been discovered and revived in the 20th century.
• The ritual music of Korea features the use of stone chimes calledpyeongyeong,derived from the Chinesebianqing.
• TheMusical Stones of SkiddawfromCumbria,England have been made into an instrument placed atKeswick Museum and Art Gallery.
• A lithophone called theMusical Stoneshas been created atBrantwood,the former home ofJohn Ruskinin Cumbria, England, and may be played there by visitors.
• TheSilex Piano,circa 1885, employed suspended flints of various sizes which were struck with other flints to produce sounds.
• Composer-vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid uses an instrument called thegramorimba,which is featured alongside the vibraphone and marimba in a trio setting.
• Icelandicpost-rockbandSigur Rósplayed a slate marimba, which sculptorPáll Guðmundssonconstructed from rocks found inIceland.This is demonstrated in their DVDHeima.
• Thestone marimba.
• Thehōkyō,a lithophone invented in Japan, has been made from the bars ofsanukite.
• The German composerCarl Orffcalls for a lithophone calledSteinspielin his later works.

As architectural elements

Ancient Indians were perhaps the first to use man-made lithophones as architectural elements. Temples likeNellaiyappar temple(8th century) in Tirunelveli, Vijaya Vitthala temple (15th century) in Hampi, Madurai Meenakshi temple (16th century) and Suchindram Thanumalayan temple (17th century) have musical pillars.

Stone marimba

Astone marimbais configured in the same manner as the more typical wooden barmarimba.The bars are usually wide like a wooden marimba, but are thinner, which helps increaseresonance.The stone marimba may or may not haveresonators.

In 1949 an ancient stone marimba was discovered in modern-dayVietnamnear a village called Ndut Lieng Krak. The 11 stone plates, made ofschist,were chipped into the tuning of apentatonic scale.They are currently housed at theMusée de l'Hommeand may be the oldest known musical instrument.

• 
  Lithophone made ofPhonolitein theSchellerhau botanic garden(Germany)
• 
  Ethiopian Lithophones with Stand, Monastery ofNa’akuto La’ab
• 
  Stone marimba,range C3–C5
• 
  Stone xylophone, Clore Garden of Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
• 
  Stone chimes, Shandong Provincial Museum, Jinan

See also

• Phonolite
• Ringing rocks
• Sankarjang

External links

• The British composer Will MenterWill Menter, sculptures sonores, sound sculptures, musique contemporaineinvented the llechiphone, amarimbawith keys made ofslate,while working inNorth Wales.Will Menter lithophones and mbiras
• UK Musician, Tony Dale developed a resonated slate lithophone in 1984 featured by composerJohn Hardy.
• Other slate lithophones, called stonaphones, are made in the U.S. state ofMaineby Jim Doble out of recycled slateroofing.STONE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS (LITHOPHONES)
• An installation inQuark Parkby Perry Cook and Jonathan Shor, consisting of 17 bars stretched over a 35-foot (11 m) long path.
• Audio and video of Stalacpipe Organon Sound Tourism site
• lithophonesPhotographs, audio clips, and videos of lithophones from around the world, historical and contemporary.

Video

• The Musical Stones of Skiddaw being played
• Video of the Great Stalacpipe Organ
• The Parkbench Lithophone
• The Ringing Rocks of Montana