vibraphone
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vi·bra·phone

noun \ˈvī-brə-ˌfōn\

Definition of VIBRAPHONE

: a percussion instrument resembling the xylophone but having metal bars and motor-driven resonators for sustaining the tone and producing a vibrato
vi·bra·phon·ist \-ˌfō-nist\ noun

Illustration of VIBRAPHONE

Origin of VIBRAPHONE

Latin vibrare + International Scientific Vocabulary -phone
First Known Use: 1926

vibraphone

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Percussion instrument with tuned metal bars, arranged keyboard-style like the xylophone. Felt or wool beaters are used to strike the bars, giving a soft, mellow tone quality. Each bar has a resonating tube suspended vertically below it to sustain the tone; small electrically powered spinning disks at the top of the resonators produce a vibrato effect by rapidly closing and opening the resonators. Invented c. 1920, it soon became a popular jazz instrument.

Variants of VIBRAPHONE

vibraphone or vibraharp

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