vibraphone

noun vi·bra·phone \ ˈvī-brə-ˌfōn \

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

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

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vibraphonist

play \ˈvī-brə-ˌfō-nist\ noun

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Recent Examples of vibraphone from the Web

The music tested the technique of even an expert percussionist, containing difficult-to-negotiate vibraphone runs, a lengthy solo for chimes, and stretches whose instrumentation was left to the performer’s imagination.

— david weininger, BostonGlobe.com, "Category-defying music, left-wing stance in composer’s provocative piece," 6 June 2018
Bruce Perry was awarded Outstanding Accompanist for the vibraphone.

— christina hyder, Howard County Times, "Spring means yard sales, proms and more [North Laurel/Savage]," 26 Apr. 2018
Four seconds in, Convertino taps his mallets across the vibraphone, spreading droplets of sound that echo above everything.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Finding the Soundtrack to My Desert Life," 25 Apr. 2018
The band appears here with Matt Moran on vibraphone, Red Wierenga on accordion, Chris Speed on clarinet and tenor saxophone, and Drew Gress on bass.

— New York Times, "14 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in NYC This Weekend," 22 Mar. 2018
Christopher Deviney, vibraphone; Christopher McLaurin, marimba; Michael Stern, conductor.

— patrick neas, kansascity, "KC Symphony’s 2018-19 season has an American flourish," 13 Jan. 2018
Mehari’s quintet will include Peter Schlamb, vibraphone; Matt Villinger, piano; Karl McComas-Reichl, bass, and John Kizilarmut, drums.

— kansascity, "Local seventh-grader becomes published illustrator of children’s book | The Kansas City Star," 11 Dec. 2017
This is Adasiewicz at his most lyrical, his ethereal vibraphone solos intertwining with music from Josh Berman’s cornet, Jonathan Doyle’s reeds, Joshua Abrams’ bass and Hamid Drake’s percussion.

— howard reich, chicagotribune.com, "Jason Adasiewicz creates a glistening film score," 2 Nov. 2017
For this work, he was joined onstage by his San Diego Mesa College classmates Joshua Jones on vibraphone, Mark Vincent Padua on keyboard and David Sullivan on drums.

— christian hertzog, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Young composer Diego Rodriguez shines in debut with Art of Élan," 16 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vibraphone.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Illustration of vibraphone

Origin and Etymology of vibraphone

Latin vibrare + International Scientific Vocabulary -phone

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1926

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

VIBRAPHONE Defined for English Language Learners

vibraphone

noun

Definition of vibraphone for English Language Learners

: an electronic musical instrument which has metal bars that you hit with small wooden hammers to play notes and which has a motor that makes the notes vibrate