| |
|
|
|
The African Pit Xylophone is doubtless the largest Xylophone of its type in the world. The longest keys are huge beams measuring 1.8 meters. The keyboard of the instrument is always divided into two sections: one to the left of the musician who is seated between them, resting his legs in the pit which acts as a resonator. The keys lie parallel to one another over and across the pit, which is about 70 centimeters deep and almost 2 meters wide. The musician strikes the left-hand keys (the bass) with a club of fairly soft wood and the right-hand keys with a heavy crooked beater made of extremely hard wood. The Pit Xylophone is often paired with a smaller instrument which is set above another shallower pit, the role of which is to provide a melodic and rhythmic ostinato as a cue for the main Xylophone.
Used to accompany songs the Pit Xylophone often plays along side a pair of rattles and an iron bell. Variations of this African instrument can also found in Asia and Indonesia. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
