Vibraphone Vibraphone The vibraphone (also known as the vibraharp or simply the vibes) is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family. It consists of tuned metal bars, and is usually played by holding two or four soft mallets and striking the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a "vibraphonist" or "vibraharpist". The vibraphone resembles the xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel, one of the main differences between it and these instruments being that each bar is paired with a resonator tube that has a motor-driven butterfly valve at its upper end. The valves are mounted
Directly struck membranophones two usable membranes Directly struck membranophones Directly struck membranophones is one of the sub-categories of musical instruments found in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. The type of membranophones or drums found in this group are those instruments that produce sound when struck directly by the performer. The membrane of these drums is hit with a stick, the hand, or something else. Drums that produce sound by means of plucking an attached string or by means of friction are grouped in a different category. 211.1 Instruments in which the body of the drum is dish- or bowl-shaped (kettle drums)