Lithophone

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 on Mfangano Island, in Lake Victoria, Kenya. The Great Stalacpipe Organ of Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA uses 37 stalactites to produce the Western scale. Another stalactite lithophone is to be found at Tenkasi in South India. Ringing Rocks Park in Pennsylvania is another well known lithophone.
• A typical Basque instrument named Txalaparta can be made of wood or stone, but is traditionally made of wood

• Probable prehistoric lithophone stones have been found at Sankarjang in Odisha, India.
• Vietnamese lithophones dating back to ancient times, called đàn đá, have been discovered and revived in the 20th century.
• The ritual music of Korea features the use of stone chimes called pyeongyeong, derived from the Chinese bianqing.
• The Musical Stones of Skiddaw from Cumbria, England have been made into an instrument placed at Keswick Museum and Art Gallery.
• A lithophone called the Musical Stones has been created at Brantwood, the former home of John Ruskin in Cumbria, England, and may be played there by visitors.
• The Silex 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 the gramorimba, which is featured alongside the vibraphone and marimba in a trio setting.
• Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós played a slate marimba, which sculptor Páll Guðmundsson constructed from rocks found in Iceland. This is demonstrated in their DVD Heima.
• The stone marimba.
• The hōkyō, a lithophone invented in Japan, has been made from the bars of sanukite.
• The German composer Carl Orff calls for a lithophone called Steinspiel in his later works.
• Some lithophones include electric pickups to amplify the sounds.

  Lithophone as Architectural Element

• Ancient Indians were perhaps the first to use man-made lithophones as architectural elements. Temples like Nellaiyappar temple in Tirunelveli, Vijaya Vitthala temple in Hampi, Madurai Meenakshi temple and Suchindram Thanumalayan temple have musical pillars.

  Stone marimba

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