Information AboutLamellophone |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT LAMELLOPHONE | |
| musical instruments | |
| lamellaphones | |
| african musical instruments | |
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In the original Hornbostel-Sachs classification of musical instruments, lamellophones are classified as a category of plucked Idiophone s. While this is appropriate for the various forms of Jew's Harp and the European mechanical Music Box , it has been argued that the African Thumb Piano s ( Mbira s) are not idiophones but constitute a class of their own. The reason for this is that their tongues can be shifted and the instruments can be tuned that way. So the pitch of a tongue does not depend on its intrinsic length but on the adjustable length of the free swinging part. A large number of lamellophones originate in Africa , where they are known under different names including '' Mbira '', '' Sanza '', '' Kisanji '', '' Likembe '', '' Kalimba '', and '' Kongoma ''. They play an important role in southeast African Music . They were reported as early as the 16th Century , but there is no doubt they have a much longer history. The Caribbean Marímbula is also of this family. The marímbula can be seen as a bass variant of the mbira and is sometimes used in Hiphop music. The tongues may be arranged in the manner of a Piano and may be made small enough to play with individual fingers, hence the colloquial name "thumb piano." (Although some instruments, like the Mbira, have an additional rows of tongues, in which case not just the thumbs are used for plucking.) Some conjecture that African lamellophones were derived from Xylophone s and Marimba s. However, similar instruments have been found elsewhere; for example, the Indigenous People s of Siberia play wooden and metallic lamellophones with a single tongue. Lamellophones may be made with or without Resonator s. There are also Electric Lamellophones with an additional Pickup . IN CLASSIFICATION Schaeffner's musical instrument classification scheme has a prominent place for the linguaphones (lamellophones) at the second highest level of classification. In 1932, Andre Schaeffner developed a new classification scheme that was ``exhaustive, potentially covering all real and conceivable instruments'' p.176 . Schaeffner's system has only two top-level categories denoted by Roman numerals:
II: instruments that make sound from vibrating air. LIST OF LAMELLOPHONES
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