Xylorimba

What it means

The xylorimba is a bar instrument with wooden bars that unites the range of the xylophone and the marimba in a single instrument. It reaches further down than the xylophone and further up than the usual marimba, so that a continuous tonal space of several octaves is available. Construction and manner of playing correspond to the related instruments: sounding bars in two rows, resonators beneath them, struck with mallets. The sound is dry and woody, fuller in the low register and ringing somewhat longer than with the xylophone.

Musical use

The instrument is called for above all in twentieth-century orchestral works, in which composers need a large tonal space in a uniform wooden colour, without the player having to switch between two instruments. The musical gain lies in its unity: runs over several octaves keep the same timbre. Because the instruments are rare, the part is in practice often distributed between xylophone and marimba, which changes the sound and playability; when planning rehearsals it should therefore be clarified early which instruments are actually available.

Performance practice

Because of the large range, the distances are wide; plan mallet movement and standing position so that leaps over several octaves succeed reliably, and practise them without looking. The choice of mallets must suit the register: what sounds brilliant in the high register produces only attack noise in the low one — many players therefore use different hardnesses in the two hands. Keep the mallets loose and let them spring back. A sustained sound arises only through an even tremolo. Protect the wooden bars from moisture and check the suspension before use.

Bear in mind that the instrument is rarely available and many scores are therefore performed with substitute scoring: clarify this early and decide deliberately how the part is distributed, rather than leaving it to the chance of rehearsal planning. Check the range of the available instrument against the score. For the large tonal space it is worth practising routes without looking and fixing standing positions. Watch for the bars resting freely and for firm resonators, because otherwise individual notes sound dull.