Unique Musical Toys: Xylophones and Glockenspiels

Xylophones and glockenspiels are unique among percussion musical toys in that they make musical tones when they are struck, and not just sounds.  These toys, like the real instruments themselves, consist of resonant boxes on which are mounted rows of wooden or metal bars of different lengths, arranged progressively from small to large.  Each bar when struck producing a different tone of the scale.  Like drums and gongs and other percussion toys, xylophones are struck with mallets or sticks, but unlike drums and gongs, one can play melodies on them, and if one has two mallets, even harmonies!  Some toy xylophones have exotic-sounding scales such as the pentatonic or five-tone scale, which give them an exotic sound of faraway tribes and cultures.  Indeed, the first xylophones in Europe and America were originally imported from Asia.

Glockenspiels are like xylophones, but are made with resonant metal bars rather than wooden bars.  Glockenspiels have a wonderful bell-like tone [glockenspiel in German means “play of bells”] that adults find enchanting as well as children.  The original glockenspiel, invented in Germany in the Middle Ages, had real bells, but in the 1700s these bells were replaced with the much more practical metal bars.  Both xylophones and glockenspiels exist in simpler versions as toys and in more complex versions as legitimate instruments of the orchestra, with much beautiful and exotic music written for them.  One example of music written for the glockenspiel is “The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies” from the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky.

Xylophones of all types are so popular that they have become part of indigenous cultures on all continents.  Believed to have originated in Indonesia, Bali, and Java, they are particularly popular in parts of Africa, Latin American, and Eastern Europe.  In the United States xylophones became very popular in jazz and dance bands.  The vibraphone, invented in the United States in the 1920s, is a modern adaptation of the xylophone, and produces a long ringing tone instead of a short wooden tone.  Vibraphones—or “vibes”—get their distinctive tone both from the design of the bars, which are made of aluminum, and from the individual hollow tube resonators that are placed vertically underneath the bars, one resonator for every bar.

Toy xylophones and glockenspiels are among the best toys ever designed for children.  Along with construction toys, they are unique in providing an activity that is both interactive and creative.  For many children they represent the child’s first foray into making music.  By their very nature these toys help train hand, eye, and ear coordination.  They also help to satisfy children’s natural urge to (harmlessly!) strike things and make noise!

Most xylophones, glockenspiels, vibraphones, etc. as musical instruments are designed with two parallel rows of bars like a keyboard, the lower one arranged diatonically like the white keys on a keyboard, and the upper row arranged like the black keys, with sharps and flats.  This arrangement gives them the versatility to play many types of music.  Most toy versions for younger children have only a single row of bars, but more complex versions can have both the upper and lower rows.  Unlike full-sized xylophones that have wooden bars, toy xylophones can have bars that are made of either metal or wood

Related toys are chimes, bells, and thumb pianos.