The xylophone is the wooden-bar instrument of the orchestra and the band: dry, cutting and very penetrating. Its bars are laid out exactly like a piano keyboard, so finding a note is no mystery.
The mystery is somewhere else, and it is the one that ruins more rehearsals: the xylophone does not sound where it is written. It sounds one octave higher. What is on the page is not what comes out of the instrument.
Which note really sounds
Pick a written note to see which note really comes out, with its sound. The matching bar lights up on the keyboard.
A written C5 on the xylophone sounds C6. The rule is the same for every note: the part is written in treble clef, and the instrument sounds an octave above it.
| Family | Pitched percussion (mallet instrument, wooden bars) |
|---|---|
| Pitch | C (octave-transposing instrument) |
| Transposition | Sounds one octave higher than written |
| Range | F3–C7 written; F4–C8 sounding (the usual 3½-octave concert model) |
| Layout | Piano layout: naturals in the front row, sharps and flats in the back row |
| Clef | Treble |
The range of the xylophone
The usual concert xylophone covers three and a half octaves. On paper it goes from F3 to C7; in the air, from F4 to C8. That C8 is the highest note of a piano. The xylophone in the photo on this page is a four-octave model: it starts a perfect 4th lower, at written C3.
| Size | Written | Sounds |
|---|---|---|
| 3½ octaves (the most common) | F3–C7 | F4–C8 |
| 4 octaves | C3–C7 | C4–C8 |
| 3 octaves | C4–C7 | C5–C8 |
Why it is written an octave lower
It is not a whim. If the xylophone were written where it sounds, a large part of its range would fall far above the staff (UK: stave), in a forest of ledger lines that is impossible to read quickly. By writing it an octave lower, the music fits comfortably in the treble clef.
The practical consequence is twofold. When playing, you do not have to think about the transposition: you read and strike the bar, and the instrument does the rest. When writing or conducting, you must always keep it in mind: a unison with the flute on paper will sound an octave apart in reality.
Xylophone, marimba and glockenspiel: alike and different
All three are keyboard percussion instruments and all three are read the same way, but they live in different sound worlds:
- Xylophone: narrow wooden bars, short and bright sound, sounds an octave higher than written.
- Marimba: wide wooden bars with long resonators, warm and round sound, and it sounds where it is written.
- Glockenspiel (orchestra bells): steel bars, a bell-like sound, and it sounds two octaves above the written pitch.
The most common confusion is xylophone versus marimba, and there is a rule of thumb that is right most of the time: if the bars are narrow and the sound stops quickly, it is a xylophone; if the bars are wide and the sound lasts, it is a marimba. The size of the instrument and the mallet also matter, so in a doubtful case the width of the bar decides.
Mallets rule the attack
On the xylophone, hard mallets of plastic, hard rubber or wood are almost always used, because they bring out the crisp attack that is the reason for the instrument. A soft mallet on a xylophone wastes exactly what it is asked for: definition.
With the hardest mallets (very dense plastic, or with a metal head) the sound becomes metallic and aggressive, and on wooden bars they can mark the wood. Fast passages at a soft dynamic call for a softer mallet, not for a weaker stroke.
What it is made of
The bars of a concert xylophone are made of rosewood (the classic wood) or of synthetic materials such as Kelon or fiberglass, which are cheaper and far more resistant to humidity and knocks. That is why they are chosen when the instrument travels or lives in a classroom.
Under each bar hangs a resonator tube tuned to that same note: the air inside resonates and reinforces the sound, which is why the tubes get longer toward the low register. Each bar also has an arch carved into its underside, and that carving is what tunes the instrument: the more wood is removed, the lower the note.
The school xylophone is not this one
The instrument most people play first is the Orff xylophone of the music classroom: loose bars on a wooden box, in soprano, alto and bass sizes, with the special feature that the bars can be removed, so that only the notes the activity needs stay on and the others are out of the way.
It shares the keyboard layout and the way of reading with the concert instrument, but not the range, the material or the transposition, which in the Orff Schulwerk follows its own convention: soprano instruments sound an octave higher than written, alto instruments sound as written and bass instruments an octave lower. So an alto Orff xylophone does not transpose, unlike the concert one.
Where you hear it
The xylophone enters the orchestra in the 19th century and becomes famous through one very specific association: the sound of bones. Saint-Saëns uses it that way in the Danse macabre, and from then on it is tied to the skeletal and the grotesque. Stravinsky, Bartók and Shostakovich later use it as a color in its own right.
In the concert band it is a front-line instrument: it doubles the woodwinds in fast passages and gives them an edge that cuts through the tutti, which is especially useful outdoors, where the sound spreads out.
Three mistakes that keep happening
- Forgetting the transposition when writing. This is the biggest one: the part sounds an octave higher than it looks, and a doubling meant as a unison ends up in octaves.
- Writing slow, sustained passages. The xylophone does not sustain: a whole note sounds like one strike followed by silence. To sustain, you need a written roll (tremolo).
- Asking for soft dynamics with hard mallets. It is easier to change to a softer mallet than to try to strike very gently with a plastic one.