Talk:Glockenspiel

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[edit] Comparison to vibraphone

Leaving article alone for the moment, but I disagree on the use of the vibraphone as a comparison. The most notable characteristic of the vibraphone is the tremelo effect induced by motor-operated fans in its tubes. The vibraphone is essentially a motorized marimba or a sort of "Leslie speaker" attachment. The xylophone is a set of tuned wood blocks, a glockenspiel is a set of tuned metal blocks. The vibraphone is not a good comparison, xylophone is, because the vibrating part is a distraction. Ortolan88 17:50 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)

I agree with you, but the way you'd edited it left it reading: "It is similar to the xylophone, in that it has metal bars layed out in a fashion resembling a piano keyboard", which of course isn't true, because as you say, the xylophone has wooden bars. By all means, change the sentence to a valid comparison to the xylophone, which I agree is preferable. --Camembert 17:59 Sep 6, 2002 (UCT)

Indeed, it was careless editing on my part, or careless reading. Carelessness was in there somewhere. I'll make small change.

Odd vibraphone fact: Milt Jackson's reputation for "thoughtful, intense playing" was based largely on his slowing down the speed of the motor on his vibes. Ortolan88

[edit] Comparison to celesta

...if laid out horizontally, a keyboard may be attached to the instrument to allow chords to be played. One piece where such an instrument is used is Mozart's The Magic Flute.

This sounds like a celesta. Is there really an add-on keyboard for the glockenspiel? Also, the sentence implies that you can't play chords on a glockenspiel without a keyboard. -- Merphant

No, it's not a celesta, you really can add a keyboard onto a glockenspiel. This would differ from a celesta, because a celesta includes wooden resonators, which a glockenspiel usually lacks. So a celesta gives you a more mellow sound (I think the celesta is usually described as having "plaques" rather than bars, tho whether that's significant, I don't really know). The implication you can't play chords sans keyboard is wrong, of course - I'll fiddle with it. --Camembert

Sorry, I might have misunderstood you there - when you hear The Magic Flute nowadays, it is indeed usually a celeste that plays that part, but what Mozart actually asked for was something like a keyed glock (the celesta wasn't yet invented), and other pieces have also been written for keyboard glocks. I'll fiddle a little more. --Camembert

[edit] Nigel Godrich

I can't help but notice something: - Radiohead, ok computer, the glockenspiel is played - Beck, mutation, guess what? glockenspiel all over the place again, playing melodies similar to the above - Beck, sea change, and you got it, glockenspiel galore

Does Nigel has a bit of a glockenspiel fetish? Fine with me, because the 3 albums above sound great, but it's hard to ignore the very similar glockenspiel arrangements played in all 3.

[edit] No Surprises

The point made that "No Surprises" by Radiohead has a Glockenspiel in it should contain a link to the page about the song.

Also should the song be italicized? Sdoroudi 16:28, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Both subsequently fixed. Wasted Time R 15:32, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Electronic glockenspiel

Danny Federici of the E Street Band seems to play an electronic glockenspiel in concert, i.e. a smallish keyboard instrument that produces a chiming, glockenspiel sound. This is heard on "Badlands", "Prove It All Night", "Promised Land", etc. and it's a key part of the E Street Band sound. How exactly does this instrument work and shouldn't it be discussed here? Wasted Time R 15:35, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Glockenspiel responsible for epilepsy?

If it wasn't the Glockenspiel, what musical instrument was legislated into non-existence after local townspeople in a small German town fell victim to bouts of epilepsy, and the locals clamored so much that the town council made playing it felonious? I thought it was the Glockenspiel. But my teacher told me it was a musical instrument consisting of huge glass bells or tubes strummed by leather straps kept in a state of continuous motion. (What the heck was he talking about??) When was the musical instrument made legal again?198.177.27.32 02:17, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about epilepsy, but upper-register chords (especially BC, the two rightmost bars) are not only very intense fundamentally, but have very pronounced harmonic interference. You could easily go deaf playing this instrument. —Nahum Reduta 10:01, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

The instrument in question was almost certainly the Glass harmonica, an amazing instrument indeed, and one that was the center of many imagined health problems. Merenta (talk) 21:20, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] orign

what is the origin of the instrument? when was it made? Christy Smith is the best person in the whole wide world!!!

[edit] Appearances in pop music

That section is growing fast. ---Sluzzelin talk 19:27, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, way too fast. Its bigger than the rest of the article. I think we should trim it down to one example for each genre. We don't need to cite every example of a glockenspiel appearing in a song. That is just silly. --Chuck Sirloin 15:48, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

After reading through the list, I removed the entire list, replacing it was a sentence stating that they appear in all genres of music. The article on Guitar doesn't have a list of every song that a guitar appears in does it? So, because Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of info, I removed it. --Chuck Sirloin 15:56, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pitch?

What is the pitch of Glockenspiel? Thanks(Addaick 13:04, 2 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Another kind of glockenspiel

I'd like to see a major expansion of this page to reflect a very different but equally valid use of the word "glockenspiel" in English. Unfortunately, I don't have enough experience with Wikipedia editing to do it myself, which is why I'm making the proposal here. I refer you to www.gcna.org/data/IXglockenspiels.html, which explains four different uses of the word, and expands on one of them. (Incidentally, that page will be expanded in the near future to include two more tower glockenspiels which are now under contract in the U.S.A.)

What I propose is that the Wikipedia page on "glockenspiel" be expanded by (1) adding an introductory section on the German origin and various English meanings of the word, (2) converting the bulk of the present page into a major section on what might be called the "glockenspiel (orchestral)", and (3) adding another major section on what might be called the "glockenspiel (tower)". If an experienced editor in the Wiki music project wishes to take on that change, you are welcome to use the material from the GCNA page cited above. I'm available for consultation; my eddress is at the bottom of that page.

STLbells 18:55, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

My 1st language is German and when I hear the word "Glockenspiel" my first thought (besides the compiler mentioned below - I'm SW developer) would be the church tower Glockenspiel. The other meaning is familiar too though. -- 81.173.135.142 16:15, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other meanings

I have no idea how this is handled. Glockenspiel was the name of one of the first available C++ compilers for DOS and OS/2 (actually a C compiler with a C++ preprocessor). As it has been a milestone, it wouldn't be spam or advertizing to have a reference to that meaning somewhere. -- 81.173.135.142 16:09, 8 November 2007 (UTC)