Monday, June 14, 2010

Alphabe Thursday - V is for Vibraphone!

Jenny Matlock


Thursday, time for my favorite class of the week, Alphabe-Thursday. Mrs. Matlock is such a great teacher, we have flown through the alphabet. I can't believe that we are up to V already!

If you have read my blog for long, you know that I love music, and I really love jazz. So for me, V was easy - vibraphone!








Many people confuse the vibraphone (or vibes) with a xylophone or marimba. The difference is that vibes have metal tubes instead of wood, giving a very distinctive sound.

Lionel Hampton is probably the best known vibes player. He almost single handedly brought this instrument to popular jazz music prominence. A drummer, he supposedly started playing around with a set of vibes at the NBC studios. Yep, the very same vibes used to play the famous NBC "Chimes". He started experimenting and playing with the instrument and became so enamored of it that he soon concentrated on this instrument alone.



This is part of Cait's recital at UNT last year. The vibes player is one of her very best friends. They have been in band together since she was in the 6th grade, and recently graduated from the College of Music together. Warning, this is an extremely long video, but I could not for the life of me figure out our editing software! So I just uploaded from you tube :)



Hope you enjoyed my choice for V this week. Make sure to stop by Mrs. Matlock's class and read everyone's essays. This should be an interesting week.

35 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't think I knew there was a difference. Thanks for letting me know.

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

How interesting, Kat! I wanted to play that insturment when I was little...looks like so much fun! I hope you are having a good week and saving some time for yourself!...hugs...Debbie
PS...Fun to see Cait again! She's a very talented young lady!

Mary said...

I have learned the most interesting things in Mrs. Matlock's class~ I had no idea there was a difference between a vibraphone & xylophone, thanks for sharing :-)

lissa said...

I don't confuse vibraphone with a xylophone or marimba because I didn't know there's a vibraphone until your post, mmm, the things you learn from blogs - thanks!

jeff campbell said...

I too so love the Vibes...such a smart choice for your "V"...Lionel "rules"..this post spoke to me...Peace

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Fun, Cat! This is a neat post. I love Vibraphones, too.

XO,

Sheila :-)

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

This was so interesting, Kathy! I never heard of a vibraphone before although I must have heard it.

Cait and her friend played such a beautiful mellow jazzy sound!

Brenda said...

Great tunes! I did not know the difference. Thanks for clearing that up.

Viki said...

I was able to watch about 5 minutes of the recital. They really play well together. Great V post.

Jo said...

Cool post! I learned something new today thanks to your post!

Jamie said...

I have never heard of vibraphones, and would most definitely have confused it with...that other thing that starts with x, but sounds like z, and I can't remember how to spell. Yeah, that one. Must be getting late! Thanks for the quick lesson!

Pondside said...

Wow! I recognize the sound, but knew nothing about the instrument until now.

Short and Sweet said...

Thanks for the valuable information and the wonderful music. For the life of me I never knew that there was a difference between a vibraphone and a xylophone! I could listen to this music all night! Again, thanks so much.

Cheryl said...

I'm so musically challenged, I never give a thought to where the sounds come from. Loved learning about the vibraphone. Nicely done.

Debbiedoos said...

Cool, I can feel the vibes from here....who knew the difference...not me, glad I learned something new today.

Unknown said...

This was interesting. I did not know that the name of this musical instrument was the 'Vibraphone'. I had heard of the xylophone before.
Good information here.
Best wishes,
Anna

Anna's V-word

Lola said...

Super ‘V’ post – I learned something new - TFS!

Have a great Alphabe-Thursday,

LOLA:)

PS Mine this time is HERE. Hope you can join me!

Theresa Plas said...

Very cool! Hadn't heard of a vibraphone either. Nice tunes too:)

Unknown said...

Very interesting, I had no idea about the vibraphone!

H said...

I love the video; especially the second piece, which was so delicate. Great post!

laterg8r said...

very cool post - i'd never heard of this before :D

cj Schlottman said...

I love a post that enlightens me. Thanks!

jen said...

Thanks for a little enlightenment. I did not know the difference. Now I can bug my kids about it too!

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

I didn't know the difference between all those clinky clanky instruments, thanks for telling us!

mrs. c said...

thanks so much for all the information! I really enjoyed the utube!

Susan Anderson said...

Nice V post and talented daughter!

=)

Sarah said...

This is all new information for me. Thanks!
Hope your weekend trip is fun and somewhat cool. Hope you got the nice rain late this afternoon that came though here.
Great V post! ~ Sarah

Amanda Lee said...

I had never heard of the vibraphone before today. It's tone is really unique! Very nice!

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

The video is great and the sound of vibraphone is terrific. I have not seen one before.

Cheryl D. said...

Happy V-Day! What a great use of the letter V! I knew nothing about this instrument. Thanks for teaching me something new!

Jenny said...

Hooray! A totally new "V" word to entice and amaze us this week.

What a fun stop here on our little journey through Alphabe-Thursday's Letter "V"!

This is really neat and I love the sound of the instrument!

Thank you for posting this!

A+

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

A great recital :o) I love to listen to others create and play music. I am happy that my hubby, and children are very musically inclined...and my mom was as well...hm...somehow...the "music genes" slipped past me.

Blessings & Aloha!
(How neat that we have in common-our dads served in the Air Force and our brothers served in the Navy :o) thanks for stopping by!

easternsparkle said...

I confess to not knowing the difference either - thanks for the education!

Unknown said...

I love the sound this great instrument makes!!!

Susan said...

quite cool, will be sharing this post with my musician daughter :)(Euphonium-otherwise known as Baritone and trombone)
Susan