The Glossary


Here are some terms I didn't know about until I was introduced to Steve Reich (definitions taken from The Harpers Collin Dictionary of Music, 2nd Edition):
 
gamelan - A general name for a classical Indonesian orchestra, of which there are many differenet kinds, as well as for its music.  Indeed, a gamelan may be unique, made up not just of certain kinds of instrument but of specific instruments that have been played together for many years; such a group is often given a proper name, just as a person is.

minimalist music - A style of music developed mainly in the United States in the early 1960s by La Monte Young (1935-     ) and others that is characterized by a steady pulsing beat, simple tonal structures, and a great deal of repetition with barely perceptible variation. (me: i think it can be safely said that with his mallet-based pieces, Reich left minimalism in the dust.)

Have you always wanted to know the difference between a maribma, vibraphone, and xylophone?:
 
marimba - A percussion instrument of Central America, probably brought there by slaves from Africa.  Similar in appearance to the xylophone, the marimba consists of a series of wooden slabs, with a gourd placed underneath each one to make the tone more resonant.  About 1900 a version of the marimba began to be used in Western orchestras.  The orchestral marimba has hollow wooden tubular resonators instead of gourds and is mounted on legs.  It has a range of four octaves from low C to high C.

vibraphone - A tuned percussion instrument invented in the 1920s and used in orchestras, bands, and jazz ensembles.  In appearance it resembles two of its relatives in the percussion section, the xylophone and the marimba.  Like them, it has a pianolike keyborad, with two rows of aluminum bars instead of keys, which are struck with beaters.  Under each bar hangs a metal tube, which are made to turn by an electric motor, alternately open and close the tops of the resonator tubes, thus producing a vibrato (wavering of pitch) in the sounds produced.  In addition, the instrument has a pedal-oriented damping mechanism, which can silence a note or chord to be played.

xylophone - A percussion instrument that consists of a set of wooden bars of different lengths, arranged in two rows like the black and white keys of the piano.  When the bars are struck with a pair of beaters, they sound the chromatic notes of the scale.  The orchestral xylophone usually has a set of metal tubes fixed beneath the bars, which act as resonators.  It has a range of three to four octaves, upward from middle C.