Vibraphone
/ˈvaɪbrəfoʊn/noun
A percussion instrument of tuned metal bars over resonator tubes, with motor-driven discs that give the notes their wobble.
The Greek roots
Literally: “shaking voice”
The story of the word
Half Latin, half Greek: vibrare, to shake, bolted to φωνή, voice. The instrument reached American vaudeville in the early 1920s, and the name attached to the model with small fans spinning inside the resonator tubes, which is what produces the tremble. Purists of the period disliked the mixed parentage. Players ignored them, and by 1930 Lionel Hampton had recorded with one alongside Louis Armstrong.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → modern coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1920s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
In a sentence
The vibraphone came in under the bass line so quietly that nobody clapped until it stopped.
He plays with the motor switched off, which turns it into a very different instrument.