Editing Lamellophone (section)

==African lamellophones==
{{Main|Thumb piano}}
A large number of lamellophones originate in [[Africa]], where they are known under different names including ''[[mbira]]'', ''[[kisanji]]'', ''[[likembe]]'', ''[[kalimba]]'', ''kongoma'', and ''sanza''. They play a role in southeast [[African Music]]. They were reported as early as the 16th century, but there is no doubt they have a much longer history. The Caribbean [[marímbula]] is also of this family. The marímbula can be seen as a bass variant of the mbira and is sometimes used in [[hip hop music]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Thomas |first=Susan |title=Latin American Music |date=2011-06-02 |work=Oxford Music Online |url=https://login.proxy1.library.jhu.edu/login?qurl=https://doi.org%2f10.1093%2fgmo%2f9781561592630.article.A2093315 |access-date=2024-09-10 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.a2093315 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In most cases the tongues are divided in two playing halves with the lowest notes in the centre; from there to the left and to the right each tongue is tuned higher than the previous one. The tongues may also be arranged in a linear arrangement in the manner of a [[piano]]. Tongues may be made small enough to play with individual fingers, hence the colloquial name "thumb piano". (Although some instruments, like the ''Mbira'', have an additional rows of tongues, in which case not just the thumbs are used for plucking.)<ref>{{cite web |last1=MBIRA [Organization] |title=Pointers for Mbira Students |url=https://mbira.org/learn-mbira/pointers-for-mbira-students/ |website=MBIRA: The Non-Profit Organization Devoted to Traditional Music of Zimbabwe |publisher=Wordpress |access-date=14 June 2022 |quote="...Your left thumb plays all of the double row of keys. Your right thumb plays ONLY the farthest left  (longest) 3 keys in the single row. Your right index finger plucks up on the rest of the keys in the single row."}}</ref>

Some conjecture that African lamellophones were derived from [[xylophone]]s and [[marimba]]s. However, similar instruments have been found elsewhere; for example, the [[indigenous people]]s of [[Siberia]] play wooden and metallic lamellophones with a single tongue.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

Lamellophones may be made with or without [[resonator]]s. There are also [[electric lamellophones]] with an additional [[Pickup (music technology)|pickup]].