Editing Vibraphone (section)

==History==
[[File:1928IntlMusicianDeaganVibeAd.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|A 1928 ad for the Deagan vibraharp.]]

=== Invention ===
Around 1916, instrument maker Herman Winterhoff of the [[Leedy Manufacturing Company]] began experimenting with ''[[vox humana]]'' effects on a three-octave (F{{sub|3}} to F{{sub|6}}) [[Marimbaphone|steel marimba]]. His original design attempted to produce this effect by raising and lowering the resonators, which caused a noticeable [[vibrato]].{{Sfn|Blades|1992|p=408}} In 1921, Winterhoff perfected the design by instead attaching a motor that rotated small discs underneath the bars to achieve the same effect.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Graiser |first=Brian |date=February 2021 |title=The Vibraphone At 100: Why 2021? |url=http://publications.pas.org/Archive/February2021/2102.06-09.pdf |journal=Percussive Notes |publisher=[[Percussive Arts Society]] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=6–9}}</ref> After sales manager George H. Way termed this instrument the "vibraphone", it was marketed by Leedy starting in 1924.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Strain, James Allen |title=A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-8108-8692-6 |location=Lanham, MD |pages=222 |oclc=972798459}}</ref> The Leedy vibraphone managed to achieve a decent degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "[[Aloha ʻOe]]" and "Gypsy Love Song" in 1924 by [[vaudeville]] performer Louis Frank Chiha.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stallard |first=Carolyn |date=July 2015 |title=The Vibraphone: Past, Present, and Future |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320386245 |journal=Percussive Notes |publisher=[[Percussive Arts Society]] |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=43–44 |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>

However, this instrument differed significantly from the instrument now called the "vibraphone". The Leedy vibraphone did not have a pedal mechanism, and it had bars made of steel rather than aluminum. The growing popularity of Leedy's instrument led competitor [[J. C. Deagan, Inc.]], the inventor of the original steel marimba on which Leedy's design was based, to ask its chief tuner, Henry Schluter, to develop a similar instrument in 1927. Instead of just copying the Leedy design, Schluter introduced several significant improvements. He made the bars from aluminum instead of steel for a mellower tone, adjusted the dimensions and tuning of the bars to eliminate the dissonant harmonics present in the Leedy design, and introduced a foot-controlled damper bar. Schluter's design became more popular than the Leedy design and has become the template for all instruments now called a "vibraphone".<ref>Caroll, Barry J. (1977). "The Story of Mallet Instruments". [[J. C. Deagan, Inc.|J. C. Deagan Company]] (film). 18:44.</ref>

Both the terms "vibraphone" and "vibraharp" were trademarked by Leedy and Deagan, respectively. Other manufacturers were forced to use the generic name "vibes" or devise new trade names such as "vibraceleste" for their instruments incorporating the newer design.{{Sfn|Beck|2007|p=399}}

=== Use ===
[[File:Lionel Hampton, Aquarium, New York, ca. June 1946 (William P. Gottlieb 03841).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lionel Hampton]] playing the vibraphone in 1946.]]
While the initial purpose of the vibraphone was as a novelty instrument for vaudeville orchestras, that use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930s by its development in [[jazz]] music.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stephans |first=Michael |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/861559432 |title=Experiencing Jazz A Listener's Companion |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8108-8290-4 |location=Lanham, MD |pages=349 |oclc=861559432}}</ref> The use of the vibraphone in jazz was popularized by [[Lionel Hampton]], a jazz drummer from California.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Horn |first1=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/276305444 |title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Volume II |last2=Shepard |first2=John |last3=Seed |first3=Michael |last4=Laing |first4=Dave |publisher=Continuum |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-84714-472-0 |location=London |pages=402|oclc=276305444 }}</ref> At one recording session with bandleader [[Louis Armstrong]], Hampton was asked to play a vibraphone that had been left behind in the studio. This resulted in the recording of the song "[[Memories of You]]" in 1930, containing what is often considered to be the first instance of an improvised vibraphone solo.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Morrison |first1=Nick |last2=Francis |first2=Nick |date=17 November 2008 |title=Feeling The Vibes: The Short History of a Long Instrument |language=en |publisher=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2008/11/17/96965180/feeling-the-vibes-the-short-history-of-a-long-instrument |access-date=29 August 2020}}</ref>

In its early history, the vibraphone was often used in classical music to give compositions a jazz influence.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Keller |first=Renee |date=June 2013 |title=Compositional and Orchestrational Trends in the Orchestral Percussion Section Between the Years of 1960–2009 |url=https://www.pas.org/docs/default-source/thesisdissertations/kellerre.pdf |publisher=[[Northwestern University]] |page=88 |via=[[Percussive Arts Society]] |oclc=854371082}}</ref> The first known composer to use the vibraphone was [[Havergal Brian]] in his 1917 opera, ''[[The Tigers (opera)|The Tigers]]'', which called for two of them.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Blades |first1=James |date=2001 |editor-last=Holland |editor-first=James |title=Vibraphone |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.29286 |access-date=15 March 2022 |work=Oxford Music Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.29286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schaarwächter |first=Jürgen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1080198398 |title=HB: Aspects of Havergal Brian |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-429-45187-4 |location=London |page=46|oclc=1080198398 }}</ref> However, since the piece was lost and did not premiere until 1983, [[Ferde Grofé]]'s ''[[Grand Canyon Suite]]'', completed in 1931, is sometimes considered to be the first piece to use a vibraphone instead.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tolles |first=Tyler |date=2020 |title=Vibraphone Orchestral Excerpts & Adapting J. S. Bach's Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor for Vibraphone |url=https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:770699/datastream/PDF/view |website=Florida State University Libraries |publisher=[[Florida State University]] |page=4}}</ref> Other early classical composers to use the vibraphone were [[Alban Berg]], who used it prominently in his [[opera]] ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'' in 1935,{{Sfn|Blades|1992|p=409}} and [[William Grant Still]], who used it in his ''[[Afro-American Symphony]]'' that same year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Latshaw |first=Charles William |date=2014 |title=William Grant Still's ''Afro-American Symphony'' A Critical Edition |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/17492/Latshaw,%20Charles%20(DM%20Orch%20Cond).pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=[[Indiana University]] |page=24 |oclc=913961832}}</ref> While the vibraphone has not been used quite as extensively in the realm of classical music as it has with jazz, it can often be heard in theatre or film music, such as in [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s ''[[West Side Story]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laird |first=Paul R. |title=West Side Story, Gypsy, and the Art of Broadway Orchestration |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-429-66273-7 |location=Abingdon, OXF |oclc=1268686444}}</ref>