Xilofono

As Printed on a Score

Labels the xylophone (Xilofono; Xil. or Xyl. later), on a treble-clef staff written an octave below sounding pitch. Longer notes are rolled, shown with tremolo slashes, since a struck wooden bar cannot sustain.

Abbreviations: Xil., Xyl.

Also spelled: Xylophon

How Composers Use It

Hard-struck rosewood or synthetic bars give a dry, brittle, very clear tone that cuts through an orchestra and decays at once. It excels at fast figures, repeated notes and glittering doublings of woodwind lines; long notes must be rolled. Saint-Saëns used it for rattling bones in Danse macabre, a famous early orchestral appearance, and it became a regular orchestral colour in the twentieth century.

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