lithophone

noun. lith·​o·​phone ˈli-thə-ˌfōn. plural lithophones. : any of a class of percussion instruments (such as the qing) that are made of stone and whose sound is produced by striking. These ancient lithophones were clearly tuned by flaking and yield two sonorous pentatonic scales.

A rudimentary form of lithophone is the "rock gong", usually a natural rock formation opportunistically adapted to produce musical tones, such as that on Mfangano Island, in Lake Victoria, Kenya. The Great Stalacpipe Organ of Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA uses 37 stalactites to produce the Western scale.

Litho is Greek for stone, and phone is sound, so a lithophone is a musical instrument made from stone. They are one of the most ancient instruments, and in China the sound of stone is as elemental as metal or wood.

Lithophones are ancient instruments, stones that vibrate and produce sound when struck. The RISD Museum's lithophone, an inverted L-shaped jade chime, or qing, dates from 1761–1762.

Vietnam Certain types of rock will ring when struck and, depending on length and thickness, can produce notes of identifiable pitch. Instruments which employ this principle are called lithophones. It was Vietnam which really put lithophones on the map internationally.

The lithophones found in Vietnam are some of the oldest we know. Researchers found that the lithophones discovered in Song Be and Khanh Hoa are between 4000 to 10,000 years old according to Vietnam Discovery. 200 stone lithophones were discovered by the end of the 1980s in several provinces in Vietnam.

An idiophone, the lithophone is a set of rocks - granite, fossilized coral, petrified wood, and other melodious stones - that are played by striking them.

Membranophones are instruments that make sound from the vibrations of stretched skins or membranes. Drums, tambourines, and some gongs are common examples of membranophones.

Percussion instruments make a sound when they are struck, shaken, scraped, plucked, or rubbed. Some types, such as rattles and xylophones, have moving parts built into them that make a sound. Some have bodies that vibrate to produce a sound. They include bells, cymbals, and gongs.

Local people call it a stone gong. The sound of the lithophone is sometime as deep as the forest, sometime as gentle as a brook. It can express the feeling of the instrumentalist and the state of their soul.

Vietnam. In 1949, Georges Condaminas discovered the oldest known lithophones in Vietnam. They have been preserved at the Musee de l'homme in Paris. It was observed that a certain type of flaking technique was used to tune these stones, so that it would yield a certain sonic output when played together.

An idiophone, the lithophone is a set of rocks - granite, fossilized coral, petrified wood, and other melodious stones - that are played by striking them. They've been made in a variety of forms all around the globe, some from thousands of years ago.