An Alphabet Of things I Like: X

~ beetleypete

Xylophone.

When I was very young, I was given a toy xylophone, identical to the one in the picture above. I would spend many happy hours bashing it with the small round ‘hammers’, which I am sure must have caused some consternation to my parents. Sadly, other toys interested me more later, and I never learned to play anything resembling a real tune on it.

Once I was older, I became interested in Jazz music and listened to some records where some of the solos were played on an instrument called ‘Vibes’ When I eventually saw a photo of someone playing them, I realised that it was little more than a huge xylophone, with the addition of tubes to amplify the sound. It was known as a ‘Vibraphone’.

The leading exponent of this instrument was the American Jazz-man Lionel Hampton.

Here is Lionel, playing his huge hit ‘Flying Home’.
I still like the sound.

57 thoughts on “An Alphabet Of things I Like: X”

  5. I always found it amusing that the highly respected astronomer Patrick Moore was an accomplished exponent of the xylophone! He used to bash out rapid-fire tunes with a comically straight face. 😀 Cheers, Jon.

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    1. Sorry to hear you are not a fan of Lionel, Cindy. 🙂
      There was a TV show for deaf children called ‘Vision On’. They used to show the pictures that the kids sent in, and accompany that with a xylophone theme tune.

      Best wishes, Pete. x

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        1. I saw a lot more interesting X-rays when I was an EMT. But many were ‘X-Certificate’. That would have been another choice for X! I couldn’t see how I could like a Quest without really having been on one. 🙂

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          1. You could have gone with Quiet. Think about that the next time acorns start dropping like crazy on your roof, the neighbor’s dog barks all night long at the moon, or the worst part of a thunderstorm hovers right above your house.

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  13. I got a toy xylophone like the one you pictured. It came with Dum•Dums that matched each color: cherry, orange, lemon, lime, cotton candy, blue blueberry, grape, and bubble gum. I took off the wrappers and played me some deliciously beautiful music with them.* But then my pop, who was a real dum-dum, gave them to L’Ollie, my lollipop-loving dog, who licked off the candy and buried the sticks.

    * Whenever I played the xylophone, I’d shout, “Look, ma, no hands!” To her credit, she always believed me, just as you believe everything I’ve written here!

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