The Aluphone is a tuned

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

consisting of aluminum bells that are struck with a

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. The term is descriptive of the overall size and propor ...

to produce musical tones. In its standard configuration, the bells of the Aluphone are mounted on a frame, but it can also be played as a single handheld bell or as a stack of bells. The bells of the Aluphone are very durable, so they can be struck with a large variety of mallets, wands, or hammers depending on the tone that the musician seeks to produce. The Aluphone is closely associated with

Evelyn Glennie Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015. Early life Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. The indi ...

, who played the instrument in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

History

According to Harry Ellis, the idea for the Aluphone was developed at a

trade show A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

that two men, Michael Hansen and Kai Stensgaard, were separately attending. At the trade show, Hansen was showcasing aluminum cones that were designed to protect the tops of wooden posts. As a musician, Stensgaard was curious about the sound the cones would make when he struck. He was impressed with the tone created by the metal cones when struck and asked if Hansen could produce cones that would produce an assortment of unique pitches that could be incorporated into a playable instrument. Hansen agreed to work with Stensgaard on the project. In 2011, Stensgaard presented the Aluphone for the first time at PASIC, a convention held by the

Percussive Arts Society Percussive Arts Society (PAS) is a non-profit organization for professional percussionists and percussion educators. It was founded in 1961 in the United States and has over 5,000 members in 40 American chapters, with another 28 chapters abroad. It ...

. In an interview, Glennie stated that she was not involved in the creation of the original Aluphone. After becoming interested in the instrument, she worked with Hansen and Stensgaard to develop a new version of the Aluphone, sometimes called the ''Glennie Aluphone'', for her to play at an upcoming performance of '' Caliban's Dream'' at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

. Stensgaard presented the Aluphone at PASIC again in 2013. Stensgaard stated: "A lot of people know the instrument now and really like the sound. Composers are writing for it."

Adam Schoenberg Adam Schoenberg (born November 15, 1980) is an American composer. A member of the Atlanta School of Composers, his works have been performed by numerous orchestras and ensembles in the U.S. Schoenberg was the 2010-2012 guest composer for the Asp ...

made use of the Aluphone in a 2013 orchestral composition called ''Bounce''. He believes that it was the first time that original music was composed for the Aluphone in an orchestral arrangement. Anders Koppel Concerto for Aluphone and Symphony Orchestra. Soloist plays aluphone and marimba. World Premier January 16 and 17, 2014 with Evelyn Glennie as the soloist. Written for Aluphone Glennie Concert 2 1/2 oct. Listen here. You can get the music from Edition Wilhelm Hansen: score – solo part

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

“Percussion Concerto No.2” Premiere by Colin Currie, November 7, 2014, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra with James Gaffigan at the Muziekcentrum Vredenburg (Utrecht) Oriol Cruixent “Oraculum” Op.72 (Latin, m., literally: oracle) is a Concerto for Multi-Percussion and Orchestra in seven parts. Oriol Cruixent has composed and dedicated “Oraculum” to the percussionist Vivi Vassileva, with whom he has a long-standing musical friendship. World premiere May 19, 2019 Mark Bowden Heartland, percussion concerto with Symphony Orchestra. Percussion part includes Aluphone Glennie Concert. Premier by BBC Wales May 15, 2013. Soloist Julian Warburton Conductor: Grant Llewellyn. Recorded in January 2013 by BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Max de Wardener Percussion Concerto with Symphony Orchestra: Percussion part includes Aluphone Glennie Concert. World premier June 19, 2013 in L´Auditorium de Bordeaux with Collin Currie as soloist. Glennie played the Aluphone again in a 2015 performance of

Dithyrambs The dithyramb (; grc, διθύραμβος, ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in ''The Laws'', while discussing ...

Cadogan Hall Cadogan Hall is a 950-seat capacity concert hall in Sloane Terrace in Chelsea in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. The resident music ensemble at Cadogan Hall is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), the firs ...

, receiving favorable reviews. She struck the bells of the Aluphone in a variety of ways to produce sounds ranging from those of a

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The ...

to that of a

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

. Kai Stensgaard Concerto for Aluphone & marimba with Symphony Orchestra 2020. 3 movements. Duration 20 minutes. Salvador Rojo Four Forces for percussion soloist & Orchestra 26:00. Premiered by Victor Segura Raga and Orquesta de extremadura. 1, movement for Aluphone & vibraphone. Askell Másson Capriccio for Darabuka & Orchestra. October 22, 2017 World Premiere. Iceland – Akureyri Hof Concert House. Sinfonia North, Askell Masson (Darabuka), Petri Sakari (cond.) Francisco Coll Mural was premiered by www.philharmonie.lu September 2016. The percussion section included an aluphone.

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web, url=http://www.classicfm.com/artists/dame-evelyn-glennie/news/evelyn-glennie-talks-classic-fm/ , title=Dame Evelyn Glennie at ClassicFM.com , website=ClassicFM.com , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=http://www.halftimemag.com/gear-up/the-aluphone.html , title=The Aluphone , magazine= Halftime Magazine , last=Berley , first=Samantha , date=2012-11-21 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-cm-adam-schoenberg-bounce-20130908-story.html , title=Adam Schoenberg's life gives his music some 'Bounce' , newspaper=

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

, last=Ng , first=David , date=2013-09-08 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=http://www.louisvilledrummer.com/pasic-2011-exhibitor-videos-pt-1/ , title=PASIC 2011 – Exhibitor Videos, pt.1 , year=2011 , website=LouisvilleDrummer.com , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=https://blog.oup.com/2013/12/marimba-kai-stensgaard/ , title=An interview with marimbist Kai Stensgaard , publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, last=Huntington , first=Scott , date=2013-12-10 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web , url=https://www.evelyn.co.uk/when-michael-met-kai/ , title=When Michael met Kai… , website=Teach the World to Listen , last=Glennie , first=Evelyn , date=2012-11-12 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/proms-chamber-music-4-evelyn-glennie-review/ , title=Proms Chamber Music 4: Evelyn Glennie, review: 'expressive' , newspaper=

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

, last=McAloon , first=Jonathan , date=2015-08-11 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/evelyn-glennie-from-the-nobel-prize-of-music-to-her-own-prom-spd2q3rllc6 , title=Evelyn Glennie: From the ‘Nobel prize’ of music to her own Prom , newspaper=

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...

, last=Whitworth , first=Damian , date=2015-08-06

External links

Aluphone – Tuned percussion for percussionists
– Official website sponsored by the creators of the Aluphone
BBC Music
– Excerpt of

playing a ''Concerto for Aluphone'' with the

Odense Symphony Orchestra The Odense Symphony Orchestra (Odense Symfoniorkester) is a Danish symphony orchestra based in Odense. The orchestra is resident in the Odense Concert Hall (inaugurated in 1982), specifically in the Carl Nielsen Hall (seating capacity of 1,212). ...

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PASIC 2011 – Aluphone
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YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

video of Kai Stensgaard playing the Aluphone at PASIC 2011.
James MacMillan – Aluphone
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video of Colin Currie playing the Aluphone.
Santa Clara Vanguard – Aluphone
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video of Santa Clara Vanguard playing the Aluphone at PASIC. *www.aluphone.com Pitched percussion instruments Metal percussion instruments Orchestral percussion instruments Keyboard percussion instruments