The Aluphone is a tuned

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

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. General overview The term is descriptive of the ...

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 i ...

, 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 show, also known as trade fair, 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 The 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 abr ...

. 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, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. 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 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 Anders Koppel (born 17 July 1947 in Copenhagen) is a co-founder in 1967 of the rock group Savage Rose. From 1976 to 2012 he was a member of the trio Bazaar. He plays in the trio Koppel-Andersen-Koppel which includes his son, saxophone player Benjam ...

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, TOSD (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 Jam ...

“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 Mark Bowden (; born 1951) is an American journalist and writer. He is a former national correspondent and longtime contributor to ''The Atlantic''. Bowden is best known for his book ''Black Hawk Down (book), Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern W ...

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 (; , ''dithyrambos'') was an Ancient Greece, 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 ''Laws (dialogue), The Laws'', while dis ...

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

, 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 : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

to that of a

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

. 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 ''Halftime Magazine'' an American magazine focusing on the marching arts. The first issue debuted in the summer of 2007. It is a publication of Muse Media, LLC, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The bimonthly magazine covers high school marchi ...

, 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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, 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 publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press 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 often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

, last=McAloon , first=Jonathan , date=2015-08-11 , access-date=2018-05-09 {{cite web, url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/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 modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, 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.
PASIC 2011 – Aluphone
–

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

video of Kai Stensgaard playing the Aluphone at PASIC 2011.
James MacMillan – Aluphone
–

video of Colin Currie playing the Aluphone.
Santa Clara Vanguard – Aluphone
–

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