The
marimba is a
percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with
mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators attached to the bars amplify their sound. The bars are arranged as those of a
piano, with the
accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural bars (similar to a piano) to aid the performer both visually and physically. This instrument is a type of
idiophone, but with a more resonant and lower-pitched
tessitura than the
xylophone.