Jaime Sanches, age 11, of Santa Cruz, Calif., for his question:

IS THE XYLOPHONE A NEW INSTRUMENT?

A xylophone is a percussion musical instrument. The player produces tones by hitting wooden sounding bars with hard mallets.

The xylophone is actually a very old instrument. It is closely related to many oriental instruments and was also common among the early Slavic peoples.

The sounding bars of early instruments were often made of glass or pinewood. Rosewood is more commonly used on today's instruments.

The xylophone has the range of three octaves or more. It is used to provide special effects in bands and orchestras, and is also used occasionally for solo playing.

Two similar instruments are the vibraphone and the orchestra bells.