Rose Weiner, age 12, of Orlando, Fla., for her question:

WHO INVENTED THE XYLOPHONE?

We don't know who invented the xylophone, but we do know that the musical instrument is a very old one. The type used today was patterned after and related to ancient Oriental models.

The Ancient Slavic peoples also used a musical instrument related to today's xylophone.

The xylophone is actually a percussion musical instrument. A player produces tones by striking the wooden sounding bars with hard mallets. Metal resonating or sounding tubes are used in modern instruments. There were none in old models.

In the olden days, the sounding bars were made of glass or pinewood. Rosewood is more commonly used now. Early models also had limited range, but today's instruments have three or more octaves.

Two similar instruments are the vibraphone and the orchestra bells.