One of the main differences between the vibraphone and other keyboard percussion instruments is that each bar suspends over a resonator tube containing a flat metal disc.

The vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which it often plays a featured role, and was a defining element of the sound of mid-20th-century "Tiki lounge" exotica, as popularized by Arthur Lyman.

It is a standard instrument in the modern percussion section for orchestras, concert bands, and in the marching arts (typically as part of the front ensemble).

Around 1916, instrument maker Herman Winterhoff of the Leedy Manufacturing Company began experimenting with vox humana effects on a three-octave (F3 to F6) steel marimba.

[2] In 1921, Winterhoff perfected the design by instead attaching a motor that rotated small discs underneath the bars to achieve the same effect.

[4] The Leedy vibraphone managed to achieve a decent degree of popularity after it was used in the novelty recordings of "Aloha ʻOe" and "Gypsy Love Song" in 1924 by vaudeville performer Louis Frank Chiha.

[7] While the initial purpose of the vibraphone was as a novelty instrument for vaudeville orchestras, that use was quickly overwhelmed in the 1930s by its development in jazz music.

[9] At one recording session with bandleader Louis Armstrong, Hampton was asked to play a vibraphone that had been left behind in the studio.

[14] Other early classical composers to use the vibraphone were Alban Berg, who used it prominently in his opera Lulu in 1935,[15] and William Grant Still, who used it in his Afro-American Symphony that same year.

[18] Vibraphone mallets usually consist of a rubber ball core wrapped in yarn or cord and attached to a narrow dowel, most commonly made of rattan or birch and sometimes of fiberglass or nylon.

[19] The mallets can have a great effect on the timbre, ranging from a bright metallic clang to a mellow ring with no obvious initial attack.

Consequently, a wide array of mallets is available, offering variations in hardness, head size, weight, shaft length and flexibility.

[20] Classical players must carry a wide range of mallet types to accommodate the changing demands of composers who are looking for particular sounds.

As a side effect, the arch causes the nodal points of the fundamental vibration to shift closer towards the ends of the bar.

[32] A unique feature of vibraphone resonators is the shaft of rotating discs, commonly called fans, across the top.

A drive belt connects the shafts to an electric motor beneath the playing surface and rotates the fans.

[34] In 1970, Deagan introduced the ElectraVibe, which dispensed with resonator tubes entirely and took a signal directly from the bars, adding a tremolo in a preamplifier.

[35] For the first few years of production, the original Leedy vibraphone did not include a mechanism for damping, or stopping, the sustaining tones.

A rigid bar beneath the center of the instrument is pressed upward by an adjustable spring and engages a long felt pad against the sharps and the naturals.

To combat this, some manufacturers have made silicone- or liquid-filled damper pads whose fluid shape can conform evenly around the bars.

[45] The player must pay close attention to the damper pedal to avoid multiple notes ringing unintentionally at the same time.

This lets the bars ring slightly longer than with the pad fully up and can make a medium-fast passage sound more legato without pedaling every note.

In jazz groups, four-mallet vibraphonists are often considered part of the rhythm section, typically substituting for piano or guitar and providing accompaniment for other soloists in addition to soloing themselves.

Although some early vibes players made use of four mallets, notably Red Norvo, Adrian Rollini, and sometimes Lionel Hampton, the fully pianistic four-mallet approach to jazz on the vibraphone is almost entirely the creation of Burton.

[60] Like many other metallophones, percussionists can use an orchestral bow on the vibraphone to achieve sustained tones that will not decay, nor have a percussive attack.

[61] Due to the different mode of vibration, this also changes the sound of the vibraphone by emphasizing the higher harmonics and giving it a more "glassy" tone.

[62] Because changing notes requires large and precise movements, fast passages are not often written for bowed vibraphone.

[63] Bent notes can be achieved on the vibraphone by sliding a rubber or plastic mallet from the nodal point to the center of the bar.

[70] Solos may be jazz standards specifically arranged for the instrument or newly composed pieces that are either jazz-oriented or classical in nature.

Some of the most performed solo literature includes Mirror from Another by David Friedman, "Mourning Dove Sonnet" by Christopher Deane, Trilogy by Tim Huesgen, and "Blues for Gilbert" by Mark Glentworth.