The Pixiphone was a range of toy

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

s (although they were inaccurately labelled as

xylophones The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

on their packaging). The larger Pixiphones had a 'raiser-bar' which could be used to end a note abruptly, rather than letting the sound fade naturally. Although marketed as a children's

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

, the Pixiphone could be tuned pitch-perfect and was very robust, resulting in many children using them at British schools for music instruction, and occasional use on professional recordings by established musicians (see "recordings" below). File:Pixiphone diatonic.jpg,

Diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...

Pixiphone File:Pixiphone chromatic.jpg, Chromatic Pixiphone

Manufacturer

The Pixiphone was manufactured by Chas E. Methven Ltd, Chatham, Kent, England, and distributed by Playcraft Toys Ltd England from the 1950s to the 1970s (or possibly later).

Recordings

The Pixiphone was played by Steve Took on three

Tyrannosaurus Rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

albums, where it is incorrectly (or jokingly) credited as a ''Pixiephone''. The instrument was also used on the

Badfinger Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are rec ...

song "She Came Out of the Cold" which featured on the compilation album ''Without You'', by Jeremy Baines on the first

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, and by Daisy Chute on the single "Lazy Daze". Ben Christophers also used one on two

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

songs, "Late Victorian Holocaust" and "Deep Water" on her ''

Give My Love to London ''Give My Love to London'' is the 20th solo album by British singer Marianne Faithfull. The 11-track album was released on 29 September 2014 on the Dramatico and Naïve record labels. In America and Canada, it was issued on 10 November by Easy ...

'' album, although again it is misspelled pixiephone in the booklet. It was also used on David Bowie's ''

The World of David Bowie ''The World of David Bowie'' is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 6March 1970 by Decca Records as part of their ''The World of...'' series following Bowie's success with the "Space Oddity" single. It p ...

''.

Similar instruments

A similar but unrelated instrument was sold as the ''Sooty Pixie Xylophone'' (Pixie with an e) in the same period.

References

Keyboard percussion instruments Struck idiophones Toy instruments and noisemakers {{Toy-stub