Music In My Heart

 

"Music In My Heart" ●
This is a sweet new piece I finished mid-November and hung it in the Sebastopol Gallery where I am the featured artist this month.

When I first came across this piece, I thought I had found a child's xylophone.  It was pretty well used, nicked scratched but I knew it could tell a great story, and that it would make a great wall assemblage.

Today, while researching the history of 'xylophones' I discovered that this is not a xylophone at all, but rather this is a glockenspiel (glocken:bells and spiel:play)

A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned metal bars arranged like the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates. The glockenspiel, is usually smaller and higher in pitch. A pair of hard, unwrapped mallets, generally with heads made of plastic or metal, are used to strike the bars, mallet heads can also be made of rubber. 

The next image was taken when I started working on the piece.  The wooden base was painted red, and the bars were white and black.  I decided to cover the wooden base in vintage sheet music, and to freshen up the overall look of the metal bars, I spray painted them.  

To add interest, I added embellishments consisting of a clock face, a tiny wheel, a level and a red heart hangs on the side. On the top side are 2 vintage brass drawer pulls. The piece is ready to hang.