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45-399: Built in 1928, the theater cost $ 900,000 (inflation adjusted equivalent $ 12,430,000 in 2014) to construct. The builders were Charles Somma and Walter Coulter. The Byrd Theatre opened for the first time on December 24, 1928. At the time, adult tickets were 50 cents for evening shows and 25 cents for matinees, while a child's ticket was only 10 cents. The first movie was the film Waterfront ,

90-427: A First National film starring Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mulhall . In addition, the manager at the time was Robert Coulter, who remained the manager until his retirement in 1971, and is rumored to haunt the theatre. In 1953, the original 35mm Simplex standards were replaced by newer projectors of the same model. The Byrd was originally segregated. The balcony was intended to accommodate African-Americans, but instead

135-519: A buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings. The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets. The silimba is a xylophone common among the Nkoya and Lozi people of Barotseland , western Zambia . The tuned keys are tied atop resonating gourds . Known as shinjimba among the Nkoya, it is used at the Kazanga, a traditional royal ceremony of the Nkoya. The silimba

180-622: A group of Malayo-Polynesian speaking peoples migrated to Africa, and compared East African xylophone orchestras and Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras. This was more recently challenged by ethnomusicologist and linguist Roger Blench who posits an independent origin in of the Xylophone in Africa, citing, among the evidence for local invention, distinct features of African xylophones and the greater variety of xylophone types and proto-xylophone-like instruments in Africa. The earliest evidence of

225-439: A historical drama. Ensembles consist of around ten xylophones of three or four sizes. A full orchestra would have two bass instruments called gulu with three or four wooden keys played standing up using heavy mallets with solid rubber heads, three tenor dibinda , with ten keys and played seated, and the mbila itself, which has up to nineteen keys of which up to eight may be played simultaneously. The gulu uses gourds and

270-423: A novelty act at symphony concerts. The western xylophone was used by early jazz bands and in vaudeville . Its bright, lively sound worked well the syncopated dance music of the 1920s and 1930s. Red Norvo , George Cary, George Hamilton Green , Teddy Brown , Harry Breuer and Harry Robbins were among the well-known players. As time passed, the xylophone was exceeded in popularity by the metal-key vibraphone , which

315-463: A print surviving complete at Cineteca Italiana in Milan . This article about a silent comedy-drama film is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Xylophone The xylophone (from Ancient Greek ξύλον ( xúlon )  'wood' and φωνή ( phōnḗ )  'sound, voice'; lit.   ' sound of wood ' ) is a musical instrument in

360-562: A purchase agreement for the Byrd with the intent of restoring and preserving the theatre. From 2007 to 2014, the Byrd Theatre Foundation raised more than $ 1 million for replacing the roof, renovating the heating and cooling units, and investing in digital projection. In 2017 the center section of seats on the main floor were removed and replaced with 236 new seats and an ADA platform. The new rows of seats are further apart than

405-453: A range as 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 octaves but concert xylophones are typically 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 or 4 octaves. Like the glockenspiel, the xylophone is a transposing instrument : its parts are written one octave below the sounding notes. Concert xylophones have tube resonators below the bars to enhance the tone and sustain. Frames are made of wood or cheap steel tubing: more expensive xylophones feature height adjustment and more stability in

450-562: A true xylophone is from the 9th century in southeast Asia , while a similar hanging wood instrument, a type of harmonicon , is said by the Vienna Symphonic Library to have existed in 2000 BC in what is now part of China. The xylophone-like ranat was used in Hindu regions (kashta tharang). In Indonesia , few regions have their own type of xylophones. In North Sumatra , The Toba Batak people use wooden xylophones known as

495-650: A wild creeping plant. "Interlocking" or alternating rhythm features in Eastern African xylophone music such as that of the Makonde dimbila , the Yao mangolongondo or the Shirima mangwilo in which the opachera , the initial caller , is responded to by another player, the wakulela . This usually doubles an already rapid rhythmic pulse that may also co-exist with a counter-rhythm . The mbila (plural "timbila")

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540-832: Is Orff-Schulwerk , which combines the use of instruments, movement, singing and speech to develop children's musical abilities. Xylophones used in American general music classrooms are smaller, at about 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 octaves, than the 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 or more octave range of performance xylophones. The bass xylophone ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave lower than written. The alto ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher and sound as written. The soprano ranges are written from middle C to A an octave higher but sound one octave higher than written. According to Andrew Tracey, marimbas were introduced to Zimbabwe in 1960. Zimbabwean marimba based upon Shona music has also become popular in

585-557: Is an essential part of the folk music traditions of the Lozi people and can be heard at their annual Kuomboka ceremony. The shilimba is now used in most parts of Zambia. The akadinda and the amadinda are xylophone-like instruments originating in Buganda , in modern-day Uganda . The amadinda is made of twelve logs which are tuned in a pentatonic scale. It mainly is played by three players. Two players sit opposite of each other and play

630-545: Is associated with the Chopi people of the Inhambane Province , in southern Mozambique. It is not to be confused with the mbira . The style of music played on it is believed to be the most sophisticated method of composition yet found among preliterate peoples. The gourd-resonated, equal-ratio heptatonic -tuned mbila of Mozambique is typically played in large ensembles in a choreographed dance, perhaps depicting

675-624: Is used among the Mandinka people of West Africa. Its keys are mounted on gourds, and struck with mallets with rubber tips. The players typically wear iron cylinders and rings attached to their hands so that they jingle as they play. The earliest mention of a xylophone in Europe was in Arnolt Schlick 's Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten (1511), where it is called hültze glechter ("wooden clatter"). There follow other descriptions of

720-482: Is usually played in pairs, accompanied by a calabash gourd drum called a kuor . It can also be played by one person with the drum and the stick part as accompaniment, or by a soloist. Gyil duets are the traditional music of Dagara funerals. The instrument is generally played by men, who learn to play while young, however, there is no restriction on gender. The Gyil's design is similar to the Balaba or Balafon used by

765-405: The mbila and dibinda Masala apple shells as resonators. They accompany the dance with long compositions called ngomi or mgodo and consist of about 10 pieces of music grouped into 4 separate movements, with an overture, in different tempos and styles. The ensemble leader serves as poet, composer, conductor and performer , creating a text, improvising a melody partially based on

810-605: The Garantung (spelled: "garattung"). Java and Bali use xylophones (called gambang , Rindik and Tingklik ) in gamelan ensembles. They still have traditional significance in Malaysia , Melanesia , Indonesia, Thailand , Myanmar , and regions of the Americas. In Myanmar, the xylophone is known as Pattala and is typically made of bamboo. The term marimba is also applied to various traditional folk instruments such as

855-452: The Mande -speaking Bambara , Dyula and Sosso peoples further west in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso , a region that shares many musical traditions with those of northern Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is made with 14 wooden keys of an African hardwood called liga attached to a wooden frame, below which hang calabash gourds. Spider web silk covers small holes in the gourds to produce

900-468: The Pixiphone and many similar toys described by the makers as xylophones have bars of metal rather than of wood, and so are in organology regarded as glockenspiels rather than as xylophones. The modern western xylophone has bars of rosewood , padauk , cocobolo , or various synthetic materials such as fiberglass or fiberglass-reinforced plastic which allows a louder sound. Some can be as small

945-627: The balafon ) to achieve the characteristic buzzing sound. The repertoires of U.S. bands tends to have a great overlap, due to the common source of the Zimbabwean musician Dumisani Maraire , who was the key person who first brought Zimbabwean music to the West, coming to the University of Washington in 1968. Many music educators use xylophones as a classroom resource to assist children's musical development. One method noted for its use of xylophones

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990-454: The organ console to stage level for performances. There is an electrical and pneumatic switching system that aids the organist in choosing which pipes and other devices to use (all of the pipe work, bells, drums, and other effects are acoustic and not electronic). As the sound level of the pipes themselves cannot be changed, the sound levels in the actual auditorium are controlled by large slats called swell shades that open and close to control

1035-451: The semantron . However, in the orchestra , the term xylophone refers specifically to a chromatic instrument of somewhat higher pitch range and drier timbre than the marimba , and these two instruments should not be confused. A person who plays the xylophone is known as a xylophonist or simply a xylophone player . The term is also popularly used to refer to similar instruments of the lithophone and metallophone types. For example,

1080-545: The 1950s, Dick Leibert made recordings playing the organ. The Wurlitzer is still played Saturday nights by current house organist Bob Gulledge. As a result of its longevity, the Byrd Theatre was designated as a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1978, followed in 1979 by listing on the National Register of Historic Places . In 2007, the Byrd Theatre Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, entered into

1125-689: The United States, there are Zimbabwean marimba bands in particularly high concentration in the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and New Mexico, but bands exist from the East Coast through California and even to Hawaii and Alaska. The main event for this community is ZimFest, the annual Zimbabwean Music Festival. The bands are composed of instruments from high sopranos, through to lower soprano, tenor, baritone, and bass. Resonators are usually made with holes covered by thin cellophane (similar to

1170-594: The West Africa balafon . Early forms were constructed of bars atop a gourd . The wood is first roasted around a fire before shaping the key to achieve the desired tone. The resonator is tuned to the key through careful choice of size of resonator, adjustment of the diameter of the mouth of the resonator using wasp wax and adjustment of the height of the key above the resonator. A skilled maker can produce startling amplification. The mallets used to play dibinda and mbila have heads made from natural rubber taken from

1215-401: The auditorium (with over 5,000 crystals illuminated by 500 red, blue, green and amber lights), the interior features imported Italian and Turkish marble, hand-sewn velvet drapes, and oil on canvas murals of Greek mythology. More unusual features included a central vacuum system and a natural spring and pool in the basement which used to supply water to the air conditioning system. Built during

1260-463: The beaten ends. Xylophones should be played with very hard rubber, polyball, or acrylic mallets. Sometimes medium to hard rubber mallets, very hard core, or yarn mallets are used for softer effects. Lighter tones can be created on xylophones by using wooden-headed mallets made from rosewood, ebony, birch, or other hard woods. The instrument has obscure ancient origins. Nettl proposed that it originated in southeast Asia and came to Africa c. AD 500 when

1305-725: The community! Performers include Eduardo Durão and Venancio Mbande. The gyil ( English: / ˈ dʒ ɪ l ə , dʒ iː l / ) is a pentatonic instrument common to the Gur -speaking populations in Ghana , Burkina Faso , Mali and Ivory Coast in West Africa . The Gyil is the primary traditional instrument of the Dagara people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, and of the Lobi of Ghana, southern Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast . The gyil

1350-460: The features of the Chopi tone language and composing a second contrapuntal line. The musicians of the ensemble partially improvise their parts. The composer then consults with the choreographer of the ceremony and adjustments are made. The longest and most important of these is the "Mzeno" which will include a song telling of an issue of local importance or even making fun of a prominent figure in

1395-514: The film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. The film was directed by William A. Seiter and starred Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mulhall , then a popular duo under the First National banner. The film featured a theme song that was entitled "I Love You Dear" which was written by Gerard Carbonara. The new Library of Congress database shows

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1440-587: The front doors. Media coverage following the event, however, inspired Richmonders to donate much needed money for the landmark. Richmond-born musician Lucy Dacus filmed the music video for her song "Hot and Heavy" at the Byrd Theatre and shot the cover art for her third album Home Video at the Theatre as well. Waterfront (1928 film) Waterfront is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy drama film released with sound effects and music, produced and released by First National Pictures . While

1485-414: The instrument had already been popularized to some extent by Michael Josef Gusikov , whose instrument was the five-row xylophone made of 28 crude wooden bars arranged in semitones in the form of a trapezoid and resting on straw supports. There were no resonators and it was played fast with spoon-shaped sticks. According to musicologist Curt Sachs , Gusikov performed in garden concerts, variety shows, and as

1530-555: The instrument, though the term "xylophone" is not used until the 1860s. The instrument was associated largely with the folk music of Central Europe, notably Poland and eastern Germany. An early version appeared in Slovakia and the earliest reference to a similar instrument came in the 14th century. The first use of a European orchestral xylophone was in Camille Saint-Saëns ' Danse Macabre , in 1874. By that time,

1575-485: The originals offering much needed leg room. The remaining seat frames are still original, and though some are torn, most of the upstairs patterned mohair-covered upholstery is still original. In 2006 a Dolby Digital sound system was installed, having been personally donated by the system's creator Ray Dolby after touring the theatre two years prior. In 2010, a thief stole the "Byrd Cage" donation box, probably netting less than $ 100 but causing about $ 1,200 worth of damage to

1620-431: The percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets . Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale , whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use. The term xylophone may be used generally, to include all such instruments such as the marimba , balafon and even

1665-547: The same logs in an interlocking technique in a fast tempo. It has no gourd resonators or buzzing tone, two characteristics of many other African xylophones. The amadinda was an important instrument at the royal court in Buganda, a Ugandan kingdom. A special type of notation is now used for this xylophone, consisting of numbers for and periods. as is also the case with the embaire , a type of xylophone originating in southern Uganda . The balo ( balenjeh , behlanjeh )

1710-432: The stand. In other music cultures some versions have gourds that act as Helmholtz resonators . Others are "trough" xylophones with a single hollow body that acts as a resonator for all the bars. Old methods consisted of arranging the bars on tied bundles of straw, and, is still practiced today, placing the bars adjacent to each other in a ladder-like layout. Ancient mallets were made of willow wood with spoon-like bowls on

1755-543: The theater did not open its doors to blacks until the 1960s. Until then, if a black person came to the theater, he or she would be given admission and cab fare to any of the black theaters in the city. As of 2023 the theatre plays second-run movies for $ 8.00 per ticket with the exception of certain festivals such as the Richmond French Film Festival , held annually in March; however, in March of 2023

1800-437: The theatre announced it would be unable to hold the festival that year, and the festival was discontinued in 2024. In 2007, the Byrd discontinued regular playing of classic movies at midnight shows on Saturday nights due to dwindling attendance. On March 15, 2024, William Shatner hosted the world premiere of his biographical documentary William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill at the Byrd. The theatre's architect and contractor

1845-405: The transition between silent and talking pictures , the designers outfitted the theatre with two sound systems. One of these was Vitaphone , a relatively new sound synchronization system using phonograph records that was commercially developed by Warner Brothers . " The Jazz Singer ," generally acknowledged as the first talking film, was recorded using this system. The other original sound system

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1890-634: The volume and a tone chute that carries the sound from the fourth floor. There is a Lyon and Healy harp which is purely ornamental and does not play, along with a marimba that does play from the organ console in the right box. In the left box there is a Wurlitzer grand piano which can be played from the organ console or its own keyboard and a 37-note xylophone that plays from the console. House organists have been Carl Rhond, Wilma Beck, Waldo S. Newberry, Slim Mathis, Bill Dalton, Harold Warner, Eddie Weaver, Art Brown, James Hughes, Lin Lunde, and Bob Lent. In

1935-579: Was Fred Bishop, and is considered to be of a French Empire style design. Inside, the theatre contains orchestra seating (main) for 916 and balcony seating for 476. The balcony is open whenever attendance requires and occasionally at other times by making a donation to the Byrd Theatre Foundation. The interior features a lavish design by the Arthur Brunet Studios of New York. In addition to eleven Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers, including an 18-foot, two-and-a-half ton chandelier suspended over

1980-585: Was developed in the 1920s. A xylophone with a range extending downwards into the marimba range is called a xylorimba . In orchestral scores, a xylophone can be indicated by the French claquebois , German Holzharmonika (literally "wooden harmonica"), or Italian silofono . Shostakovich was particularly fond of the instrument; it has prominent roles in much of his work, including most of his symphonies and his Cello Concerto No. 2 . Modern xylophone players include Bob Becker , Evelyn Glennie and Ian Finkel. In

2025-430: Was from Western Electric . Because at the time there was uncertainty whether "talkies" would continue to be popular and a significant number of the films distributed were still silent, the Byrd also included a Wurlitzer Theatre organ. The Wurlitzer organ of the Byrd Theatre is housed in four rooms on the fourth floor above the stage. The basement also houses a vacuum blower for the piano and an elevator room which raises

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