You play a virtual glockenspiel online. It’s a virtual glockenspiel that you play on your browser by hitting 32 steel bars. It includes a detailed 3D model of an instrument sitting in its case on screen. Note letters is marked on each bar and as you play, two mallets swing down onto the bars. Zoom and rotate the model. Real glockenspiel recordings are used for each note so you don’t just get a simple electronic beep but hear the bright ringing sound of steel.
Play using your computer keyboard. You can also use your fingers on a tablet or phone, or even a mouse. You don’t need to install or download anything.
How to Play the Virtual Glockenspiel
There is no separate sound button. On the bottom it says Tap a note to play. When you tap your initial note, it gets things set up for recording and then displays Sound ready. Clicking on the question mark at the top takes you to a brief guide as well as the sound credits.
The Full screen button makes the glockenspiel fill your entire screen. Press Esc or click Exit full screen to go back to the page. The Volume slider is found in the bottom bar.
To play the 3D glockenspiel simply click or tap on any of the bars. This will light up the bar and cause one of the two mallets to swing down and play the bar. From note to note the two mallets alternate. If you want to play a sparkling glissando then you can drag across multiple bars to achieve this effect. Notes ring on and fade out naturaly by themselves allowing them to blend with other notes.
This model offers a choice of 32 note pads. These are frequently more usable on a smaller screen and there is one pad per bar. You can then either tap the individual pads or sweep across them. Each pad contains the written notes from an F3 upwards to a C6. What you actualy hear is two octaves higher as the glockenspiel sounds two octaves above what is written. Both these values appear in the 3D view. A line at the bottom reads: Written F3 · sounds F5 each time you play a note.
The pads correspond with the letters on a computer keyboard: A W S E D F T G Y H U J K, followed by O L P; Z X C V B N M,. These are followed by the number keys 1 to 5. Each key is one semitone up from the previous key. So, for example, 5 is the highest note, and A is the lowest note. Each pad indicates which key plays it.
The Space bar produces your previously played note. The glockenspiel is framed separately on the page and needs to be clicked into first before playing from the keyboard.
To turn this feature on, click Auto roll. For a bright roll, the glockenspiel plays three quick notes per beat as long as the chosen bar is struck. If you want to change the note but not stop the roll, just tap another bar or pad. To stop the roll, click Auto roll once more. Use the Tempo slider to speed up or slow down the roll.
Underneath the pads is a Touch slider that determines how hard the mallets hits each note. Increase it for brighter, louder notes. Decrease it for a gentler, softer sound. While you’re playing, the text next to it provides short tips.
To use for tunes, open the song menu and select Morning steps, Twinkle, Twinkle or Ode to Joy. Tap ▶ Play song to have the glockenspiel play that tune. Tap Ⅱ Pause to pause the music. Then tap ▶ Resume. Tap the ↻ button to repeat the song in a loop. Tap the ■ button to stop sound.
The Tempo slider ranges from 50 to 150. When you select a song, it starts at the tempo of that particular song. A strip above the pads shows what’s coming up, including the number of beats each note will last. Tap on a note in the strip to hear it.
Click ◇ Game when you’re ready to have a go. Now the pad that you should use lights up green. Next time is marked in amber. They appear on the NEXT/strip which shows them NOW. Play the correct note and the game awaits your playing before moving forward. You can use the keyboard, pads or even the 3D bars. Each time you need to repeat a note, simply press it again. The counter will show how far into the song you’ve got. If you get the wrong note, a hint will remind you to play the green one. When you’ve finished you’ll see Complete!. Play it again or choose another song.
Click 3D to explore the virtual online glockenspiel. Rotate by dragging the background or by using two fingers on a touchscreen. You can also scroll to zoom. Even while looking around, you can still play the bars by touch. Click ↺ to return to start position. Disabling Rotate does the same thing.
Beginners should sweep gently from side to side over the bars of the instrument and listen to the entire range. Next, select Game mode, slide the tempo down and play Twinkle, Twinkle. On this one bar try Auto roll at the top end. You could of tried it earlier.
