Celesta
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The Celesta is a keyboard percussion instrument. It looks like, and has the action of, a small upright piano. Its soft, high-pitched, ethereal sound is produced by hammers striking metal plates like those of a glockenspiel, which are suspended over boxlike wooden resonators.
| Family |
| Percussions |
| Pitch range |
| About five octaves. |
| Material |
| Wooden casing, with metal plates set over wooden resonating boxes. |
| Size |
| About 3ft (91 cm) wide and 3 ft 3 in (1 m} high. |
| Origins |
| The first celesta was made in 1886 by Auguste and Alphonse Mustel in France. |
| Classification |
| Idiophone: an instrument that produces its sound through the use of the material from which it is made, without needing strings or a stretched skin. |
| And also... |
| The Russian com poser Tchaikovsky (1840-93) was one of the first composers to use the celesta in his music. |
