Help with music research!!!

OK, can someone or anyone help me, I need to know some characteristics of the "Metallophone" and it's country/region that it originated from!

Please help!

 

http://www.vsl.co.at/english/instruments/drums/mallets/glockenspiel/History.htm

"Metallophones have been played in eastern Asia for more than 1,000 years; the saron and the gendèr, for instance, still perform a crucial role as melody instruments today. Metallophones were first mentioned in Europe in the middle of the 18th century. These instruments had a compass of more than three octaves, the bars were made either of the same metal as bells, or of silver, and were already arranged in the manner of a piano keyboard. The mallets had heads made of wood."

http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/the_orchestra/instrument_world/asia/metallophone.html

" The metallophone is similar to other instruments such as the glockenspiel and vibraphone and it has become very popular for use in schools. The name, metallophone is really just a made up word to describe this type of instrument. The origins of metallophones are actually in Indonesia where there are many different types with names such as slentem, gender and saron. although the metal bars can be made of iron, copper or bronze, most Indonesian musicians agree that bronze is the best. For hundreds of years they have been played in large groups along with various gongs and drums to form what are called Gamelan orchestras.
You can find out more about Gamelan by visiting this very informative page."

 

http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/vim/cgi-bin/instrument.cgi?id=12

"Historical evidence suggests that a metallophone with keys suspended with a cord existed around the 10th century, perhaps under the name of salunding. It had less fewer keys than the contemporary gender. Such an instrument had an important role for accompanying a wayang. In Bali, only a set of gender, one pair in the medium to low registers and another pair in high to medium register, accompanies wayang performance. In Java, although a wayang is accompanied by a full ensemble, gender is still the most important instrument for accompanying a wayang performance. It plays in a gendhing, accompanies the song of the puppeteers, and plays as background music while the puppeteer narrates a scene or recites the dialogue. Because of the demand of the performance style, the register of gender became wider, expanding to two and one and half octaves."

 

Thanks very much cnybud, definitely more than enough there!

 

No problem. I now know what they are myself

 

Lol you learn somerhing new every day!