Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, contains a field of boulders that produce a metallic ringing sound when struck, as if they were hollow. The boulders consist of a volcanic basalt called diabase, and thus have a high content of iron and aluminum. In 1890, Dr. J. J. Ott collected a number of these rocks with different pitches and performed with a brass band. He was not the first person to give such a performance.

In the English Lake District, a set of ringing rocks from the mountain Skiddaw was collected in 1785 by Peter Crosthwaite, a local map publisher. He constructed an instrument consisting of 16 stones that created a diatonic scale spanning two octaves plus one note. The instrument is on exhibit in the region’s Keswick Museum, along with other “rock harmonicas.” The most remarkable rock harmonica is 12 feet in length, comprising five chromatic octaves of rock slabs. Like a xylophone, the slabs lie over a sound box on ropes of straw. A handbill advertising a public performance from the mid 1800s reads:

Richardsons’
Original Monstre
Rock Band
Invented and manufactured by
Messrs Richardson and Sons
after 13 years’ incessant labour and application
from rocks dug out of the mighty Skiddaw in Cumberland (1827-1840)*

Around this same time, the Till Family Rock Band (yes, that was their actual name) brought a similar instrument of Skiddaw stone to the U.S. and toured successfully. Part of their instrument is on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The Till and Richardson families were literally the first touring rock bands.

Ringing rocks have been used in cultures all over the world — a very good overview is available at lithophones.com. Examples of suspended stone chime bars made of marble or jade, some dating back thousands of years, are found in China. But evidence for the most ancient musical uses of ringing rocks comes from Neolithic sites such as Birnin Kudu in Nigeria, where “rock gongs” were discovered in 1955. The rocks cluster within a hundred feet of cave paintings and seem to indicate that they were used as part of an ensemble. Although difficult to date with any certainty, the world’s first rock band could be 4,000 years old or more.

*from Percussion Instruments and Their History by James Blades
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