Basic Beat BB108A 8-Note Colorful Diatonic C1-C2 Range Glockenspiel with Soft Mallets

After trying several brands and types of glockenspiels/ bells, this is the one I have chosen for my general music classes. These are the reasons why this one stood out to me: 1)It has enough notes for students to learn to play every note on the treble clef; 2)the bars are wide enough (the Sonor BWG are too small); 3) the rainbow colored notes are a logical pattern and students find it easier to learn with colored bars vs. the plain wood bars on our Orff xylophones; 4) the lid of case is perfect for propping up our music note books; and 5) the individual bars are removable and there are F# and Bb replacement bars for playing in other keys. I use these instruments with the "Mr. Everybody's Musical Apartment" Curriculum to teach students to read with the letter names the notes on the treble clef. Bells require a lot less hand coordination compared to recorders and ukuleles. So when you have a short amount of time, you can get much more accomplished in the music reading unit because the instruments are easier to play. I put as the title "Best for this type of Instrument" because they are slightly out of tune and a little too loud. Since I have a classroom playing them, I would like them to be softer. If you want a truly in tune instrument you will have to spend twice as much and they won't come in rainbow colors.

Have been looking for something this good, at this price, for quite a while. The tone is fine, shipment was quick, and it turns out (surprisingly) that I even like the bright colored bars . . . so I keep the lid open as it lives on the table in my recording studio (seem to bring some fun into the room).

Purchased this brand after purchasing a different one and the keys fell off before they even came out of the box. Returned those and bought these as we already have this brand but just didn't want to pay twice what we paid for the others. Decided that it would be worth the extra cost if the keys stayed on. They did to a certain extent but one of the keys did pop off the first time we used it. They are on better than the first product we purchased but they still come off so the children definitely need to be reminded to only pick them up by the base.