The glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned, metal bars or tubes, arranged the same way as the keyboard of a piano. The glockenspiel is usually smaller and higher in pitch than its wooden relation, the xylophone.

Glockenspiels are used in marching bands, when they are carried vertically in a frame or horizontally with a strap around the neck. In orchestras, they are played horizontally and held in a frame.

Glockenspiel keys are hit with hard beaters, which helps create their hard, bright, bell-like sound.