How does a lamellaphone produce different musical pitches?

A lamellaphone produces different musical pitches through the use of a set of tuned metal or bamboo tongues, or lamellae, of varying lengths. These tongues are attached at one end to a soundboard, and their specific lengths determine the pitch of the notes they produce.1

In African musical traditions, the organization of these pitches is often influenced by factors such as language, the principle of equidistance, and the discovery of acoustics. Rather than being conceptualized strictly as high or low, pitches in many African contexts may be described in terms of size, such as "small" or "tiny" for higher-pitched notes and "big" or "fat" for lower-pitched, bass notes. Consequently, the physical size of the instrument and the length of its tongues are directly related to the range of pitches it is designed to produce.2