Well you can have 1 or 2 mallets. If you want to make more noise at once then use 2.
Mallets are used for the xylophone. I myself own one and you can get mallets most likely at your local music store (or order off the internet.) Do NOT use drumsticks. Those are made for drums. Not a xylophone.
I would probably say marimba and xylophone are the two most alike. They both are part of the percussion family, both have wooden bars, both stuck with mallets by the instrumentalist.
The xylophone and the marimba are just two of several percussion musical instruments struck by mallets. A line of bells in an orchestra is also hit with a mallet. The term mallet to produce sound, is not like the heavy wooden or rubber malletused to drive tent pegs into the ground when camping.
This instrument is played like the xylophone, using the mallets. One can only play the main melody line -and not the harmony- even if the glockenspiel player could hold two mallets in each hand. On the other hand using vibraphone one can play both: the melody and the harmony.
The xylophone was first used in the 14th century in Southeast Asia. it is a wooden instrument played by two wooden malets!
xylophone x-ray
two trillion dollars
The xylophone and timpani are two examples.
Xylophone
Two of them: Xylophone X-Ray
Musicians playing the 'vibraphones' or 'vibes' can choose to play "two-mallet style" which is to say: one mallet (stick) per hand, or "four-mallet style" which is two mallets (sticks) per hand.Some players even play with three mallets (one in one hand and two in the other.)
A xylophone is a type of percussion instrument made of hardwood or metal bars that are tuned to specific notes.