Percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater (including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles); struck, scraped or rubbed by hand; or struck against another similar instrument. The percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments, following the human voice.[1]
The percussion section of an orchestra most commonly contains instruments such astimpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and tambourine. However, the section can also contain non-percussive instruments, such as whistles and sirens, or a blown conch shell. On the other hand, keyboard instruments, such as the celesta, are not normally part of the percussion section, but keyboard percussion instruments such as the glockenspiel andxylophone (which do not have piano keyboards) are included.
Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Pitched percussioninstruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and unpitched percussioninstruments, which produce notes without an identifiable pitch.[2][3]
The percussion section of an orchestra most commonly contains instruments such astimpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle and tambourine. However, the section can also contain non-percussive instruments, such as whistles and sirens, or a blown conch shell. On the other hand, keyboard instruments, such as the celesta, are not normally part of the percussion section, but keyboard percussion instruments such as the glockenspiel andxylophone (which do not have piano keyboards) are included.
Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Pitched percussioninstruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and unpitched percussioninstruments, which produce notes without an identifiable pitch.[2][3]
Castanets (idiophone) |
Castanets are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Kalo, Moorish,[1] Ottoman,ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of clicks. They are traditionally made of hardwood (chestnut; Spanish: castaño),[2] although fibreglass is becoming increasingly popular.
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Cabasa (idiophone) |
The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wide cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, narrow wooden or plastic handle.
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Chime Bar (idiophone) |
A chime bar or resonator bell[1] is a percussion instrument consisting of a tuned metal bar similar to a glockenspiel bar, with each bar mounted on its own wooden resonator.[2] [3] Chime bars are played with mallets again similar to a glockenspiel.
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Cowbell (idiophone) |
The cowbell is an idiophone hand percussion instrument used in various styles of music including salsa and infrequently in popular music. It is named after the similar bellhistorically used by herdsmen to keep track of the whereabouts of cows.
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Crash Cymbals (idiophone) |
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note (see: crotales). Cymbals are used in many ensembles ranging from the orchestra, percussion ensembles, jazz bands, heavy metal bands, and marching groups.
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Handbells (idiophone) |
A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle - traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic - and moves the wrist to make the hinged clapper inside the bell strike.
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Hi-hat (idiophone)
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A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kitby percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, metal, rock and roll, house, reggaeand other forms of contemporary popular music.[1] It is a standard part of the modern drum kit. The hi-hat consists of two cymbals that are mounted on a stand, one on top of the other, and a pedal which can be used to clash and hold the cymbals together.
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Lummi Sticks (idiophone) |
"Rhythm stick" redirects here. For the song by Ian Dury, see Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick.
Lummi sticks, named after the Lummi Native American peoples, are hardwood cylindrical sticks, usually roughly 7 inches long, and 0.75 inches in diameter, used as percussive musical instrument. They are generally struck against one another, and used frequently in musical education to teach rhythm. |
Marimba (idiophone) |
The marimba (/məˈrɪmbə/) is a percussion instrument consisting of a set of wooden bars struck with mallets to produce musical tones. Resonators attached to the bars amplify their sound. The bars are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural bars (similar to a piano) to aid the performer both visually and physically. This instrument is a type of idiophone, but with a more resonant and lower-pitched tessitura than thexylophone.
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Steelpans (idiophone)
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Steelpans (also known as steel drums or pans, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steel band or orchestra) is a musical instrument originating from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Steel pan musicians are called pannists.
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Suspended Cymbal (idiophone) |
A suspended cymbal is any single cymbal played with a stick or beater rather than struck against another cymbal. Common abbreviations used are "sus. cym.," or "sus. cymb." (with, or without the period).
Most drum kits contain at least two suspended cymbals: a crash cymbal and a ride cymbal. |
Triangle (idiophone)
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The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar ofmetal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve. It was first made around the 16th century
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Woodblock (idiophone) |
A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound.
East Asian musics use a variety of wood blocks ranging from small hand-held instruments to enormous (often immovable) temple blocks which may be sounded by swinging a large log against them.[citation needed] Log drums made from hollowed logs, and slit drums made from bamboo, are used in Africa and the Pacific Islands. |
Xylophone (idiophone) |
The xylophone (from the Greek words ξύλον--xylon, "wood"[1] + φωνή--phonē, "sound, voice",[2]meaning "wooden sound") is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of woodenbars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whetherpentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use.
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Bass Drum (membranophone) |
Bongos (membranophone) |
Bongos (Spanish: bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra (female) and the smaller themacho (male). They are membranophones, or instruments that create sound by a vibration of a stretched membrane
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Conga (membranophone) |
The conga (or tumbadora as the instrument is called in Cuba) is a tall, narrow, single-headedAfrican drum. The Cuban conga is staved, like a barrel. These drums may have been salvaged barrels originally.[citation needed] They are used in the Carnaval rhythm called conga (or conga de comprasa), and is the principal instrument in rumba. Congas are now very common in Latin music, including salsa music, merengue music and reggae, as well as many other forms ofpopular music.
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Snare Drum (membranophone) |
The snare drum or side drum is a widely used unpitched percussion instrument. It is often used in orchestras, marching bands, concert bands, drum corps and many other applications.
It is the center of the drum kit, the most prominent drum in most marching and stage bands, and the instrument that students of both orchestral and kit drumming learn to play first. The snare drum is almost always double-headed, with rattles (called snares) of gut, metal wire or synthetics stretched across one or both heads. |
Timpani or Kettledrums (membranophone) |
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet. Timpani evolved frommilitary drums to become a staple of the classical orchestra by the last third of the 18th century. Today, they are used in many types of musical ensembles includingconcert, marching, and even some rock bands.
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Tom-Tom drum (membranophone) |
A tom-tom drum (not to be confused with a tam-tam) is a cylindrical drum with nosnares. The name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala.[1] The tom-tom drum was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between 6 and 20 inches (15 and 51 cm) in diameter, though floor toms can go as large as 24 inches (61 cm).
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Slide Whistle
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A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee or swannee whistle, piston flute or jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like somewoodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. The construction is rather like a bicycle pump. Because the air column is cylindrical and open at one end and closed at the other, it overblows the third harmonic.
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Rainstick |
A rainstick is a long, hollow tube partially filled with small pebbles or beans that has small pins or thorns arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the pebbles fall to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of rain falling. It is designated 112.1+133.1 in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system.
The rainstick is believed to have been invented by the Aztecs and was played in the belief it could bring about rainstorms. Rainsticks are usually made from any of several species of cactus. |