Percussion

A varied array of percussion instruments, including bells, cymbals of different sizes, various kinds of drum, a triangle, octobans, and even improvised items such as a pail. (Pic: Ottmar Liebert)

Percussion is one of the main categories of musical instrument, which includes all instruments that produce a sound when struck or shaken. This encompasses a wide variety of drums, as well as ethnic percussion items such as cajons, accessory items like triangles, and the standard array of keyboard instruments, including xylophones, glockenspiels and technically, the piano, since the sound is produced by a hammer striking a string.

Classification

The instruments of the percussion family may be placed into one of four categories:

1. Wooden instruments (called woods or keyboard instruments (excluding the vibraphone))
2. Metal instruments (called metals)
3. Skin-covered instruments (called hand drums)
4. Other sound sources

List of percussion instruments

Wooden

• marimba
• xylophone
• xylorimba or xylomarimba

Metals

• orchestral bells
• vibraphone
• tubular chimes
• celesta
• button gong
• gong
• crotales
• steel drum
• handbells
• almglocken
• anvil
• musical saw
• flexatone
• tubaphone

Skin-Covered

• timpani
• roto-tom

Other Sound Sources

• slide whistle
• musical glasses

Basic Percussion Strokes

The fundamental sound-producing gesture in percussion music is the single stroke. This consists simply of striking a sound-producing object once with something capable of setting the object into vibration . Below is an outline of the various strokes used in percussion music.

• single stroke
• flam
  • can be described as a fast combination of two single strokes, one played by each hand
• drag
  • a fast combination of three strokes, usually played either left-left-right or right-right-left
• ruff
• open roll
• closed roll or buzz roll or crush roll

Percussion instruments are used in most forms of music, providing a rhythm for the other instruments to keep to, as well as dramatic sounds that can punctuate important passages of the music. In the modern orchestra, the percussion section often includes timpani and a range of smaller instruments such as triangles, bells and woodblocks.

Percussion is particularly important in types of music, such as most Latin American and African styles, that place a strong emphasis on rhythm; these genres often use an array of traditional percussive instruments such as bongos and guiros. In recent years, some genres of popular music have abandoned 'real' percussion altogether in favor of drum machines, but the sounds these produce still have their roots in traditional drums and cymbals for the most part.

Percussion instruments are one of the oldest types of music-making device. Cymbals are often mentioned in the Bible, eg in Psalm 150:5.