Percussion instrument
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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. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments.[1] In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and chordophone.
The
Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes:
Function
Percussion instruments may play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony.
Percussion is commonly referred to as "the backbone" or "the heartbeat" of a musical ensemble, often working in close collaboration with bass instruments, when present. In jazz and other popular music ensembles, the pianist, bassist, drummer and sometimes the guitarist are referred to as the rhythm section. Most classical pieces written for full orchestra since the time of Haydn and Mozart are orchestrated to place emphasis on the strings, woodwinds, and brass. However, often at least one pair of timpani is included, though they rarely play continuously. Rather, they serve to provide additional accents when needed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, other percussion instruments (like the triangle or cymbals) have been used, again generally sparingly. The use of percussion instruments became more frequent in the 20th century classical music.
In almost every style of music, percussion plays a pivotal role.
Because of the diversity of percussive instruments, it is not uncommon to find large musical ensembles composed entirely of percussion. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are all represented in these ensembles.
Percussion notation
Music for pitched percussion instruments can be
Classification
Percussion instruments are classified by various criteria sometimes depending on their construction, ethnic origin, function within musical theory and orchestration, or their relative prevalence in common knowledge.
The word percussion derives from the Latin verb percussio to beat, strike in the musical sense, and the noun percussus, a beating. As a noun in contemporary English, Wiktionary describes it as the collision of two bodies to produce a sound. The term is not unique to music, but has application in medicine and weaponry, as in percussion cap. However, all known uses of percussion appear to share a similar lineage beginning with the original Latin percussus. In a musical context then, the percussion instruments may have been originally coined to describe a family of musical instruments including drums, rattles, metal plates, or blocks that musicians beat or struck to produce sound.
The Hornbostel–Sachs system has no high-level section for percussion. Most percussion instruments as the term is normally understood are classified as idiophones and membranophones. However the term percussion is instead used at lower-levels of the Hornbostel–Sachs hierarchy, including to identify instruments struck with either a non sonorous object hand, stick, striker or against a non-sonorous object human body, the ground. This is opposed to concussion, which refers to instruments with two or more complementary sonorous parts that strike against each other and other meanings. For example:
111.1
111.2 .
21 Struck drums, includes most types of drum, such as the timpani, snare drum, and tom-tom.
412.12
There are many instruments that have some claim to being percussion, but are classified otherwise:
- Keyboard instruments such as the celesta and piano.[a]
- Stringed instruments played with beaters such as the hammered dulcimer.
- Unpitched whistles and similar instruments, such as the pea whistle and Acme siren.
Percussion instruments are sometimes classified as
By methods of sound production
Many texts, including Teaching Percussion by Gary Cook of the University of Arizona, begin by studying the physical characteristics of instruments and the methods by which they can produce sound. This is perhaps the most scientifically pleasing assignment of nomenclature whereas the other paradigms are more dependent on historical or social circumstances. Based on observation and experimentation, one can determine how an instrument produces sound and then assign the instrument to one of the following four categories:
Idiophone
"Idiophones produce sounds through the vibration of their entire body."[5] Examples of idiophones:
- Bells
- Bock-a-da-bock
- Cabasa
- Cajón
- Castanets
- Celesta
- Chimes
- Claves
- Cowbell
- Crash cymbals
- Crotales
- Daxophone
- Flexatone
- Glockenspiel
- Güiro
- Handbells
- Hi-hat
- Lummi stick
- Maraca
- Marimba
- Orchestra bells
- Quadrangularis Reversum
- Ratchet
- Singing bowls
- Slit drum
- Steelpan
- Suspended cymbal
- Temple blocks
- Thumb piano(or Kalimba)
- Triangle
- Txalaparta
- Vibraphone
- Vibraslap
- Wood block
- Xylophone
Membranophone
Most objects commonly known as drums are membranophones. Membranophones produce sound when the membrane or head is struck with a hand, mallet, stick, beater, or improvised tool.[5]
Examples of membranophones:
- Bass drum
- Bongos
- Conga
- Darbuka
- Djembe
- Kuzeh
- Mridangam
- Octoban
- Parai
- Rototom
- Snare drum
- Tabla
- Thavil
- Timpani
- Tom-tom
- Lion's roar
- Urumi (drum)
- Wind machine
Chordophone
Most instruments known as chordophones are defined as string instruments, wherein their sound is derived from the vibration of a string, but some such as these examples also fall under percussion instruments.
Aerophone
Most instruments known as aerophones are defined as
- Apito or samba whistle
- Siren
- Slide whistle
- Udu
- Whistle or police whistle
By musical function or orchestration
When classifying instruments by function it is useful to note if a percussion instrument makes a
For example, some percussion instruments such as the marimba and timpani produce an obvious fundamental pitch and can therefore play melody and serve harmonic functions in music. Other instruments such as crash cymbals and snare drums produce sounds with such complex overtones and a wide range of prominent frequencies that no pitch is discernible.
Definite pitch of Music
Percussion instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as pitched or tuned.
Examples of percussion instruments with definite pitch:
Indefinite pitch
Instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as non-pitched, unpitched, or untuned. Traditionally these instruments are thought of as making a sound that contains such complex frequencies that no discernible pitch can be heard.
In fact many traditionally unpitched instruments, such as triangles and even cymbals, have also been produced as tuned sets.[3]
Examples of percussion instruments with indefinite pitch:
By prevalence in common knowledge
It is difficult to define what is common knowledge but there are instruments percussionists and composers use in contemporary music that most people would not consider musical instruments. It is worthwhile to try to distinguish between instruments based on their acceptance or consideration by a general audience.
For example, most people would not consider an
Percussion instruments generally fall into the following categories:
Conventional or popular
Unconventional
- Anvils
- Automobile brake drum
- Beer kegs
- Brooms
- Clay pots
- Firearms or explosive charges
- Five gallon buckets
- Garbage cans
- Glass bottles
- Hammer
- Metal pipes
- Metal pots
- Plastic bottles
- Plastic bag
- Rocks in a bucket
- Shopping carts
- Spokes on a bicycle wheel
- Tableware
One pre-20th century example of found percussion is the use of
By cultural significance or tradition
It is not uncommon to discuss percussion instruments in relation to their cultural origin. This led to a division between instruments considered common or modern, and folk instruments with significant history or purpose within a geographic region or culture.
Folk percussion instruments
- Berimbau
- Bodhrán
- Bombo legüero
- Bongo drum
- Cajon
- Conga
- Dhaa
- Dhime
- Dhol
- Dholak
- Djembe
- Dunun
- Gamelan
- Ghatam
- Kalimba(Thumb Piano)
- Kpanlogo
- Lagerphone
- Latin percussion
- Madal
- Marimba
- Marimbula
- Naykheen
- Pogo cello
- Skrabalai
- Spoons
- Steelpan
- Tabla
- Taiko
- Tambourine
- Thavil
- Timbales
- Tonbak
- Urumee
- Udukai
"Common" drums
This category includes instruments that are widely available and popular throughout the world:
- Drum kit, typically consisting of:
- Bass drum
- Crash cymbal
- Ride cymbal
- Floor tom
- Hi-Hatcymbals
- Snare drum
- Tom-tom drums
- Marching percussion instruments
- Orchestral percussion instruments
By capability of melodic production
- Non-melodic percussion: bongos, snare drum, etc.
- gendér, etc.
By percussive beater
The percussionist uses various objects to strike a percussion instrument to produce sound.
- Hands: hand drums, body percussion
- Sticks: drum kit
- Mallets: mallet percussion, timpani
- Auxiliary: triangle, cymbals
- Feet: Step dance, Tap dance
Names for percussionists
The general term for a musician who plays percussion instruments is "percussionist" but the terms listed below often describe specialties:
- Balafonist: a balafonplayer.
- Bombisto: a bombo legüero player.
- ).
- Congalero, conguero: someone who plays congas.
- Cymbalist: someone who plays cymbals.
- Djembefola: djembeplayer.
- Drummer: someone who plays the drumset, hand drums or a single drum such as Snare drum.
- Dununfola: dunun player.
- Glockenspielist: someone who plays the glockenspiel.
- Güirero: someone who plays the güira, a Dominican scraper used in merengue music.
- Marimbist: a marimbaplayer.
- Panman, pannist: a steelpanplayer.
- Timbalero, timbero: someone who plays timbales.
- Timpanist: a timpaniplayer.
- Vibraphonist: a vibraphone player.
- Xylophonist: a xylophoneplayer.
Within rock music, the term "percussionist" is often used to refer to someone who plays percussion instruments but is not primarily a drummer. The term is especially found in bands where one person plays drums and another plays other hit instruments.
See also
- List of percussion instruments
- List of percussionists
- Lists of tuned and untuned percussion instruments
- Orchestral percussion
- Percussion notation
- Vocal percussion
- Rudimental percussion
- Percussion ensemble
References
Notes
- ^ Note however that percussion instruments such as the xylophone, which share the layout of the piano keyboard but themselves have no keyboard, are termed keyboard percussion and are universally regarded as being within the percussion family.
Citations
- ISBN 0-19-866212-2
- ^ "Instruments: Philharmonia Orchestra". Philharmonia.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-07-22. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
- ^ a b "Percussion — Musical Instruments at your Fingertips". www.miayf.org. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015.
- ^ "Drums from around the World • Elephant Drums". Elephant Drums. 2019-03-13. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ ISBN 0-534-50990-8
Further reading
- James Blades, Percussion Instruments and Their History, (1970).
- Shen, Sinyan, Acoustics of Ancient Chinese Bells, Scientific American, 256, 94 (1987).
- ISBN 978-1-58046-214-3.
External links
- Percussion instruments at Curlie
- Drummer Brasil — Website for drummers and percussionists
- Video clips of percussion instruments demonstrated
- Drum Museum, Information about antique hand drums from Africa, New Guinea and the Himalayas
- Akul Raval - Maximum Innovative Musical Instruments Created By A Percussionist honored by World Records India