Percussion instrument
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Percussion instruments are instruments which are played by shaking or hitting. There are many different kinds of percussion instrument. A person who plays a percussion instrument is a percussionist. Percussionists are usually able to play lots of different percussion instruments, because the basic skills are similar.
Some percussion instruments can play tunes. These are called “tuned percussion”. Tuned percussion instruments include: xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, tubular bells and timpani.
Untuned percussion instruments include: bass drum, side drum (snare drum), maracas, castanets, cymbals, tambourine, claves and many more.
In an orchestra there can be more different sorts of percussion instruments than in the other families: string, woodwind and brass instruments. However, older music does not often use lots of percussion. Most orchestral music by composers like Mozart and Beethoven only use timpani. In the 19th century more percussion is added: cymbals, tambourine, triangle etc. In the 20th century some composers may use a large number of percussion instruments.
Whenever any unusual instrument is used that does not fit into the category of string, woodwind, brass or keyboard, it is usually played by a percussionist. Occasionally composers have used things like typewriters, milk bottles or vacuum cleaners in their orchestral pieces.
Drum kits are the basis of most pop music. Drum kits can include bass drum, side drum, tom-toms, cowbells, cymbals (suspended and hi-hat) etc. Together with a string bass (double bass) they will form the “rhythm section” of a jazz group. A percussion player has to have a very good sense of rhythm. The other players rely on him or her to keep a steady beat and not to play so loudly that the tune cannot be heard.