Percussion instrument

Percussion instruments are instruments which are played by shaking or hitting. There are many different kinds of percussion instruments. 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 required 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 kind of percussion instruments than in the other families: string, woodwind and brass instruments. However, older music does not often use lots of percussion. Most music for orchestra by composers like Mozart and Beethoven only use the timpani. In the 19th century, more percussion is added: cymbals, tambourine, triangle etc. In the 20th century, some composers may use very many 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. Sometimes composers have used things like typewriters, milk bottles or vacuum cleaners in their pieces.