Percussion Instrument

The name “percussion” comes from the Latin percussus, meaning “to hit”, and so the number of actual instruments you can classify as percussion is almost endless. Composer John Cage included household items and car parts in his percussion music, while György Ligeti utilized car horns, doorbells, and the sound of smashing dinner plates in his opera Le Grand Macabre. While medieval music was often performed to the steady beat of a drum, perhaps the most recognizable percussion instruments in classical music are the timpani (sometimes called kettle drums)—large, tuned drums that marked time and signaled important harmonic changes as far back as the Baroque era. They still crown the orchestral layout today. As the orchestra grew, more instruments joined the fun. Pitched instruments—xylophones, vibraphones, marimbas, for example—have keys laid out like a piano, allowing them to play tunes and chords. Minimalist composer Steve Reich incorporates these instruments in much of his music, such as his Sextet. Unpitched percussion makes up the more strictly rhythmic instruments, such as snare drums, bass drums, cymbals, and tambourines. And there are wonderful special-effects instruments too, like the vibraslap, the waterphone, and the wind machine—all employed with great imagination by composers from Richard Strauss to Colin Matthews.