Percussion Instruments

C) PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

They produce sound by rubbing, shaking, plucking, scraping or striking them. Some have got elements that vibrate to produce sound (rattles, bells) while others have got a stretched membrane that is made vibrate (drums, timpani). Percussion instruments are used to give emphasis to the rhythm. They can be divided into two groups: pitched percussion instruments or unpitched percussion instruments. 

Pitched percussion instruments

They can produce notes with an identifiable pitch, for example, xylophones, glockenspiels, metallophones, marimbas, timpani etc.

Thomas Quine. Bone xylophone. Flickr. (CC BY)

Xylophone sound

Cliff. Marimba. Wikimedia Commons.(CC BY)

Marimba sound

Vxla. Timpani. Flickr. (CC BY)

Timpani sound

Unpitched percussion instruments

They don't produce specific pitches, for example, drums, maracas, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, etc.

Ocdp. Snare drum. Wikimedia Commons. (CC0)

Snare drum sound

PublicDomainPictures. Tambourine. Pixabay. (Licencia Pixabay)

Tambourine sound

Joanjo Castello. Cymbals. Pixabay. (Licencia Pixabay)

Cymbals sound