Percussion

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Percussion instruments are a diverse and interesting family. Every human culture plays them, and they are among the oldest instruments known to man. Percussion instruments are indispensable to practically every genre and style of music. In many cultures, the leader of a musical ensemble plays a percussion instrument to give signals to the other performers, such as when to stop, and to maintain the music’s rhythm. Percussion has religious and spiritual ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Like the snare drum and tenor drum, the bass drum originated in the Middle East. It is a large instrument with a cylindrical body and two heads, and is the drum used to keep the rhythm in marching bands. The modern orchestral bass drum (100 cm/70 in diameter and 50 cm/20 in long) is double headed and rod tensioned. Although single-headed orchestral bass drums were popular in the late-nineteenth century, the ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Bells are a feature of ceremony and ritual. They are used for meditation and prayer, and to mark significant life events such as funerals and weddings. Bells are used to mark out the timetable of our daily lives – appearing as alarm bells, warning signals and in mechanized chimes in clocks. In Japan, bonsho temple bells are rung 108 times at the end of the old year to banish worldly cares ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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The celesta is a type of keyboard glockenspiel, with a range of four octaves upwards from middle C, and a damping pedal like a piano. Inside the body of the instrument is a series of chromatically tuned metal bars, which are struck with felt hammers when the performer plays the keyboard. Creation of the Celesta The celesta was invented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel, a Parisian instrument maker who also manufactured harmoniums ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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The history of musical instruments has always been very closely linked to the history of music itself. New musical styles often come about because new instruments become available, or improvements to existing ones are made. Improvements to the design of the piano in the 1770s, for instance, led to its adoption by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91), who quickly developed a new, individual style of keyboard writing. On the ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Barrel-shaped drums are usually constructed either from a single log, which is carved into a barrel shape like Japanese byou-daiko drums, or made like a wine barrel from staves of wood glued together or bound with metal strips, as in conga and bongo drums. Barrel drums can have two heads or a single head, and are played with hands or beaters. Conga The conga, or tumbadora (25–30 cm/10–15 in diameter, 50–60 ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Cymbals are thin metal discs played by being struck together or placed on a stand (suspended) and hit with sticks or beaters. They are made from beaten metal and so are distinct from crotales or antique cymbals, which are tuned cast metal discs. Turkish and Chinese Cymbals Suspended and crash cymbals used in western orchestral music, rock, pop and jazz are developed from Turkish cymbals and have a central boss or bell ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Goblet and hourglass drums are commonly found in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. They are not normally tuned to a specific pitch, although the heads may be tightened to create different sonorities. The djembe is perhaps the best-known of this type of drum. Goblet and Hourglass Drums Goblet drums are single-headed drums shaped like a wineglass, with a hollow bowl tapering to a long, thin body. Hourglass or waisted ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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The drum kit is a collection of drums and cymbals played in all styles of rock, pop, jazz and blues. It is also widely used in urban music across the world, such as Afrobeat and reggae. Drum-Kit Construction A typical drum kit comprises a bass drum and hi-hat cymbal played with foot pedals, a snare drum, two or three tom toms and suspended cymbals. The drummer sits on a stool. A right-handed ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Drums are widely used in traditional music in the Far East, along with a diverse range of cymbals, gongs, metallophones and untuned wooden idiophones. In much traditional music of this region, the drum is played by the director of the ensemble, who uses specific signals for the other performers. Chinese Drums Most Chinese drums (gu) are frame drums or barrel-shaped drums, and are played with sticks. They are often used in ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Drums are an essential part of urban music, classical ensembles, sacred Sufi music, and traditional folk music throughout the Middle East. Dumbek, Tar and Riq The dumbek is a goblet drum (10–22 cm/4–9 in diameter and 22–40 cm/9–16 in long). It has a hollow pottery, wood or metal body and a goatskin or fish-skin head. There are many regional variations in its name, including derbocka (Morocco and Algeria), darbukkah and derbouka ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Drumming in West Africa is a rural indigenous art form, and it accompanies dance and singing. Master drummers are members of the griot class of professional musical entertainers. These men lead the drumming and promote the tradition by teaching students. The two main types of West African drum are goblet drums and hourglass drums made from a hollowed-out single log (like the djembe and kpanlogo), and those constructed like a barrel ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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A frame drum is a skin stretched over and nailed to a shallow square or circular frame. It is played with sticks or with the hands. Frame drums are common to many musical cultures, and the modern tambourine and bodhrán are essentially the same instruments that were being played in Arabia and India in pre-Islamic times. They are often played by dancers, and may be painted and decorated with ribbons ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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Friction drums are folk instruments of pre-industrialized Central Europe, Africa and Latin America. They are often associated with spiritual music because of their unusual sound. Construction A friction drum comprises a vessel covered in a membrane which is made to vibrate by means of a stick or string rubbed against or pushed through it. In the Brazilian cuíca, the end of a stick is attached to the inside of the drum skin. ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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The gamelan is a percussion ensemble played throughout Indonesia, especially in Bali and Java. A gamelan comprises mainly metallophones, xylophones and gongs. It may also include vocals, the rebab (a two-stringed spike fiddle), the keprak (a slit drum), and the kendhang (a set of three or four double headed, barrel-shaped drums). The kendhang sets the tempo and gives starting and stopping signals during the music. Components of the Gamelan In gamelan music ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins
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