Everything2

percussion instruments (thing)

See all of percussion instruments, no other writeups in this node.
(thing) by PiGuy Fri Sep 27 2002 at 2:50:48

Following is what will eventually be a list of all known percussion instruments, excluding keyboard instruments. I will be constantly updating it, and please /msg me with any that I've missed or alternate names for ones that I already have.

Tuned Percussion

Mallet Percussion

  • chimes/tubular bells
  • glockenspiel
  • marimba
  • orchestra bells
  • steel drums
  • vibraphone
  • xylophone

Other

  • hand bells
  • tympani/kettledrums

Tom-toms and rototoms can also be tuned to a specific pitch, but are usually not classified as tuned percussion.

Pitchless Percussion

Cymbals

  • chinese cymbal
  • crash cymbal (as in drum kit)
  • crash cymbals (as in orchestra)
  • finger cymbals
  • gong/tam-tam
  • hi-hat
  • metal plate
  • ride cymbal
  • sizzle cymbal
  • splash cymbal
  • suspended cymbal
  • trash can lid (serious!)
  • trash cymbal

Stick Drums

  • bass drum
  • floor tom
  • marching bass drum
  • marching snare drum
  • marching tom-tom
  • pedal bass drum (as in drum kit)
  • piccolo snare drum
  • rototoms
  • snare drum
  • timbales
  • tom-tom

Hand Drums

  • ashiko
  • bongos
  • ciblon
  • conga
  • djembe
  • doumbek
  • tabla

Other

  • anvil
  • bell tree
  • bicycle horn
  • brake drum
  • cabasa/cabeza
  • castanets
  • claves
  • cowbell
  • egg (like a maraca without a handle)
  • flashlights (trust me!)
  • gourd
  • maracas
  • rain stick
  • ratchet
  • referee's whistle
  • slide whistle
  • sandpaper blocks
  • tambourine
  • temple blocks
  • whip
  • woodblock

I like it!
five-octave handmade rosewood marimba steel drum mark of a percussionist mallet percussion
tympani brake drum snare Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer
how to play the spoons Drum marching snare claves
Glockenspiel bodhran Marimba tabla
snare drum marching band cymbals cowbell
Play through the drum drum line Drum techniques drum set

Sign In

Login
Password

Lost password

Sign Up


Need help? accounthelp@everything2.com

Recommended Reading

About Everything2

User Picks

  • If You Were There and You Couldn't Cry
  • Clear As
  • Jeff
  • Carbon nanotube tweezers
  • Jeff
  • Shark
  • I miss the way you were before you figured out that I'm not yours
  • pourover coffee
  • Third wave coffee
  • Rocking slightly, reading the newspaper aloud to himself and everyone else on the bus
  • If I could be anything I'd be water and I'd be wild about it.
  • French adverbs of Negation
  • Her hips made waves against his shore
  • Rodan
  • Food and drink
  • Alexander Graham Bell
  • Ancient Egyptian Food And Drink
  • Knowing your brain is about to grow outward, a flower in full bloom
  • Third wave coffee
  • Mage: the Awakening
  • a cup and saucer
  • Third wave coffee
  • I've given up believing in anything but coffee and fishnet stockings
  • Hungarian days and months
  • Shell's Journey: A Romance
  • Genteel poverty as portrayed in Hollywood
  • a cup and saucer
  • Clear As
  • Montessori Method
  • hinky pinky

Editor Picks

  • Risotto
  • Turtles say "mmeh"
  • In Watermelon Sugar
  • Things we learn from movies
  • golf ball
  • Fantasy Rules Committee
  • fair use
  • Concert etiquette
  • Boba Fett wasn't that tough
  • Immanuel Kant
  • The Incredible String Band
  • Rainer Maria Rilke
  • In which the mountains are old and I am the ghost on the battlements
  • The Who
  • The repetitive music paradox

New Writeups

  • If You Were There and You Couldn't Cry(poetry) by lostcauser
  • I miss the way you were before you figured out that I'm not yours(fiction) by etouffee
  • pourover coffee(thing) by wertperch
  • Food and drink(thing) by Pandeism Fish
  • Third wave coffee(thing) by wertperch
  • Clear As(poetry) by Girldoll
  • Mage: the Awakening(thing) by Dustyblue
  • a cup and saucer(thing) by wertperch
  • August 4, 2025(log) by Peaceful Chicken
  • The myth of "strong coffee"(thing) by wertperch
(more)
Everything2 ™ is brought to you by Everything2 Media, LLC. All content copyright © original author unless stated otherwise.
We are the bat people.