Percussion Instruments

The percussionist Evelyn Glennie (b. 1965) owns over a thousand percussion instruments. As an orchestral musician, Glennie is a virtuoso player of all the percussion instruments of the conventional symphony orchestra, but as an explorer, an experimenter and an inventor in the world of sound, she searches for the musical potential in just about anything that can be struck, scraped, or rattled. She even plays the simtak, a car muffler she plays with triangle beaters. A few years ago, the composer Django Bates (b. 1960) saw Glennie in concert at the Hollywood Bowl and was so impressed by her virtuosity and by her extraordinary array of instruments that he composed a piece especially for her, entitled My Dream Kitchen.

Percussion plays an essential, but rarely a central role in western symphonic music. In comparison with other musical traditions—the Latin American, Chinese or African, for instance—percussion plays a relatively minor part in western music as a whole. The Baroque, Classical and Romantic traditions, which created the orchestra as we know it, are all based on melody and harmony. Western rhythms tend to be simple and consistent, rather than complex and variable. The make-up of the conventional symphony orchestra reflects this. Out of one hundred or more players, there is rarely any need for more than four percussionists, and often fewer than four are required.

Standard orchestral percussion generally includes timpani, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, cymbals, gong, tam-tam, chimes, glockenspiel, xylophone, celesta, vibraphone, and temple blocks.

Timpani

The word timpani is plural. A timpano is a single kettledrum, but because timpani usually come in pairs or in groups, timpani is the term most often used for the large, cauldron-shaped (hence kettle) drums that create the deep thunder of the percussion section. In medieval times and during the Renaissance, timpani often accompanied trumpets in fanfares and ceremonial music. They were first incorporated into the orchestra by Haydn (1732–1809) and Beethoven (1770–1827). Timpani are tuned to particular pitches—this used to be done with levers at the rim, but more recent timpani have tuning pedals. Timpanists use two sticks, which range from hard wooden mallets to sticks with felt- or sponge-covered heads.

Snare Drum

The snare drum is a shallow, cylindrical drum of indefinite pitch. Its military origins are clear in its hard precision, and the brilliance of the drum’s natural tone is enhanced by wires (snares), which are stretched across the bottom head against the parchment skin—these make a sharp, snapping sound when the drum is struck. Orchestral snare drums are usually played with sticks, though brushes are often used, and drummers sometimes mute the drum’s tone by tucking a handkerchief under the snare.

Bass Drum

The orchestral bass drum has no snare, and is of indefinite pitch. Usually thirty-six inches across, the bass drum is often suspended on a stand with rubber straps so that its deep resonance remains unaffected by contact with the floor or with supporting furniture. The head is usually calf-skin, and the drum is played with wooden or felt mallets.

Tambourine

The tambourine is of Middle Eastern origin, and was brought to Europe during the period when Spain was part of the Muslim Empire (8th–15th century). It is a small, shallow drum, usually hand-held, with a single head and sets of circular metal discs, or ‘jingles’ inserted into the frame. The tambourine is held in one hand and beaten with the other. It is usually associated with dance and festivity.

Triangle

The triangle is a single rod, bent into a triangular shape with an open corner. It is usually made of steel, though other metals are used. Triangles vary in size and thickness, according to required tone and pitch, and they are played with brass or steel beaters. Triangles are used chiefly for dramatic effect, to intensify excitement.

Cymbals

Cymbals are concave metal plates. They are usually made of brass and come in many sizes. Cymbals have been around for thousands of years, and were often associated with religious and other ceremonies. They entered the orchestra in the eighteenth century. Orchestral cymbals are usually suspended on strings and are struck with a variety of sticks, soft mallets, brushes and other objects—including coins. They are clashed together for intense dramatic effect, and they can also be played with a violin bow.

Gongs

Gongs too come in many sizes, and have an ancient, often ceremonial past. The dark, sonorous sound of the gong is often used to create an exotic effect or mood—the word, like the instrument itself, is of Chinese origin. True orchestral gongs are between fourteen and twenty inches across, and have a fixed pitch. Larger gongs, thirty to fifty inches across, are known as tam-tams. The huge, complex resonance of the tam-tam does not have a fixed pitch.

Glockenspiel

The glockenspiel is an array of tuned metal bars, which play two to three chromatic octaves. In the orchestra, the glockenspiel is played horizontally, using pairs of small hammers. It makes a brittle, bell–like sound. The instrument was introduced into the orchestra by Handel (1685–1759), and was used to great effect by Mozart (1756–91) in Die Zauberflöte.

Celesta Similar in many ways to the glockenspiel, the celesta was invented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel (1815–1890). It is a series of steel plates suspended over wooden resonators, and operated with a keyboard—like the piano, which is also a percussion instrument. When keys are depressed, wooden hammers strike the plates, creating an ethereal, bell-like chime. The celesta covers four chromatic octaves.

Chimes

Chimes, or tubular bells, are tall metal tubes, capped at one end and held upright in a stand. The tubes range from one to two and a half inches in diameter and from four to six feet in length. The chimes are struck with a mallet and sound like church bells when played—the longer the tube, the lower the pitch. The brilliance of the sound can be muted with a damper, which is operated by a foot pedal.

Xylophone

The orchestral xylophone is a horizontal keyboard array of tuned wooden bars (usually rosewood), which are struck with small, hard or soft hammers. It usually covers four chromatic octaves. Originally an African instrument, the wooden percussion keyboard was first used in Europe in the sixteenth century, and was called a wooden clatter. It was first used orchestrally in Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns (1835–1921).

Vibraphone

The vibraphone is another horizontal array of tuned metal bars, laid out like a piano keyboard. The player strikes the bars with padded hammers. Beneath the bars, resonators are fitted with lids, which constantly open and close electrically. This gives the vibraphone its characteristic pulsating tone. It was first employed popularly as a jazz instrument. Berg (1885–1935) used the vibraphone in his opera Lulu (1937), and it has since been explored by Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), Britten (1913–1976), Boulez (b. 1925) and many others.

Temple Blocks

Temple blocks were introduced into dance bands in the 1920s, and gradually found their way into the symphony orchestra. They are tuned, hollow blocks of wood, ideally camphor, each cut with a wide slit, and mounted in an array of five. They range in size according to pitch, from a few inches to over a foot across. They make a characteristically dry ‘popping’ sound when struck sharply with drumsticks. William Walton (1902–1983) was one of the first orchestral composers to use temple blocks, in his Scapino Overture (1940), and many modern composers have continued to exploit the unique tonal qualities of temple blocks.

During the twentieth century, orchestral composers started to take a greater interest in percussion and brought percussion instruments to the center of the concert stage. In 1911, Stravinsky caused a scandal in Paris when the ballet The Rite of Spring was performed. The ferocious rhythmic drive of the piece, and his use of ‘primitive’ instruments like the crotales (arrays of small, thick cymbals) and the ancient Central American guiro (a gourd, notched to create a ridged surface, and scraped with a stick), were regarded as a violation of musical decency. In 1931, Edgard Varèse (1883–1965) composed his Ionisation solely for percussion. Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta (1936) by Bartók (1891–1945) brought percussion into the foreground as an equal collaborator with the strings. Elliott Carter (b. 1908) featured the timpani in a central role in his 2 Pieces for Kettledrums (1950), Boulez explored the possibilities of the vibraphone in his Le Marteau sans Maitre (1954), and in 1967 Luciano Berio (b. 1925) composed Circles with marimba as a leading player. John Cage (1912–1992), Karlheinz Stockhausen (b. 1928) and Steve Reich (b. 1936) have continued to explore and create new possibilities for instruments that are struck, rattled and scraped.