Sunseed Music

Most people know that drums are a percussion instrument, but do they know why?. Percussion instruments include many that are not often thought of as such. Drums and cymbals are not the only instruments that are struck with a mallet or hammer. The drums in a band one could not do without and are thought of as being the beat or anchor of the sound and rightly so. Drums are not the only percussion as we will see. You will greatly enlarge your knowledge of music as a whole if you learn one or more of the instruments in the percussion category.

Percussion can be defined as striking one body against another; especially such as gives a sound or report. It is often overlooked that the piano for example is a percussion instrument because the sound is produced when the hammer strikes the strings and produces a tone. Pianos are strictly known as a chordophone as it is a stringed instrument but the fact that the sound is produced by a hammer striking strings also makes it a percussion instrument. It is fascinating to open the piano top and look inside to see the hammers strike the strings. The sounds of music are produced in many and various ways.

Percussion is divided into other groups as well. Membranophones and are defined as instruments that vibrate when struck and have a stretched membrane or idiophones which produce sounds through the vibration of their entire body. The cymbal in all drum kits, the marimba and triangle are all examples of idiophones. Membranophone examples are congas, bongos and the tom tom. These categories can also be further divided into whether or not the instrument produces a definite pitch or not.

Given the fact that many instruments of percussion can produce definite pitches, it is essential for the player to be able to read music notation.

Percussion covers a broad range of musical instruments that you may not have thought of before. Being the rhythm section is not the only role played by percussion instruments as you can see. The beat of the music is found in marching band music as well as the modern jazz quartet. Percussion is the soul of music.