percussion instrument, any instrument that produces musical sound when its surface is struck with an implement (such as a mallet, stick, or disk) or with the hand. Perhaps the most universally familiar percussion instrument is the drum drum, in music, percussion instrument, known in various forms and played throughout the world and throughout history. Essentially a drum is a frame over which one or more membranes or skins are stretched.
..... Click the link for more information. , common to the most primitive as well as the most sophisticated musical arts. Sticks clicked against each other are another simple form of percussion. These are related to castanets castanets (kăs'tənĕts`)
..... Click the link for more information. , cymbals cymbals (sĭm`bəlz), percussion instruments of ancient Asian origin.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the triangle triangle, in music, percussion instrument consisting of a steel rod bent into a triangle, open at one angle, and struck with a steel rod. Only since the end of the 18th cent. has it been an orchestral instrument, although it appeared in Europe much earlier.
..... Click the link for more information. . Among the percussion instruments used in the West are the bell bell, in music, a percussion instrument consisting of a hollow metal vessel, often cup-shaped with an outward-flaring rim, damped at one end and set into vibration by a blow from a clapper within or from a hammer without.
..... Click the link for more information. , the celesta celesta (sĭlĕ`stə), keyboard musical instrument patented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel of Paris.
..... Click the link for more information. , the glockenspiel glockenspiel (glŏk`ənspēl) [Ger.,=bell-play], percussion instrument.
..... Click the link for more information. , the xylophone xylophone (zī`ləfōn) [Gr.
..... Click the link for more information. (and similar marimba), and the Caribbean steel drum. In general, percussion instruments are not tuned by construction; pitch, tone, and volume depend on the skill of the performer.

See also gong gong, percussion instrument consisting of a disk, usually with upturned edges, 3 ft (91 cm) or more in diameter in the modern orchestra, often made of bronze, and struck with a felt- or leather-covered mallet or drumstick.
..... Click the link for more information. , kettledrum kettledrum, in music, percussion instrument consisting of a hemispherical metal vessel over which a membrane is stretched, played with soft-headed wooden drumsticks.
..... Click the link for more information. , snare drum snare drum, small drum having a drumhead at either end. One head is struck with wooden drumsticks, and on the other are stretched several strings, called snares, which cause a rattling against the head.
..... Click the link for more information. , tambourine tambourine (tăm'bərēn`)
..... Click the link for more information. , and tom-tom tom-tom, name popularly applied to high-pitched hand drums, usually barrel-shaped and having either one or two drumheads of skin. They are tunable to specific pitches.
..... Click the link for more information. .

percussion instrument

A musical instrument that is struck (or sometimes shaken or scraped) to produce sound. This category includes instruments whose own hard substance is made to vibrate (idiophones) and instruments that include a tight membrane that vibrates (membranophones). Percussion instruments may produce tones of definite or indefinite pitch. Their primary function is often rhythmic, but many are used as melody instruments. They include the bell, carillon, cymbal, drum, dulcimer, gamelan, glockenspiel, marimba, piano, steel drum, tabla, tambourine, timpani, vibraphone, and xylophone.

any of various musical instruments that produce a sound when their resonating surfaces are struck directly, as with a stick or mallet, or by leverage action. They may be of definite pitch (as a kettledrum or xylophone), indefinite pitch (as a gong or rattle), or a mixture of both (as various drums)