Concussion idiophones
Concussion idiophones are played by clashing two of them together.
-
Cymbals - Are metal idiophones with a flattened, rounded shape, played by hitting two of them against each other. Sometimes a single cymbal is played with a drumstick, turning it into a percussion idiophone. Cymbals are a very old and integral part of the orchestra and band percussion.
-
Castanets - are usually small rounded pieces of wood. Borrowed from the Spanish folk tradition, they are used sparingly, usually to give the music a specifically Spanish flavor.
-
Claves (pronounced "CLAH vaze") - are simply heavy wooden sticks. Borrowed from the Latin American tradition, they are found often in jazz bands when a Latin flavor is called for.
Shaken idiophones
Shaken idiophones are played by being shaken. Although these are not as common as drums, percussion idiophones, and concussion idiophones, there are several shaken idiophones that show up often in orchestral and band music. Most of these are used as "color" instruments, to suggest a certain style or genre of music, or even, in the case of jingle bells, to suggest a season.
-
Maracas - From the Latin American tradition, and usually played in pairs, maracas belong in the
rattle family of shaken idiophones. They can be made of, and filled with, many different kinds of materials, from a coconut shell filled with seeds to a plastic shell filled with plastic beads. The hollowed part of the maraca is usually rounded, and has a handle.
-
Shakers - are simply hollow vessels (without a handle) that are filled with something that makes a rattling sound when the vessel is shaken. They can also be made of and filled with many different kinds of materials (so that different shakers can have very differnt sounds), and they also come in a variety of sizes and shapes. (A shaker the size and shape of an egg is quite popular with some jazz bands.)
-
Jingle Bells, or Sleigh Bells - The "jingle" family of shaken idiophones includes small idiophones that are always played in groups because each jingle by itself does not make a loud sound. In the case of sleigh bells, each jingle is a small, rounded clapper bell. A group of them are mounted on a strap, stick, or rounded handle so they may be played as a group.
-
Tambourine - Tambourines are also in the jingle family. In this case, small cymbals are mounted on a frame so that they all sound when the frame is shaken. The frame is often round, and sometimes (but not always) also has a drumhead stretched across it so that it can be played as a drum (either with the hand or with a drum stick), producing a combination drum-jingle sound. Of the shaken idiophone family, the tambourine has the oldest orchestral pedigree, having been included in many scores since the Classical period.
Scraped idiophones
Scraped idiophones have a series of notches or ridges on them, and are played by scraping a stick or other implement across the notches. Scrapers are not very common in band or orchestral music, but a
washboard (a ridged sheet of metal, from the North American "mountain music" tradition) or a
guiro (a hollow, tubular wooden instrument, often shaped like a fish, from the Latin American tradition) may show up as a "color" instrument in concert or jazz band, to suggest a certain style or genre of music.
In fact, there are many, many percussion instruments, from the many idiophone categories, that are only an occasional part of the band and orchestral repertoire, including such things as sandpaper blocks, anvils, cowbells, even old-fashioned typewriters. Some of these unusual instruments are borrowed from other musical traditions; others are simply borrowed by composers from the sounds of everyday life. Although some percussionists specialize, becoming expert drummers or marimba-players, for example, every band and orchestral percussionist becomes adept at playing a multitude of interesting instruments, often switching between instruments many times during a single a piece of music.
