Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange
Musical Practice and Performance Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [percussion]

Musical instruments played by striking with the hand or with a hand-held or pedal-operated stick or beater, by shaking, or by rubbing.

Musical instruments played by striking with the hand or with a hand-held or pedal-operated stick or beater, by shaking, by slapping, or by rubbing.

Instruments covered by the tag include (but are not limited to):

Beating

  • Triangle
  • Snare Drum
  • Bass Drum
  • Bells
    • Marimba
    • Vibraphone
    • Glockenspiel

Shaking

  • Shaker

Slapping

  • Vibraslap

Rubbing

  • Sand Blocks
  • Güiro
117 questions
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Is there a defined note for the triangle?

Do all triangles sound the same note in the same octave, or are there differences between models?
Pascal Qyy
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What is the effect/role of Syahi on the Tabla skins?

What is the effect of Syahi (the black metallic glue) in the middle of Tablas ? What would happen to the sound if it was: removed added twice as more glue The player who had sold me one of his sets had told me that only experienced manufacturers…
Stephane Rolland
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What is this sound, instrument? (Rheingold, Wagner)

I am currently composing something and I really want to have this sound in my piece. It sounds like a small hammer hammering on metal. It starts at 1:08:07 (Verwandlungsmusik, Rheingold) What is this and is it an instrument at all?
NickQuant
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How to avoid excessive bow-hair damage when playing "scratch percussion" on string instruments?

Prominently featured in Bluegrass fiddle playing, the ever-so-feared noise of a bow "squaking" over the strings can be used to produce distinctive, yet surprisingly sweet percussive accents if well controlled. (Especially 5:20) I start to get the…
leftaroundabout
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Is it best to use a tie when using 8th notes off the beat?

I am notating my bongos in 4/4. If you look at the last two bars, they are the same rhythm but notated differently. Can you tell me if the 3rd or 4th bar would be the most correct way to notate the rhythm? (It seems silly using a tie there, but…
armani
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11
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4 answers

Should tabla drum produce any buzzing?

Earlier today I was trying out two tabla drum sets in a music shop and I noticed that both sets they had were producing a buzzing sound while being played. I am no tabla player but I have been playing different instruments (guitar and various other…
tkit
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How quickly can a [skilled, professional] percussionist switch between tam-tam and bass drum?

Can a professional orchestral percussionist play tam-tam and bass drum together? Could he/she position the two instruments near enough that they can played one with each hand? The passage... is loud and I would want the instruments to ring anyways…
nuggethead
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Is it reasonable to expect a non-percussionist to play a simple triangle part?

If all the percussionists are occupied playing more demanding parts, would it be reasonable to expect someone in a nearby section not playing anything to, e.g., play a clear sustained triangle hit on key beats? Intuitively the answer would seem to…
Esther
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Samba percussion for songwriters

I'm a song-writer (a guitar player) and I need to write drum parts for myself. I discovered how cool the brazilian samba carnival percussion is (not the watered down European jazz-samba), but haven't succeeded in finding good material for learning…
atoth
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Why are double strokes (with the same hand) taboo on timpani but recommened on snare?

I've played snare for a few years now and all my teachers recommended that I use double strokes for evenness of sound and speed. When I started playing some more difficult timpani parts however and used double strokes so I did not have to move my…
Gordon Gustafson
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Why did baroque music use percussion abundantly, but classical stopped?

Classical music evolved from baroque music, which in turn evolved from Renaissance music. Both baroque and even more so Renaissance make extensive use of percussion. It is certainly not new to European music, nor even to "elite" European music. For…
Andrew
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Repairing cymbals?

I have a bunch of cymbals that are in various fairly poor states of repair. One has a few small cracks near the rim. One is just bent out of shape entirely (I don't know how that happened). Is it possible to hammer a bent cymbal back into shape? If…
naught101
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How do you tune a conga set?

Getting a conga and a quinto, how to tune each other to obtain the most harmonious sound ? Do they need a specific tone shiftting ?
Loïc MICHEL
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Ideal Cowbell Placement

When I was younger, I had a cowbell clamp that I fixed to the top of my bass drum hoop. I wouldn't dream of doing that today. I have tried setting up a percussion array with my cowbell and woodblock, both located over the back rim of my snare. But…
Jason P Sallinger
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How drummers and percussionist should handle change in time signature?

I'd like know how a drummer or percussionist should handle a change in the time signature of a piece such the one found in Low Light by the Pearl Jam. I am familiar to syncopation as "placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't…
Niccolò
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