History of Percussion Instruments Essay -- Music

History of Percussion Instruments There ar few certainties about the percussion family. No one cansay how some(prenominal) instruments it contains few stick agreed on playingtechniques and few could name one orchestral piece specifically writtenwith percussion in mind. However, one thing is certain, percussion has beenshown over time that it is not merely a matter of beating out bout (History of Percussion 1). The family of percussion instruments is thefirst musical instrumentation introduced to the world. To this date thereare countless percussion instruments. Each group of instruments has a unalike ethnic origin and history in different societies. From theshallow drums of fourth century B. C. to the giant cot rattles of thefifteenth century, percussion instruments leave had a queer history. Percussion instruments have had an extensive background on manyfactors of their sound, and playing style. All percussion instruments retortinto two main categories, idio phones and membranophones. Idiophonesproduce their sound from vibrations without the economic consumption of a stretched membrane.This could include castanets, rattles, and mallet instruments.Membranophones are those that produce a sound from the vibrations of astretched membrane. These include any type of drum hit with a stick. bothof these instruments are tunable in many different ways and formstherefore, these instruments can be used as melodic instruments (Percussion 653).Basic idiophones (also refereed to as concussion instruments) arestruck together. This includes clappers, cymbals, stones, and castanets.Percussive idiophones are hit by nonsonorous strikers. These types ofinstruments include gongs, triangles, and xylophones. Shaken idiophoneswere usually cups or shells that contained rattles or pellets, the shakingof the shells and cups produced a sound. There are many other idiophonesincluding scraped, split, and plucked kinds. (Percussion 653). Thesecertain instrument s are very important in the percussive arts field.Membranophones are commonly referred to as just drums. They fallinto many categories such as kettledrums, bowl shaped drums, tubular drums, skirmish drums, and mirlitons. Kettledrums and tubular drums are sometimestunable drums that can be played with hands or beaters. Friction drums arerubbed togethe... ...drum became a major advantage. It was believed that the Muslimsinvented the kettledrums (Percussion 659). Around the dawn of theseventh century, the use of drumsticks became a vital role in playing drumsin Asia (Percussion 658). China and Japan invented a thunder drum, whichis a drum that resembles the sounds of rolling thunder. These drums wereused during large ceremonies and were played by many men at once. Drumsplayed a vital role in Chinese and Korean orchestras. Some orchestras were just percussion orchestras. Around thetwelfth century the first friction drums were used in Spain and WesternEurope. The his tory of percussion is very unique and impressive. Theorigins of different percussion instruments are interesting to the mind.Many other musical instruments have a long history but the history ofpercussion is very unparagoned and compelling. Today, percussioninstruments are widely used in orchestras and symphonies around the world,these instruments of the past have taken many different forms. The futureof percussion instruments holds new innovative musical ideas, and anincrease for the music appreciation endeavor.