A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs,cymbals consist of thin,normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch,although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note. Cymbals are used in many ensembles ranging from the orchestra,percussion ensembles,jazz bands,heavy metal bands,and marching groups. Drum kits usually incorporate at least a crash,ride,or crash/ride,and a pair of hi-hat cymbals. A player of cymbals is known as a cymbalist.
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck,scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice,the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments. In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments,and to relate them to their players,the percussionists,percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments,as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone,membranophone,aerophone and chordophone.
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a vibraphonist,vibraharpist, or vibist.
A percussion mallet or beater is an object used to strike or beat a percussion instrument to produce its sound.
Jason Marsalis is an American jazz drummer,vibraphone player,composer,producer,band leader,and member of the Marsalis family of musicians. He is the youngest son of Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis and the late Ellis Marsalis,Jr.
Orchestral percussion refers to the various percussion instruments used in an orchestral setting. It may also refer to the act of playing such instruments in an orchestral style. Many music schools and conservatories offer training for musicians interested in developing their skills as orchestral percussionists. Typically,an orchestral percussionist does not specialize in one particular instrument. Although there is no exhaustive list of all instruments that an orchestral percussionist must be able to play,there are particular instruments that are frequently used in the orchestral repertoire. This includes timpani,snare drum,bass drum,xylophone,glockenspiel,triangle,and tambourine.
Mitchell Thomas Peters was a principal timpanist and percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He composed well-known pieces for the marimba such as "Yellow After the Rain" and "Sea Refractions";it is said that these works were composed because Peters felt that there was a lack of musically interesting material that would introduce his students to four-mallet marimba techniques.
Stuart Saunders Smith was an American composer and percussionist. After having studied composition and music theory at three music institutions,Smith was currently based in Vermont,United States,with his wife Sylvia. He produced almost 200 compositions,half of which were written for percussion instruments with a focus on the vibraphone.
Matthias Dahms is a German virtuoso vibraphone and marimba soloist,percussionist and composer. He has been a percussion soloist ever since 1990,giving concerts and drum courses and mallet-instrument classes in Europe as well as overseas.
Luigi Morleo is an Italian percussionist and composer of contemporary music,who lives in Bari and teaches at the NiccolòPiccinni Conservatory.
Robert Paterson is an American composer of contemporary classical music,as well as a conductor and percussionist. His catalog includes over 100 compositions. He has been called a "modern day master" and is primarily known for his colorful orchestral works,large body of chamber music and clear vocal writing in his operas,choral works,vocal chamber works and song cycles.
Eliel Williams Lazo Linares is a Cuban percussionist,songwriter,composer,producer,jazz,rock,Latin and pop musician living in Denmark. Eliel is one of the most unique percussionists in recent times. In 2011,he received the Danish Music Awards for his album "El Conguero". He won also the "International Percussion Percuba Prize". During his career,he collaborated with musicians such as Oscar Valdes,Chucho Valdes,Herbie Hancock,Bob Mintzer,Wayne Shorter,Michel Camilo and Bands such as Diakara,Habana Ensemble,DR Big band,WDR Big band,BBC Big band The Savage Rose,The Antonelli Orchestra,Mikkel NordsøBand and others. In 2008,the newspaper Havana Times labelled him "one of Cuba's top percussionists".
Roland Haerdtner,orig. Härdtner is a German marimba player,a soloist for mallet instruments,percussion and timpani. Since 1993 he is principal timpanist and percussionist of the Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim.
Bob Becker is an American percussionist and composer known primarily as a founding member of the Nexus percussion ensemble,as well as a performer in the Steve Reich and Musicians ensemble. He primarily performs as a keyboard percussionist,but is also skilled in tabla and concert snare drumming. As a composer,Becker employs a multicultural approach by mixing the style of western military drumming with North Indian Hindustani idioms,such as raga scale patterns and tabla drumming. This fusion of compositional practices is the main focus of works like Lahara and Mudra. There are also traces of influence from the music of minimalists like Steve Reich,which can be attributed to Becker's experience with that composer's music.
Emmanuel Séjourné is a French composer and percussionist,and head of percussion at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. His music is influenced by Western classical music and by popular music.
Incantations for Percussion and Orchestra is a concerto for percussion and orchestra in three movements by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. The work was composed for the percussionist Colin Currie on a joint commission from the London Philharmonic Orchestra,the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra,and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. The first performance was given in Royal Festival Hall,London by Currie and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin on October 24,2009.
The Mallet Concerto is a concerto for mallet percussion instruments and chamber orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. It was first performed by the percussionist Evelyn Glennie and the Madison Symphony Orchestra under the conductor John DeMain in Madison,Wisconsin,on March 27,2004.
Michael Waldrop is an American drummer,percussionist,composer and music educator. He is notable as a virtuoso percussionist in both jazz and classical idioms;with equal focus on drumset and keyboard percussion (marimba/vibraphone). Since 2014 he has been a recording artist for Origin Records.
Morris Goldenberg was an American percussionist,music teacher,and method book author. He wrote several books on orchestral snare drumming,mallet percussion,and timpani. He is a member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Ney Rosauro is a Brazilian composer and percussionist.
