Lists of tuned and untuned percussion instruments

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This is a partitioned list of percussion instruments showing their usage as tuned or untuned. See pitched percussion instrument for discussion of the differences between tuned and untuned percussion. The term pitched percussion is now preferred to the traditional term tuned percussion:

Contents

Each list is alphabetical.

Instruments normally used as tuned percussion

This group of instruments includes all keyboard percussion and mallet percussion instruments and nearly all melodic percussion instruments. Those three groups are themselves overlapping, having many instruments in common.

Instruments normally used as untuned percussion

Instruments commonly used in both roles

A set of tuned cowbells Alpenglocken mittlere Oktave.jpg
A set of tuned cowbells

See also

Notes and references

  1. "Wonderful Indonesia - Angklung : Harmony in a Bamboo Orchestra". Archived from the original on 2014-09-28. Retrieved 2014-10-02. retrieved March 13, 2012: The tubes are carefully whittled and cut by a master craftsperson to produce certain notes when the bamboo frame is shaken or tapped.
  2. http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/percussions/celesta/an_overview_of_yamaha_celestas/?mode=model retrieved March 13, 2012: Although treated as a member of the percussion section in orchestral terms, the celesta is played by a pianist, the part being normally written on two bracketed staves.
  3. 1 2 Cymbals are a rather special case. The tuned cup chime and untuned bell cymbal are identical except in name and usage. But here we regard them as different instruments, the cup chime tuned and the bell cymbal like all cymbals untuned. They could quite as logically go into the group sometimes used in either role, but that would have the consequence of bringing the larger group of all cymbals into that group too, which is misleading.
  4. 1 2 http://www.soundjunction.org/profiletunedpercussion.aspa?NodeID=2 Archived 2014-09-08 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 13 March 2012 There are lots of tuned percussion instruments. Among the most common are the xylophone, marimba, the glockenspiel, the cowbells and the temple blocks. Other authorities cited here however say that temple blocks are not considered pitched instruments.
  5. http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textt/Templeblocks.html retrieved 13 March 2012: Although temple blocks are not considered pitched instruments, they can produce discernible pitches, and some temple blocks are actually tuned to the pentatonic scale. Other authorities cited here however say that temple blocks are tuned percussion.

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