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Pitched Percussion
A pitched percussion instrument (also known as a melodic or tuned percussion instrument) is a percussion instrument used to produce musical notes of one or more pitches, as opposed to an unpitched percussion instrument which is used to produce sounds of indefinite pitch. Pitching of percussion instruments is achieved through a variety of means. *Membranophones (such as timpani) are tuned by altering the surface tension of the face that is struck. *Idiophones (such as crotales) gain their pitch through the physical characteristics (such as composition, density, and physical dimensions) of each respective bar. The term ''pitched percussion'' is now preferred to the traditional term ''tuned percussion'': * Many ''untuned'' percussion instruments (such as the bass drum) are ''tuned'' by the player, but this tuning does not relate to a particular pitch. * ''Untuned'' percussion instruments can and frequently do make sounds that could be used as pitched notes in an appropriate co ...
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Bell (instrument)
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell (jingle bell). Bells are usually cast from bell metal (a type of bronze) for its resonant properties, but can also be made from other hard materials. This depends on the function. Some small bells such as ornamental bells or cowbells can be made from cast or pressed metal, glass or ceramic, but large bells such as a church, clock and tower bells are normally cast from bell metal. Bells intended to be heard over a wide area can range from a single bell hung in a turret or bell-gable, to a musical ensemble such as an English ring of bells, a carillon or a Russian zvon which are tuned to a common scale and instal ...
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Untuned Percussion
An unpitched percussion instrument is a percussion instrument played in such a way as to produce sounds of indeterminate pitch, or an instrument normally played in this fashion. Unpitched percussion is typically used to maintain a rhythm or to provide accents, and its sounds are unrelated to the melody and harmony of the music. Within the orchestra unpitched percussion is termed auxiliary percussion, and this subsection of the percussion section includes all unpitched instruments of the orchestra however they are played, for example the pea whistle and siren. A common and typical example of an unpitched instrument is the snare drum, which is perceived as unpitched for three reasons: * The snares produce sounds similar to white noise, masking definite frequencies. * The drum heads produce inharmonic sounds. * The strongest frequencies that are present are unrelated to pitched sounds produced by other instruments in the ensemble. Although the drum is ''tuned'' by the player, ...
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Auxiliary Percussion
The percussion section is one of the main divisions of the orchestra and the concert band. It includes most percussion instruments and all unpitched instruments. The percussion section is itself divided into three subsections: * Pitched percussion, consisting of pitched instruments such as glockenspiel and tubular bells. * Auxiliary percussion, consisting of all unpitched instruments such as snare drum and cymbals. * Timpani. These three subsections reflect the three main skill areas that a percussionist studies. Percussion sections, consisting of similar instruments, may also be found in stage bands and other musical ensembles. Tuned percussion :''See also untuned percussion'' This subsection is traditionally called tuned percussion, however the corresponding term ''untuned percussion'' is avoided in modern organology in favour of the term ''unpitched percussion'', so the instruments of this subsection are similarly termed ''pitched percussion''. All instruments of th ...
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Unpitched Percussion Instrument
An unpitched percussion instrument is a percussion instrument played in such a way as to produce sounds of indeterminate pitch, or an instrument normally played in this fashion. Unpitched percussion is typically used to maintain a rhythm or to provide accents, and its sounds are unrelated to the melody and harmony of the music. Within the orchestra unpitched percussion is termed auxiliary percussion, and this subsection of the percussion section includes all unpitched instruments of the orchestra however they are played, for example the pea whistle and siren. A common and typical example of an unpitched instrument is the snare drum, which is perceived as unpitched for three reasons: * The snares produce sounds similar to white noise, masking definite frequencies. * The drum heads produce inharmonic sounds. * The strongest frequencies that are present are unrelated to pitched sounds produced by other instruments in the ensemble. Although the drum is ''tuned'' by the player, thi ...
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Pitched Percussion Instruments Easily Mistaken For Unpitched
An unpitched percussion instrument is a percussion instrument played in such a way as to produce sounds of indeterminate pitch, or an instrument normally played in this fashion. Unpitched percussion is typically used to maintain a rhythm or to provide accents, and its sounds are unrelated to the melody and harmony of the music. Within the orchestra unpitched percussion is termed auxiliary percussion, and this subsection of the percussion section includes all unpitched instruments of the orchestra however they are played, for example the pea whistle and siren. A common and typical example of an unpitched instrument is the snare drum, which is perceived as unpitched for three reasons: * The snares produce sounds similar to white noise, masking definite frequencies. * The drum heads produce inharmonic sounds. * The strongest frequencies that are present are unrelated to pitched sounds produced by other instruments in the ensemble. Although the drum is ''tuned'' by the player ...
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Pitch (music)
Pitch is a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale, or more commonly, pitch is the quality that makes it possible to judge sounds as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies. Pitch is a major auditory attribute of musical tones, along with duration, loudness, and timbre. Pitch may be quantified as a frequency, but pitch is not a purely objective physical property; it is a subjective psychoacoustical attribute of sound. Historically, the study of pitch and pitch perception has been a central problem in psychoacoustics, and has been instrumental in forming and testing theories of sound representation, processing, and perception in the auditory system. Perception Pitch and frequency Pitch is an auditory sensation in which a listener assigns musical tones to relative positions on a musical scale based primarily on their perception of the frequency of vibration. Pitch is closely related to frequency, but ...
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List Of Percussion Instruments
This is a wide-ranging, inclusive list of percussion instruments. It includes: * Instruments classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as struck or friction idiophones, struck or friction membranophones or struck chordophones. Where an instrument meets this definition but is often or traditionally excluded from the term ''percussion'' this is noted. * Instruments commonly used as unpitched and/or untuned percussion. * Instruments commonly part of the percussion section of a band or orchestra. These three groups overlap heavily, but inclusion in any one is sufficient for an instrument to be included in this list. However, when only a specific subtype of the instrument qualifies as a percussion instrument, only that subtype is listed here. For example, a samba whistle (or ''apito'') is an unpitched percussion instrument, but a whistle in general is not. For brevity, synonyms represented in Wikipedia by redirects to a main article are not listed, but may be mentioned as a note. Only the ...
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Celesta
The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box (three-octave). The keys connect to hammers that strike a graduated set of metal (usually steel) plates or bars suspended over wooden resonators. Four- or five-octave models usually have a damper pedal that sustains or damps the sound. The three-octave instruments do not have a pedal because of their small "table-top" design. One of the best-known works that uses the celesta is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from ''The Nutcracker''. The sound of the celesta is similar to that of the glockenspiel, but with a much softer and more subtle timbre. This quality gave the instrument its name, ''celeste'', meaning "heavenly" in French. The celesta is often used to enhance a melody line played by another instrument or sect ...
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Musical Keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the interval of an octave. Pressing a key on the keyboard makes the instrument produce sounds—either by mechanically striking a string or tine ( acoustic and electric piano, clavichord), plucking a string ( harpsichord), causing air to flow through a pipe organ, striking a bell (carillon), or, on electric and electronic keyboards, completing a circuit (Hammond organ, digital piano, synthesizer). Since the most commonly encountered keyboard instrument is the piano, the keyboard layout is often referred to as the ''piano keyboard''. Description The twelve notes of the Western musical scale are laid out with the lowest note on the left. The longer keys (for the seven "natural" notes of the C major scale: C, D, E ...
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Tubular Bell
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within an ensemble.James Blades and James Holland. "Tubular bells". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed August 18, 2015Oxfordmusiconline.com/ref> Each bell is a metal tube, in diameter, tuned by altering its length. Its standard range is C4–F5, though many professional instruments reach G5. Tubular bells are often replaced by studio chimes, which are a smaller and usually less expensive instrument. Studio chimes are similar in appearance to tubular bells, but each bell has a smaller diameter than the corresponding bell on tubular bells. Tubular bells are sometimes struck on the top edge of the tube with a rawhide- or plastic-headed hammer. Often, a sustain pedal will be attached to allow extended ringing ...
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Keyboard Percussion
A keyboard percussion instrument, also known as a bar or mallet percussion instrument, is a pitched percussion instrument arranged in a similar pattern to a piano keyboard and played with hands or percussion mallets. While most keyboard percussion instruments are fully chromatic, keyboard instruments for children, such as ones used in the Orff Schulwerk, may be diatonic or pentatonic. Despite the name, keyboard instruments such as the celesta and keyboard glockenspiel are not considered ''keyboard percussion'', owing to the different skills required to play them. These instruments are percussion instruments in most senses but are part of the keyboard section rather than the percussion section of an orchestra. Keyboard percussion instruments do not possess keyboards as such, but instead follow the arrangement of the keyboard. Keyboard percussion instruments include marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, and tubular bells.http://www.pas.org/Libraries/PASIC_Archives/ChandlerNo ...
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