Brushes (percussion)
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A percussion mallet or beater is an object used to strike or beat a
percussion instrument 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. Exc ...
in order to produce its sound. The term beater is slightly more general. A mallet is normally held in the hand while a beater may be foot or mechanically operated, for example in a
bass drum pedal The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
. The term drum stick is less general still, but still applied to a wide range of beaters. Some mallets, such as a
triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...
beater, are normally used only with a specific instrument, while others are used on many different instruments. Often, mallets of differing material and hardness are used to create different
timbres In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...
on the same types of instrument (e.g. using either wooden or yarn mallets on a
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...
). Some mallets, such as
vibraphone 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,' ...
mallets, are normally just called mallets, others have more specialized names including: *
Drum stick A drum stick (or drumstick) is a type of percussion mallet used particularly for playing snare drum, drum kit, and some other percussion instruments, and particularly for playing unpitched percussion. Specialized beaters used on some other pe ...
s, of many types, some used with a wide variety of instruments,. *
Rute Rute is a municipality in the province of Córdoba, Spain. It lies between Iznájar to the South East, and Lucena to the North West. Its primary economy centres on the extensive production of foodstuffs including dozens of different makes of ...
s, used with many instruments. * Brushes, used particularly with
snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
but also with many other instruments. * Tippers used to strike a
bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or othe ...
. *
Bachi ''Bachi'' (, ; also ''batchi'') are straight, wooden sticks used on Japanese taiko drums, and also the plectrum (written ) for stringed instruments of Japanese origin such as the shamisen and '' biwa''. For percussion Drum bachi (, ) are ...
, used with Japanese
taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...
drums.


Types


Drum sticks

Drum sticks are beaters normally used in pairs, with each held in one hand, and are similar to or derived from the
snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...
sticks that were subsequently adopted for
kit drumming A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
. They are the most general-purpose beaters, and the term covers a wide variety of beaters, but they are mainly used for untuned percussion.


Mallets

As well as being a general term for a hand-held beater, mallet is also used specifically to refer to a hand-held beater comprising a head connected to a thin shaft, and used in pairs. There is a wide selection of mallets to choose from to create a desired sound, articulation, character, and dynamic for the pieces being played. Professional percussionists typically have a good selection of mallets on hand in order to be prepared for each piece. There are three main types: * Unwrapped mallets, used on
glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...
,
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...
, and other instruments with keys made of durable material, have heads made of
brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
,
rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
,
nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petro ...
,
acrylic Acrylic may refer to: Chemicals and materials * Acrylic acid, the simplest acrylic compound * Acrylate polymer, a group of polymers (plastics) noted for transparency and elasticity * Acrylic resin, a group of related thermoplastic or thermosett ...
,
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
, or other hard materials. * Wrapped mallets, mostly used on
marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
,
vibraphone 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,' ...
, and other instruments with softer keys (though they can be used on more durable instruments as well), have heads of kelon, rubber, nylon, acrylic or other medium-hard materials wrapped in softer materials like yarn, cord or latex. Wrapped mallets are also the mallets of choice to play
suspended cymbal Classical suspended cymbal A suspended cymbal is any single cymbal played with a stick or beater rather than struck against another cymbal. Common abbreviations used are "sus. cym.," or "sus. cymb." (with or without the period). Most drum kit ...
, though drum set players will typically use drum sticks instead. *
Felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
mallets or cartwheel mallets have heads composed of layers of felt, held between two steel washers. They are mainly used on untuned percussion as well as on
timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
. Mallet shafts are commonly made of
rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
,
birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
, or synthetic materials such as
fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
. Birch is stiff and typically longer in length, while rattan is a more flexible shaft and gives a more open sound. Fiberglass is ideal for playing lightly on an instrument because it is easy to control. Different mallets are used primarily to alter the
timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
of the mallet instrument being played. Generally, mallets composed of softer materials will stick to the instrument for longer as they bounce off of it, which gives a deeper sound made up of lower frequencies. Harder materials tend to bounce off quicker, and as they stick to the instrument for a shorter amount of time, they tend to be able to excite more of the higher frequencies, giving the sound a higher pitch with more overtones. Mallet choice is typically left up to the performer, though some compositions specify if a certain sound is desired by the composer. Players frequently employ two mallets in a matched grip or four mallets in a four-mallet grip; however, use of up to six mallets is not uncommon. More than two mallets may be used even when no chords are called for by the composer so that the performer has a wider range of timbres from which to select or to facilitate performance of music that moves rapidly between high and low, and if hit properly can switch between the two pitches. If the mallet is too hard, the instrument may be damaged. For example, on
rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...
marimbas, certain mallets may be too hard, increasing the risk of a cracked bar.


Brushes

Brushes are a set of bristles connected to a handle so that the bristles make a rounded fan shape. They are often used in
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
or
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
music, but also in other genres such as
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
and pop. The bristles can be made of metal or plastic; the handles are commonly made of wood or aluminum, and are often coated with rubber. Some brushes are telescoping so that the bristles can be pulled inside a hollow handle and the fan made by the bristles can be of variable length, width and density. Retracting the bristles also protects the brush when it is not being used. The non-bristled end of the brush may end in a loop or a ball.


Rutes

A rute or multi-rod consists of several thin sticks that are bound together to form one stick. Its sound is midway between a stick and a brush. Long used in orchestral music, in the mid 20th century rutes also became popular for many other purposes including
kit drumming A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
and
bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or othe ...
. By dissipating much of the energy of the stroke within the stick, a rute allows a drummer to achieve both a tone and a playing action that would normally be associated with quite loud playing, but at a moderate or even low volume. The tone produced by many can be adjusted by adjusting the position of one of the bands holding the bundle together.


Major percussion mallet companies

*
Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion mallet, percussion sticks and mallets. Biography Vic Firt ...
* Vater *
Regal Tip Regal Tip is one of the world's largest manufacturers of drum sticks and other percussion mallets. They produce a range of beaters, but are particularly noted as a manufacturer of premium steel brush (music), brushes and nylon tipped drumsticks. ...
*
Pro-Mark Promark is a Houston, Texas-based American drum stick company. Since 2011, it is part of strings company D'Addario. Promark is a widely known stick company generally played in drum set, drum and bugle corps and concert bands. History Promark was ...
*
Ayotte Drums Ayotte Drums is a drum manufacturer based in Bedford, Quebec (city), Bedford, Quebec. Ayotte Drums was incorporated by Ray Ayotte in 1974, and has been manufacturing drums since 1982. Their drums feature wooden hoops, made of Canadian maple. Dr ...


See also

*
Grip (percussion) In percussion, grip refers to the manner in which the player holds the percussion mallet or mallets, whether drum sticks or other mallets. For some instruments, such as triangle (musical instrument), triangles and large gongs, only one mallet or ...
.


References


External links


Accessory Fetish
A Complete List of Drumstick Manufacturers
Traditional letter/number scheme
for snare drum stick model names {{Authority control Drum kit components Drumming Percussion instrument beaters