A keyboard percussion instrument, also known as a bar or mallet percussion instrument, is a

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 ...

instrument arranged in a similar pattern to a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

keyboard and played with hands or

percussion mallet A percussion mallet or beater is an object used to strike or beat a percussion instrument 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 ...

s. While most keyboard percussion instruments are fully chromatic, keyboard instruments for children, such as ones used in the

Orff Schulwerk The Orff Schulwerk, or simply the Orff Approach, is a developmental approach used in music education. It combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to a child's world of play. It was developed by the German comp ...

, may be

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale (music), scale with five Musical note, notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed ...

. Despite the name,

keyboard instrument A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital piano ...

s such as the

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 ( ...

and

keyboard glockenspiel The keyboard glockenspiel (French: ''jeu de timbre'') or organ glockenspiel is an instrument consisting of a glockenspiel operated by a piano keyboard. It was first used by George Frideric Handel in the oratorio ''Saul'' (1739). It was also used in ...

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 The keyboard section of an orchestra or concert band includes keyboard instruments. Keyboard instruments are not usually a standard member of a 2010-era orchestra or concert band, but they are included occasionally. In orchestras from the 1600s to ...

rather than the

percussion section 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 percus ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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,' ...

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 ...

, and

tubular bells 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 a ...

.http://www.pas.org/Libraries/PASIC_Archives/ChandlerNorton97.sflb.ashx Retrieved 6 March 2012: ''The standard keyboard percussion family of instruments includes the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, orchestra bells (glockenspiel), and chimes (tubular bells).''

Current Manufacturers

* Yamaha Percussion *

Adams Musical Instruments Adams Musical Instruments is a manufacturer of musical instruments based in the Netherlands. The company produces percussion and brass instruments. Percussion instruments by Adams include timpani, marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, glockenspiel ...

Majestic Percussion Majestic Holland B.V. (d/b/a Majestic Percussion) is a manufacturer of percussion instruments based in the Netherlands, and is a division of musical instrument manufacturer van der Glas B.V. Founded in 1921 by Willem Klazes van der Glas, Majestic ...

Premier Percussion Premier Music International Limited is an English musical instruments manufacturing company based in Kibworth. The company, founded in 1922, currently produces drum kits, sticks and accessories. History Premier was established in 1922 when ...

Musser Mallet Company Musser is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * A. Milton Musser (1830–1909), Mormon pioneer *Alec Musser (born 1973), American fitness model and actor * Andy Musser (1937–2012), American sportscaster * Charles Musser (born 195 ...

References

Pitched percussion instruments {{Mallet-stub

Current Manufacturers

See also

References