Percussion,
and Instrument Categories
Hey, Be Encouraged! You’re not the only one who is confused by this, lol. All that matters in the end - is that you are happy playing your instrument/s of choice! This page is here for those who desire some more explanations.
Contents:
Get Ready to Understand It
To Percuss
Instrument Categories: Percussion, String, and Wind
Percussion Categories: Pitched & Unpitched
Classifications & Sub-classifications of Percussion in General
The Wrap Up
Get Ready to Understand It
Percussion may be more diverse than what you thought if you're like me - having begun my exploration later in life.
Here we go - on a purposeful learning journey!
To Percuss
To percuss (as a verb) can mean to gently tap, to tap sharply, to strike, to hit, to scrape, to knock, to shake, or to cause to shake or vibrate, etc. Technically, if you tap on a guitar string with your thumb, you are using percussion, even though guitars are string instruments - first. Cooking pots and utensils are not intended to be used for percussion either, yet you are making percussion when you stir inside a pot and hit the sides with your wooden spoon. If you blow on some small chimes which are hanging in your window, and you cause them to bump into each other, you are also playing percussion as if it is a wind instrument!
Instrument Categories: Percussion, String, and Wind
There are three, top categories of musical instruments which are percussion, string, and wind. Drums and xylophones are examples of percussion, flutes and didgeridoos are examples of wind, and guitars and pianos are examples of strings, but piano also falls into the percussion category because of striking the keys. If you strum your guitar and also tap a rhythm on the side of it, you are using the guitar as both a string and percussion instrument. What something is intended for and how you use it can be two different things and/or they can occur simultaneously. But there are specific instruments which are "intended to be used - as percussion."
Next, we will consider this top-category-percussion only, and we'll divide it into two smaller categories.
Percussion Categories: Pitched & Unpitched
The two top categories of percussion are "pitched" and "unpitched."
The reason why a melodic and harmonious instrument such as the steel tongue drum causes confusion for some people (as it may not sound so great in a drum circle) is because it is pitched.
Each tongue produces a specific note when struck, and it is designed to do so and to have a place among the other notes on the drum. If someone said, "Give me a C," you would be able to strike the tongue that produces the C note.
On the other hand, djembe drums are not pitched. Most drums can be tuned, and higher or lower pitch can be achieved. But they are not created to produce a sound that is on a specific scale. If a bunch of djembe drummers got together with the purpose of getting all their drums to sound exactly the same on a digital tuner, it might not be possible because all the drums have an indefinite pitch and various skins (or drumheads) - and they are made with various materials and thicknesses.
But if a bunch of people with the same size steel tongue drums and the same mallets got together, they may find that everyone's C note sounds the same - or super close so long as no one's drum is dented and no tongues are bent or damaged.
Now let's smoosh pitched and unpitched percussion back together again as "top percussion," and break down all percussion into smaller categories. Just like there are potatoes that are good for roasting, and some that are good for frying, and some that taste great mashed, yet they are all potatoes... percussion simply has types.
Classifications & Sub-classifications of Percussion in General
First, instruments are sometimes classified differently according to the capacity in which they will be used. For instance, if I hold a drum circle, and I want people to know to bring drums "only," I may say, "No wind and no stringed instruments."
But if the conductor of an orchestra is talking to her orchestra, she may address the wind sections as the brass section and the woodwind section because there is "a need to differentiate" between the two.
Percussion classifications are also sometimes different - according to purpose and use.
Below is what might generally be known as the percussion classifications - with a few examples.
Idiophones produce a sound that resonates throughout the whole body of the instrument. A few examples are chimes, singing bowls, hi-hats, cajons, and cowbell.
Sub-classifications or types of idiophones: concussion, friction, percussion, plucked, scraped, shaken, stamped
Examples: Singing bowls are classified as friction idiophones, and chimes are percussion idiophones.
Membranophones produce sound when the "membrane" is struck. A membrane is a thin tissue, or lining, or sheet. In percussion terms, it is also usually stretched before being applied, it can often be adjusted or "tuned." With only some exceptions, most drums are membranophones. (Imagine somebody asking you if you'd like to go to a struck-membranophone circle instead of a drum circle!)
Sub-classifications or types of membranophones: struck, plucked, friction, singing, other
Examples: A kazoo is a small instrument that you blow into, and the membrane inside vibrates.
A kazoo is a singing membranophone. A djembe drum is a struck membranophone.
Aerophones... If you ever had a whistle that rattled when you shook it, then you know what it's like to play an aerophone.
Aerophones are wind instruments (thus the aero) which also include a percussive quality, such as the little ball that percusses by smacking into the walls of the whistle when you blow into a whistle. It also causes the air to get funneled between the ball and wall.
The udu drum, shaped similar to a vase (and meaning vessel), featuring an opening in it's side, originated in Nigeria, and is also considered an aerophone.
Sub-classifications or types of aerophones: whistles, blowholes, cup mouthpieces, reeds, organs, and free
Examples: If you blow on chimes in the open air, you are creating a "free aerophone" - with breath and chimes.
A flute is an example of a blowhole as the air is blown across the hole rather than directly into a mouthpiece, and the whole instrument vibrates (makes sound).
Chordophones are (mostly) stringed instruments which also get struck, such as a piano in which the strings resonate by first having their keys struck.
Known as an early version of the piano, the hammered dulcimer (not to be confused with a regular dulcimer or zither) is also a chordophone, producing sound from strings which are first struck with special hammers. Those hammers are similar to piano hammers which are inside the piano.(That's why it is a "hammered" dulcimer.)
Sub-classifications or types of chordophones: zithers, harps, lutes, musical bows, lyres
The Wrap Up
If you are scratching your head right now, it may be because of all the cross-categories. For instance, a guitar is a plucked string instrument, and it is a chordophone, which is percussion. Although strings are a category of their own and are separated from percussion and wind at the top of the category pyramid, strings also have a place in the subcategory of percussion instruments as do wind instruments!
Hey, it's a good thing that you can just figure out what you like and learn it and play it, right? :)
