11/15 - Percussion, day one

I've decided that I'm doing another themed week, since I didn't have anything really interesting happen today. This week is going to be based on percussion instruments, percussive history, and possibly how to play stuff. We'll see.

Percussive instruments can be divided a few different ways...

By methods of sound production, there are four categories:

- Idiophones: instruments that produce sounds through the vibration of the entire instrument:
Guiro, singing bowls, all cymbals, all mallet instruments, triangle, woodblock, etc.
- Membranophones: most instruments commonly known as drums, sound produced on a membrane:
Snare and bass drum, tom-toms, timpani, congas, djembe, lion's roar, wind machine, etc.
- Chordophones: stringed instruments that are struck:
Hammered dulcimer, harpsichord, celesta, technically piano I guess.
- Aerophone: Wind instruments played by percussionists:
Bird, slide, and samba whistle, police siren, didgeridoo, etc.

There's another way of classification, whether or not it has a definite pitch:

Yes: mallets, timpani, tabla/mridangam, steel drums, crotales, etc.
No: tam-tam, anvil, castanets, bass drum, whip, cymbals, rainstick, etc.

There are a couple other classifications that I don't really care for; the "common knowledge" division (whether you'd think of it as a common percussion instrument) or the "common or ethnic" division.

Let's talk about aerophones today.

There are two classes of aerophone, split by whether the air producing the sound is contained in the instrument or not. This separates didgeridoos from bullroarers, both of which are used by the Aborigines for communication, incidentally.

Here's a bullroarer:



I guess you all know what a didgeridoo sounds like, but youtube it if you don't. They're cool. I can kinda play it, but I can't circular breathe yet, so.

Most of the aerophones are used for effects. Bird whistles create nature sounds, and samba whistles, motor horns and sirens create some interesting city effects. They're really only called for in more contemporary orchestral literature or weird percussion ensemble stuff. But they're valid nonetheless.

I'm writing this week mostly to see all of the cool stuff I get to play. Sure, I don't have to know how to play all of it, but it's certainly to my advantage if I can.

I'm off to go practice my bullroarer skills.

M