Page 5 - Music Notes - July 2020, Issue No. 1

Instruments in Focus

The Percussion Section in the Orchestra

The percussion family is the largest in the orchestra. Percussion instruments include any
instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken, or scraped. It's not easy to be a
percussionist because it takes a lot of practice to hit an instrument with the right amount of
strength, in the right place and at the right time. Some percussion instruments are tuned and
can sound different notes, like the xylophone, timpani or piano, and some are untuned with no
definite pitch, like the bass drum, cymbals or castanets. Percussion instruments keep the
rhythm, make special sounds and add excitement and color. Unlike most of the other players in
the orchestra, a percussionist will usually play many different instruments in one piece of
music.

The most common percussion instruments in the orchestra include the timpani, xylophone,
cymbals, triangle, snare drum, bass drum, tambourine, maracas, gongs, chimes, celesta, and
piano. The percussion section first carved out its place in the orchestra as a result of the vogue
for Turkish marching music in Mozart´s time, bringing bass drums, snare drums, triangles and
cymbals into play. But it is since the start of the 20th century that the variety of other
percussion instruments has really taken off. Untuned instruments such as gongs from east Asia
or tuned instruments like the marimbas of Africa have been adopted and adapted for use in
the modern orchestra.

Today composers take a truly global approach to using percussion instruments. This process is further encouraged by the
percussionists themselves, many of whom are enthusiastic adopters of new instruments and pride themselves on perfecting their skills
with an enormous range of instruments. Percssion instruments provide an enormous range of timbres. Although the word
“percussion” means “struck”, the percussion family traditionally includes effects that are blown or produced in other ways. Some of the
instruments classified as ‘unpitched’ do in fact have pitch, but this is unpredictable or uncontrollable. A catalogue of percussion can
never be complete, and it is true to say that any percussion instrument may be integrated into the modern symphony orchestra.

Video

The Independent Mantovani Orchestra UK peforming
Cecil Nona's "Percussion on Parade" with Paul Barret on
percussion, demonstrating the diversity of the
percussionist's role in a composition.