European percussion instruments

A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys—with the exception of the Bosendörfer and Stuart & Sons pianos—and tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temperament. A musician who specializes in piano is called a pianist.

A bell () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that—when struck—vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an internal "clapper" or "uvula", an external hammer, or—in small bells—by a small loose sphere enclosed within the body of the bell (jingle bell).

thumb|upright=1.35|Single-horn anvil thumb|A blacksmith working [[iron with a hammer and anvil]] thumb|A blacksmith working with a [[sledgehammer, assistant (striker) and Lokomo anvil in Finland]]

thumb|200px| Castanets seller in Granada, [[Spain]] thumb|198px|Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 1909 painting Dancing girl with castanets Castanets, also known as clackers or palillos, are a percussion instrument (idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a similar instrument called the crotalum.

The bodhrán (, ; plural bodhráin) 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 other animal skins are sometimes used). The other side is open-ended for one hand to be placed against the inside of the drum head to control the pitch and timbre.

percussion instrument

percussion instrument

thumb|333px|A Russian monk playing a semantron

A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged clapper strike the inside of the bell. An individual handbell can be used simply as a signal to catch people's attention or summon them together, but handbells are also often heard in tuned sets.

The txalaparta ( or ) is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone. In some regions of the Basque Country, (with ) means "racket", while in others (in Navarre) has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely related to the sound of the instrument.

The tombak (), tonbak () or zarb () is an Iranian goblet drum. It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The tombak is normally positioned diagonally across the torso, while the player uses one or more fingers and/or the palm(s) of the hand(s) on the drumhead, often (for a ringing timbre) near the drumhead's edge. Sometimes, tombak players wear metal finger rings for an extra-percussive "click" on the drum's shell. Tombak virtuosi often perform solos lasting ten minutes or more.

musical instrument

thumb|right|Treshchotka A treshchotka ( or treskotukha () is a Russian folk music idiophone percussion instrument which produces a clicking/cracking sound. It consists of a set of small boards somewhat loosely threaded by one end on a string or a pair of strings, with the ends sticking out, used to hold and rattle the instrument. The word itself generically denotes any device that makes a cracking sound (from the noun "", tresk).

thumb|5th century B.C., Attica, by the [[Phiale Painter. Red-figure phiale woman dancing with crotala (Boston MFA 97.371)]] thumb|right|Illustration taken from the drawing of an ancient marble in Jacob Spon|Spon's Miscellanea, representing one of the crotalistriae performing.

struck string instrument; zither

cymbals played in matched pairs

type of drum

right|thumb|200px|Tamborí and keyed flabiol The tambori ( ) is a percussion instrument of about 10 centimetres diameter, a small shallow cylinder formed of metal or wood with a drumhead of skin. Its usual function is to accompany the playing of the flabiol in a cobla band, beating the rhythm of the sardana, the traditional dance of Catalonia.

thumb|220px|Putipù. Collection of Museo Azzarini.The putipù is a musical instrument traditionally used in folk music of Southern Italy, in particular of Naples and surrounding regions. It is a friction drum, consisting of a cylindrical sound box closed at the top by a stretched membrane, with a bamboo cane attached at the center. The instrument is played by rubbing the rod with a wet hand, cloth, or sponge, that causes the membrane to vibrate.

pair of instruments played by a single player, consisting of a three-hole pipe played with one hand, and a small drum played with the other

English percussion instrument

musical instrument