Meet the Instruments: The Percussion Family

Meet the Instruments: The Percussion Family

The percussion family is perhaps the most diverse instrument family. Almost

anything you can hit, tap, or shake can be considered a percussion instrument. The most common percussion instruments in the orchestra are timpani, marimba, xylophone, cymbals, and snare drum. The timpani, also called the kettle drums, is made up of 4 tuned drums that play different pitches which are changed using a pedal under the drum. The marimba and xylophone are a set of pitched blocks of wood or metal that are hit with mallets. Cymbals are crashed together or hit with a mallet, and the snare drum is hit with drum sticks.

Additional auxiliary instruments are used for extra sound effects. Triangle, bells, vibraslap, tambourine, and bass drum are some examples of auxiliary instruments.

Click here to listen to different percussion instruments from Classics for Kids. Which one do you like the best? 

Get creative! Learning Lift Off has instructions for 6 Do-It-Yourself Instruments and Felt Magnet has 52 Homemade Musical Instruments! Be sure to send us a picture if you make one!

Play with this electric drum machine at Musicca.com to hear how the different instruments in a drum set sound!

Click here to pretend you are a one man band by adding your own combinations of instruments in this fun activity from Jr. BrainPOP!

Learn more about the percussion family from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra here!

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