How the crotales makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the crotales belongs to the struck idiophones: the body is struck directly – bells, gongs, xylophones and cymbals.
More broadly it is one of the idiophones, where the solid body of the instrument itself vibrates, without strings or a stretched membrane.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
Crotales, sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly played by being struck with hard mallets. However, they may also be played by striking two disks together in the same manner as finger cymbals, or by bowing. Their sound is rather like a small tuned bell, only with a much brighter sound and a much longer resonance. Similar to tuned finger cymbals, crotales are thicker and larger; they also have slight grooves in them. The name comes from the Greek crotalon, for a castanet or rattle.
Modern crotales are arranged chromatically and have a range of up to two octaves. They are typically available in sets (commonly one octave) but may also be purchased individually. Crotales are treated as transposing instruments; music for crotales is written two octaves lower than the sounding pitch to minimize ledger lines.
Other struck idiophones
Frequently asked questions
What does a crotales sound like?
As one of the struck idiophones, its sound comes from the way the body is struck directly.
What type of instrument is the crotales?
It is classified as struck idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 111.22).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q1141589 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Crotales – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by anonymous – CC BY-SA 1.0