How the crotalum makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the crotalum 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.
Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.
From Wikipedia
In classical antiquity, a crotalum, (κρόταλον krotalon) plural crotala, was a kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in ancient Greece and elsewhere, including the Korybantes.
The term has been erroneously supposed by some writers to be the same as the sistrum. These mistakes are refuted at length by Friedrich Adolph Lampe (1683–1729) in De cymbalis veterum. From the Suda and the Scholiast on Aristophanes (Nubes, 260), it appears to have been a split reed or cane, which clattered when shaken with the hand. According to Eustathius (Il. XI.160), it was made of shell and brass, as well as wood. Clement of Alexandria attributes the instruments invention to the Sicilians, and forbids the use thereof to the Christians, because of the motions and gestures accompanying the practice.
Other struck idiophones
Frequently asked questions
What does a crotalum 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 crotalum?
It is classified as struck idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 111.12).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q1790046 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Crotalum – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Marcus Cyron – CC BY-SA 3.0