How the mallet percussion instrument makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the mallet percussion instrument 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.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
From Wikipedia
A keyboard percussion instrument, also known as a bar or mallet percussion instrument, is a pitched percussion instrument arranged in the same pattern as a piano keyboard and most often played using mallets. While most keyboard percussion instruments are fully chromatic, keyboard instruments for children, such as ones used in the Orff Schulwerk, may be diatonic or pentatonic.
Despite the name, keyboard instruments such as the celesta and keyboard glockenspiel are not considered keyboard percussion instruments, despite being idiophones, due to the different skillsets required to play them. This is because keyboard percussion instruments do not possess actual keyboards, but simply follow the arrangement of the keyboard.
Other struck idiophones
Frequently asked questions
What does a mallet percussion instrument 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 mallet percussion instrument?
It is classified as struck idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 111.2).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q3891158 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Keyboard percussion instrument – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Gregory F. Maxwell < [email protected] > PGP : 0xB0413BFA – GFDL 1.2