SoundsField recordingsFrequenciesDecibelsInstrumentsGlossaryToolsLearn
  1. Home
  2. Instruments
  3. Shaken and scraped idiophones
  4. Tambourine: Sound, History & How It Works
Shaken and scraped idiophones

Tambourine

The tambourine is a member of the shaken and scraped idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 112.1). Listen to 1 recording and learn how it makes its sound.

Listen to the tambourine

Headless tambourine
0:14CC0 1.0by MichielderooWikimedia Commons
0:14

Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.

How the tambourine makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the tambourine belongs to the shaken and scraped idiophones: the body is shaken, scraped or split – rattles, maracas and guiros.

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

The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head. Tambourines are often used with regular percussion sets. They can be mounted, for example on a stand as part of a drum kit (and played with drum sticks), or they can be held in the hand and played by tapping, hitting, or shaking the instrument.

Tambourines come in many shapes with the most common being circular. It is found in many forms of music: Albanian folk music, Arabic folk music, Balkan folk music, Israeli folk music, Turkish folk music, Greek folk music, Italian folk music, French folk music, classical music, Spanish folk music, Persian music, samba, gospel music, pop music, country music, and rock music.

Other shaken and scraped idiophones

Frequently asked questions

What does a tambourine sound like?

Listen to 1 recording on this page. As one of the shaken and scraped idiophones, its sound comes from the way the body is shaken, scraped or split.

What type of instrument is the tambourine?

It is classified as shaken and scraped idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 112.1).

Sources & credits