Listen to the zill
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the zill makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the zill 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
Zills, zils, or sagat, also known as finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pairs can be set in a frame to make a tambourine.
Other names include nuqaisāt (after the naqus) and ṣunnūj ṣaghīra in Arabic, sanj angshati in Persian, zil in Turkish.
Other struck idiophones
Frequently asked questions
What does a zill sound like?
Listen to 5 recordings on this page. As one of the struck idiophones, its sound comes from the way the body is struck directly.
What type of instrument is the zill?
It is classified as struck idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 111.142).
Sources & credits
- Audio Zill small 2 by Hadi – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Audio Zill big 1 by Hadi – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Audio Zill big 2 by Hadi – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Audio Zill small 1 by Hadi – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Audio Zill big 3 by Hadi – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q203449 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Zill – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image – CC BY-SA 3.0