Talk:List of percussion instruments

the image for the VirbraSlap is absolute garbage

I could not tell that was a VibraSlap because that is the shittiest image ever taken. It is so shitty that I can take the shit out of my hands and cannot tell if it was something I excreted or the image shown. (I did mistakenly edit the article page, but reverted it when I saw it was not this talk page.)

Piano?

So the piano is a percussion instrument? Debussy wrote a lot of impressionistic pieces for solo percussion? And then there's Sorabji's Opus Percussionisticum? Varlaam (talk) 20:08, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes the piano is a percussion instrument. Scientific29 (talk) 22:01, 11 January 2011 (UTC)

Refactor

I'm putting some thought into exactly how lists of percussion instruments should be handled.

Currently my thoughts are that we should end up with one alphabetical list in table form, merging Lists of tuned and untuned percussion instruments and also the list from melodic percussion and possibly similar articles.

This particular list seems to have started out [1] based on http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textp/Percussioninstruments.html and adopts their classification system. There are two problems with that...

• It's pressing the envelope of being a copyvio, probably not quite enough to worry about but better avoided.
• The site while generally excellent has some inaccuracies in percussion, eg they say cymbals are brass not bronze, and is a bit old-fashioned.

And apart from that general reference there are none... none inline at all.

Watch this space. The table format if adopted should ultimately have at least three columns:

• Instrument name (with an unpiped wikilink to the article on it)
• Tuned (yes or blank with an inline ref if yes)
• Untuned (yes or blank with an inline ref if yes)

There might be other columns, showing usage in symphony orchestra, marching percussion, drum kit, all taking the same format. But I'm tending away from that idea. There are just too many categories that could justify a column... world music, jazz, keyboard percussion, mallet percussion, melodic percussion. Periods, schools and movements of music. Even composers! Percusson innovators like Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Berlioz, Stockhausen!

No, I think three columns would be the minimum and optimum, and find other ways of expressing the other information. Interested in other thoughts, and watch this space. Andrewa (talk) 20:34, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

I think that the process might be:

• Refactor Lists of tuned and untuned percussion instruments to table format (three columns thus.
• Move this page to List of percussion instruments by type.
• Move the table-format list to List of percussion instruments.
• Merge this page back to List of percussion instruments.
• Merge in other relevant lists, eg from melodic percussion instrument.

Comments? Andrewa (talk) 16:50, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Done. Andrewa (talk) 18:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Outstanding tasks

These will probably take a few weeks but are in process. Andrewa (talk) 18:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Merges

Many instruments still need to be added to this list, from the sources indicated above and others. Andrewa (talk) 18:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Prioriy to adding instruments from:

1. List of percussion instruments by type
2. Latin percussion
3. Indian musical instruments#Percussion instruments
4. Then a quick browse around the relevant categories

and hopefully adding references as I go. Andrewa (talk) 18:59, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

http://listwikia.com/list-of-percussion-instruments is another good looking list to merge, not a lot new but sorted. Andrewa (talk) 14:53, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

List of percussion instruments by type merged (Whew) and many errors corrected (here but not there) but little data and no references added. Andrewa (talk) 17:32, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

List of Caribbean membranophones Is another one, it's also the only musical instrument list to have made feature list status, so it's a handy example of what we're aiming for.Gudzwabofer (talk) 14:10, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm also wondering if we should include things like Percussion_instrument#Unconventional

Gudzwabofer (talk) 14:14, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

References

There should be at least one reference for each instrument to justify its Common usage column entry.

One for each Notes column entry would be good too. Andrewa (talk) 18:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

http://www.vintoniowa.org/articles/Jr+Journalists/article105678.html is interesting, but not terribly reliable in our terms perhaps. Much the same list and categorisation as we've seen in several other places, in and out of Wikipedia, compliant mirrors and possibly others.

Do we need an article on Auxiliary percussion, or would it just be a dicdef? It surely should at least be a redir. Andrewa (talk) 16:03, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Redir created. Andrewa (talk) 19:43, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Dhol

The Dhol is currently listed here as tuned percussion, and seems to be pitched percussion but it's an interesting case, see talk:dhol#tuning. Andrewa (talk) 14:43, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Interesting... the dohol seems remarkably similar, in construction, playing, drumsticks, name, role, to the point that one wonders whether other cultures and languages have still other examples, and whether it would be good to have an overview article similar to goblet drum, or even merging the articles. However, even if the articles were merged (and I'm not suggesting that at this stage, too close to WP:OR), there would still need to be a redirect-to-section at the other name(s) that would justify keeping both names in this list. Andrewa (talk) 15:01, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Wind chime

Wind chime is listed as unpitched... but I'm unconvinced... Andrewa (talk) 17:15, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

I think the idea is that it's generally not used as a pitched instrument with tuned notes, but I think a case can be made for listing it as both. Gudzwabofer (talk) 21:20, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

thumbnail pictures please

This list is not helpful to people, like me, who don't know what these instruments are. A thumbnail picture for each instrument would be helpful. Also, can someone tell me what instrument Josh Groban is playing in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/r4gbUHoZzh8 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skysong263 (talk • contribs) 02:17, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

The addition of thumbnails has begun in earnest, unfortunately I have no idea what that thing is that Josh Groban is holding. Gudzwabofer (talk) 15:34, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

I've now added all the thumbnails I could find on wikimedia, and I think I might have a pair of finger cymbals somewhere I can take a snapshot of later. Gudzwabofer (talk) 21:17, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Electronic Percussion?

I'm sure an electronic drum kit would be classed as both a pitched and unpitched idiophone, but what about a drum machine? (aside from the old jokes).Gudzwabofer (talk) 12:49, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

I added the electronic drum as a both pitched and unpitched electrophone, same with turntable. I've left out the drum machine for now, because I'm not sure it counts as an instrument. Gudzwabofer (talk) 06:59, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Region of origin

I'm working on a region/country of origin list, which is yet to go live. I'm wondering whether it should be added here as an extra column or kept as an extra page to preserve the branching format. I can see pros and cons for both.Gudzwabofer (talk) 13:05, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

I've gone with an origin column for now, we'll see how it pans out. Gudzwabofer (talk) 16:43, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Sort by Genre

I'm considering the merits of adding a column for the most commonly associated musical genre for each instrument. Categories could be latin american, orchestral, rock, gamelan, east african, etc. Maybe for the ones left over we can have the often used designations of world music and folk music unless they have enough for their own category. Gudzwabofer (talk) 21:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

Merits of replacing simplified Hornbostel–Sachs category with Hornbostel–Sachs number

The upside of this is, especially once the list grows, is that sorting by number will place similar instruments next to each other.

The downside would be that the average wikipedian may not understand the numbers as easily as the simplified category, although a brief explanation is provided in the introduction and could be expanded to explain the number system.

The numbers could always be added as an extra column, although that's a matter of how many columns the page can handle. Gudzwabofer (talk) 13:53, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

I've decided to add the numbers in the same field for now, that way they can be sorted primarily by number, but the simpllified classification is still visible.Gudzwabofer (talk) 05:36, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

Human Percussion

I've added beatboxing, body percussion, and clapping, although I'm not sure how I should class them under Hornbostel–Sachs. I've tentatively put beatboxing as an aerophone, body percussion as a membranophone, and clapping as an idiophone. Gudzwabofer (talk) 07:02, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

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Scabellum

I don't know why somebody removed scabellum from that list. --Io Herodotus (talk) 11:59, 17 February 2018 (UTC)

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Kettledrum

Part of a conventional drum kit Dougieblackwood (talk) 09:31, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

Tubulum

Yeah, it's a tossup whether plosive aerophones count as percussion. Tubulum has become fairly common since the Blue Men introduced/popularized it. I've seen crude ones called thongophones. 97.113.19.190 (talk) 16:44, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

Whistles

One type of whistle was just removed from the list for not being a percussion instrument, but other whistles remain. As a percussionist, I can see the argument from both sides as yes, whistles are not percussion instruments; however, they are traditionally played by percussionists in world percussion, concert percussion, or Foley recordings (samba whistle, slide whistle, bird call, siren whistle, police whistle, etc.).

Perhaps they could be included with a caveat stating they are not percussion instruments but are played by those in the percussion section.

If not, shouldn't all whistles be removed from the list? OneEarDrummer (talk) 17:46, 11 March 2024 (UTC)