Percussion Instruments & Their History

Rattles are one of the earliest percussion instruments.

Percussion instruments are probably the oldest form of instrument used by humankind to make music. It is impossible to trace the precise origins of instruments that players bang, scrape, rattle or hit with a stick. Doubtless, the original percussion instruments, like many makeshift percussion instruments today, were objects intended for other purposes, which made a pleasant or dramatic sound when struck. Percussion instruments range from the many types of drums and other instruments using stretched-skin surfaces such as tambourines, to metallic instruments like bells, gongs, cymbals and triangles, to melodically complex instruments like the glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone and piano.

Earliest Instruments

Clapping may be the origin of percussion instruments.

Percussion refers to the act of striking, and it may be that the original percussion instrument was the human body itself, creating rhythm through clapping of hands, stamping of feet and slapping of chest. The evidence reviewed by percussionist and historian James Blades, in the 1970 book "Percussion Instruments and Their History," suggests that the next step may have been "the warrior striking his shield" as the rhythmic basis of a battle song. Certainly, archaeological evidence exists for the use of percussion instruments up to 30,000 years ago. Some of the earliest were rattles, such as those made from a gourd shell filled with dry seeds, and scrapers made from simply scored stones, bones or shells that players scraped with a stick.

Origins of Drums

Drums originate from Africa.

The first kind of drum might have been the so-called “drum of the earth” recorded in Abyssinia. Cone-shaped holes in the earth produced percussive sounds when a player pounded the orifices with the flat of the hand. As Blades observes, it was a short step from recognizing the resonant potential of an enclosed hollow space to forming a drum out of a hollow log. Something recognizable as a modern drum existed from the moment humankind stretched a dried animal skin over one end of the log to produce a rich, percussive tone when struck. This type of drum, as well as the widespread use of drumsticks, seems to be African in origin. Certainly, as Blades points out, drum use has been more pervasive in African culture than in the musical culture of any other continent.

Gongs

The origins of the gong are from China.

Asia played an important role in the development of metal percussion instruments. The gong probably originated in China around A.D. 500. The original gong was a large metal platter which may have been designed for other purposes but which began to be struck as a call to meals or prayer. Its use spread throughout Asia as an accompaniment to dances, rituals and battles.

Cymbals

Clashing cymbals originate from a military function.

Cymbals are pairs of metal plates struck together. Although the use of cymbals became widespread in China, it is possible they came to China from Tibet or even from the Middle East. Like gongs, clashing symbols were not merely musical instruments but functioned to scare opposing troops in battle.

Percussion and Melody

The xylophone has simple origins.

While people around the world use percussive instruments of great variety to provide the rhythmic foundation of music, the design of some such instruments expresses melody. One of these, the xylophone, has primitive origins. It began as different lengths of wood, sounding different pitches, laid across the legs of the player, and was developed in Asia as early as A.D. 900 into an instrument where the strips of wood were fixed across a hollow wooden trough, which acted as a sounding board. Musicians can play intricate melodies and improvise jazz solos on modern xylophones or the related vibraphone, also called "vibes." Because the mechanism of the piano causes hammers to strike the strings inside the piano when a player depresses the keys, it is also a percussion instrument. This is unlike the harpsichord and clavichord where the mechanism plucks the strings. Pianos became popular in the late 18th century. Composers and musicians regard the piano as a melodic instrument as much as a part of an orchestra or band's percussion section.

References

• "Percussion Instruments and Their History"; James Blades; 1970
• "The Piano: A History"; Cyril Ehrlich; 1990