Percussion Instrument Group

Percussion instruments are in a class by themselves. They have been around longer than any other instrument group outside of the voice, and can be made from virtually anything solid or liquid. They still have the three elements of the other instruments groups, namely a source, a medium and an interface. In most cases, the interface is merely the air surrounding the body. The source and media are either two dimensional (as with drums) or three dimensional (with the idiophones-almost all others). These instruments provide a unique role in music, namely the rhythm. Some of them also yield solos to complement other instrument groups. To illustrate the diverse selection of percussion instruments, we start with a brief history of the key ones.