This is a glossary of idiophones.
See also the glossary of musical instrument classification (organology).
- agidigbo
- A lamellophone worn around the neck, originating among the Yoruba of Nigeria, played by striking the box frame of the instrument with a ring worn around a thumb.
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- agung
- A pair of large gongs, suspended from the ceiling, of Filipino origin.
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- altar bell
- A set of bells used in Christian worship, especially Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans.
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- babendil
- A narrow-rimmed gong of Filipino origin, used singly to provide a rhythm in a kulintang ensemble.
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- bell
- A percussive instrument made of metal or other hard material, typically in the shape of an inverted cup with a flared rim, which resonates when struck.
- Synonym: chime
- Types: carillon, singing bowl, tubular bells, mark tree, wind chime, cowbell, ring of bells, altar bell, bianzhong, bianqing, skrabalai, suzu, kane, bonshō, ghanta, sleigh bell
- Manufacture: bellfounding, bellmaking
- Notes: In the context of Western music and without additional information, the plain word bells most commonly refers to the tubular bells set.
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- bell tree
- A vertical arrangement of nested metal bowls played by sliding a striker along the outer edges.
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- bianqing
- A set of qing, or flat stone chimes, usually L-shaped, strung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet, of ancient Chinese origin.
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- bonang
- A set of small gongs placed on a rack and usually struck with a padded stick, a type of gong chime, used in the gamelan music of Java.
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- bonshō
- A very large bell used in Buddhist temples in Japan to mark time and call monks in for prayer.
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- cajón
- A hexagonal, box-like percussion instrument of Peruvian origin.
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- carillon
- A set of bells, often in a bell tower, sometimes operated by means of a keyboard (manual or pedal), originating from the Low Countries.
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- castanets
- A pair of concave shells attached with a string so they can be struck together, originating around the Mediterranean.
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- chekeré
- A type of shekere, or a gourd with a net interwoven with beads strerched over it, used as a rattle, and originating in Cuba.
- Synonym: chequere, guiro, aggué
- Note: In English, the word guiro most often refers to a type of rattle. In the context of Cuban music, however, it can be ambiguous.
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- chime bar
- A set of tuned metal bars, each mounted on a wooden resonator.
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- church bell
- A bell (often more than one) belonging to a church, usually housed in a tower or steeple, customarily rung before church services or for other occasions such as weddings.
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- clapper
- A percussion instrument consisting of two long solid pieces that are struck together.
- The term clapper can also refer to the very similar instrument otherwise known as a whip or a slapstick.
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- claves
- a percussion instrument consisting of two sticks, one of which is used to strike the other.
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- cowbell
- A musical instrument, typically found without a clapper.
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- crash cymbals
- A type of cymbal that produces a loud crashing sound.
- Note: crash cymbal can also be used as a synonym for clash cymbals.
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- crotales
- A percussion instrument of archaic origin, resembling a metal castanet or cymbal.
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- cymbals
- A concave plate of brass or bronze that produces a sharp, ringing sound when struck: played either in pairs, by striking them together, or singly by striking with a drumstick or the like.
- Types: crash cymbals, clash cymbals, Bell cymbal, China cymbal, crash/ride cymbal, finger cymbal, flat ride cymbal, hi-hat, ride cymbal, sizzle cymbal, splash cymbal, swish cymbal, taal, manjira, effects cymbal
- Performer: cymbalist
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- dayereh
- A frame drum decorated with musical jingles, of Central and Southwest Asian origin.
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- devil chase
- An idiophone made from a split stalk of bamboo struck against a performer's hand, originating in South Asia.
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- dhantal
- A percussion instrument consisting of a steel rod that is struck by a beater, of Caribbean origin.
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- flexatone
- A sheet of flexible metal suspended in a wire frame and with a handle attached, used mainly to produce a glissando effect.
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- frottoir
- A piece of metal with a series of ridges or corrugations on the surface, essentially a washboard without the frame, and characteristic of zydeco music.
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- gandingan
- An array of four hanging gongs, of Filipino origin.
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- glass harmonica
- A series of glass bowls whose size vary so as to produce specified tones when manipulated with friction.
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- glass harp
- A series of wine glasses tuned to produce sounds when their rims are rubbed.
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- gong chime
- A set of bossed bell-like musical instruments held in a rectangular or circular frame, used in large ensembles throughout southeast Asia.
- Synonyms: gong circle (only used if the frame is circular), kulintang, calculintang kolintang, kulintangan or gulintangan (Sabah and the Sulu Archipelago), totobuang (central Maluku), kolintang (Maranao)
- Notes: The word kulintang is, in English, most precisely a type of ensemble that uses gong chimes, as well as the style of music performed by that ensemble, but the word sometimes refers to the instrument itself. In native languages of the area, the terminology is reversed: kulintang is most properly the name of the instrument (in the Maguindanao, Ternate and Timorese languages); the ensemble and its musical style are called basalen or palabunibunyan in Maguindanao.
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- gragger
- A type of ratchet used mainly in Purim celebrations in Jewish tradition; it consists of a board and a gearwheel attached to a handle, and is played by swinging the mechanism to make the gearwheel scrape against the board, producing a percussive sound.
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- guiro
- A musical instrument, a shaker, made of a hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side, and played by rubbing a stick or scraper ("pua") along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound.
- Note: The word guiro is more rarely used as a synonym for the Cuban instrument otherwise known as the chekeré, a type of shekere.
- Synonyms:
- ralabazo, guayo, güiro, ralladera, rascador, rayo, güira: (Cuba)
- guayo, güiro, candungo, carracho, guicharo: (Puerto Rico)
- guira: (Dominican Republic)
- guacharacha: (Colombia)
- Types: reco-reco (Brazil)
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- hi-hat
- A pair of cymbals as part of a drum kit that clash together when actuated by the foot pedal.
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- huiringua
- A slit drum made from a hollow log, of Mexican origin, struck with a pair of wood mallets.
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- jawbone
- The jaw bone of an animal played as a musical instrument, used throughout Latin America.
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- Jew's harp
- A musical instrument consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo “tongue” attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer’s mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note of constant pitch. Melodies can be created by changing the shape of the mouth and causing different overtones.
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- kouxian
- A type of Jew's harp, of Chinese origin, usually made of bamboo or sometimes brass, and often consisting of more than one lamellae.
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- lithophone
- An instrument in which rocks are struck to produce sound.
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- maraca
- Hollow pods typically made of gourds or coconut shells and filled with seeds, used as a rattle, normally in pairs, common throughout Latin America.
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- marimbaphone
- A percussion idiophone from early 20th century United States, with the capaciity to turn vertical so the bars can be played with a bow.
- Note: The term marimbaphone is also used in scores to refer to the marimba.
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- mark tree
- An array of small chimes hanging from a bar, played with a finger or stick.
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- mbira
- Any of several musical instruments, similar to a marimba, having a small sound box fitted with a row of tuned tabs that are plucked with the thumbs.
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- metallophone
- A musical instrument in which metal bars are struck to produce sound.
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- music box
- A mechanical instrument that creates sound with a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc so as to pluck the tuned lamellae (teeth) of a steel comb.
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- nail violin
- A wooden soundboard with metal nails attached, tuned to produce notes when played with a bow.
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- paiban
- A type of clapper used in traditional Chinese music.
- Synonyms: guban, bǎn, tánbǎn, mùbǎn, shūbǎn
- Note: The word guban most precisely describes a form of music performed by a paiban and drum, but it is often used informally to refer to the paiban.
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- rainstick
- A hollow tube lined on the inside by nubs and filled with seeds, used as a percussion instrument like a cylindrical rattle; it makes a characteristically rain-like sound.
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- ratchet
- A board and a gearwheel attached to a handle, played by swinging the mechanism, making the gearwheel scrape against the board to produce a percussive sound.
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- reco-reco
- A scraped percussion instrument originating in Brazil; it was traditionally a wood or bamboo cylindrical body with notches, played like a guiro, but more modern instruments are metal boxes with springs for notches, and played with a metal stick.
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- reyong
- A type of gong chime, a set of gongs laid out on a rack and sometimes played by up to four people simultaneously, used in the gamelan music of Bali.
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- ring of bells
- A set of large bells of English origin, played by means of a wheel that moves each bell in a nearly 360-degree arc.
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- riq
- Jingles attached to a frame drum, used in traditional Arab music.
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- sekere
- A musical instrument consisting of a gourd surrounded by a net of beads, originating in Nigeria.
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- singing bowl
- A type of standing bell consisting of a bowl-shaped object that rests on a surface, producing sound by rubbing the rim of the opening.
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- skrabalai
- A set of tuned wooden bells of Lithuanian origin, held in trapezoidal racks with several vertical rows, and played by a pair of wooden sticks.
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- slapstick
- A percussion instrument consisting of two wooden boards attached with a hinge and struck together to produce sound.
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- splash cymbal
- A pair of small cymbals used to provide a special effect or accent, part of a modern drum kit.
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- spoons
- A pair of spoons used as a musical instrument by tapping them on parts of the body.
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- steel tongue drum
- An idiophone made from a hollowed-out propane tank whose bottom has been removed and some tongue-like projections radiating into the opening; the tone is changed by altering the tongues' size or adding a weight to them, and the instrument is played by striking with the fingers or a mallet.
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- steelpan
- A percussion instrument made from a steel drum, originally from Trinidad.
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- suzu
- A round bell filled with pellets to make sound when it is rung, used in the music of Shinto shrines in Japan.
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- tambourine
- Jingles attached to a frame drum, used in many forms of Western music.
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- triangle
- A percussion instrument consisting of a metal triangle that is struck to produce a sound.
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- tubular bells
- a percussion instrument consisting of a set of tuned metal tubes that are struck with a mallet.
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- vibraslap
- A U-shaped piece of wire that connects a wood box to a ball filled with metal teeth, which acts as a resonator when the ball is struck against a surface (often the performer's hand).
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- washboard
- A rectangular board with a series of corrugations, originally intended for washing clothes but now mainly in use in the Western world as a musical instrument.
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- whip
- _
- Synonyn of: slapstick
- Note: The whip (A lash; a pliant, flexible instrument used to create a sharp "crack" sound) is also used as a musical instrument in whipcracking, but that is an aerophone.
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- wind chime
- A set of suspended chimes meant to be played by the wind, usually placed outside of a home for ornamentation.
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- wood block
- A piece of wood carved into a slit drum and used as a simple percussion instrument.
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- xylophone
- A percussion idiophone consisting of wooden bars struck with mallets.
- Note: The word xylophone is sometimes used as a general category for all percussion idiophones of this type, such as the marimba and balafon. In other contexts, such as orchestral music, these words refer to very distinct instruments.
- Performer: xylophonist
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