Definition of Percussion Family in Music: A Kid-Friendly Explanation

🥁 What is the Percussion Family?

Imagine a group of musical instruments that make sounds when you hit, shake, or scrape them! That's the percussion family! They add rhythm and color to music.

🎶 How Percussion Instruments Make Sound

Percussion instruments create sound in a few different ways:

• 🔨 Hitting: Some instruments, like drums and xylophones, make sound when you hit them with a stick or mallet.
• 🔔 Shaking: Maracas and tambourines make sound when you shake them. They often have beads or seeds inside.
• ✨ Scraping: A guiro makes sound when you scrape a stick across its ridges.

Types of Percussion Instruments

Percussion instruments are divided into two main categories based on whether they play specific pitches (tuned) or not (untuned).

🎼 Tuned Percussion Instruments

• 🎵 Xylophone: A set of wooden bars that you hit with mallets to play different notes.
• 🎐 Glockenspiel: Similar to a xylophone, but with metal bars that create a bright, ringing sound.
• 🎶 Timpani: Large kettle drums that can be tuned to specific pitches.

🪘 Untuned Percussion Instruments

• 🥁 Snare Drum: A drum with wires stretched across the bottom that vibrate to create a crisp sound.
• 💥 Bass Drum: A large drum that produces a deep, booming sound.
• 👐 Cymbals: Thin, round metal plates that crash together or are struck with a stick.
• 🥭 Maracas: Shakers filled with beans or beads.
• 💫 Triangle: A metal triangle that is struck with a beater to create a bright, shimmering sound.

🥁 Why Percussion is Important

Percussion instruments provide the beat and rhythm for music. They can also create special effects and add excitement and color to a song!

Quiz Time

1. Which percussion instrument is played by hitting wooden bars?
2. What do you call percussion instruments with definite pitches?
3. How is sound produced in Maracas?
4. Give one example of untuned percussion instruments.
5. How is the sound produced in a triangle?

Answers:

1. Xylophone
2. Tuned percussion instruments
3. By shaking
4. Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Maracas, Triangle (Any one)
5. By striking with a beater