The Physics of Percussion Instruments.
All the time during your life, everyday, somewhere, you will hear some sort of percussion. Whether it is the music on a commercial, the music on the radio, or you might catch yourself tapping on your desk. Percussion however is much more than just drumming, tapping, or banging. Percussion is yet another form of physical science. Using some sort of method of beating a surface, the surface is struck thus causing a vibration. The vibration will cause a sound depending on the timbre of the surface. .
There are 3 types of pitches created by percussion instruments: Single Indefinite Pitch, Multiple Indefinite Pitch, and Variable Pitch. .
"Single Indefinite Pitch- The majority of percussion instruments are in this category. When these instruments. The story of percussion is vibrations. When a drum is hit, it makes a vibration. This is what makes a sound. To make a louder, or more intense sound, a drummer hits the drum with more force making a larger vibration. This is the basic concept of single indefinite instruments. You strike it and it makes a sound. .
This applies to more than just drums, however. Besides drums such as snare drums and base drums, triangles, tambourines, maracas and other "auxiliary percussion" have their home here. Instruments such as the maracas and tambourines consist of many vibrating objects vibrating simultaneously like the beads in the maracas and the disks on the tambourine. " (http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/trobinso/physicspages/po2000/jones/).
"Multiple Indefinite Pitch- Multiple indefinite instruments are basically the same as single indefinite pitch instruments. They have different components to the instrument with different pitches. Sometimes these are tuned to certain pitches. Most of these are "mallet" instruments such as xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, and glockenspiel. They consist of bars of instruments that emit certain wavelengths, and therefore certain frequencies.
