Exploring the
ORCHESTRA
Cymbals
Musical Section:
Percussion (Instruments that produce sound by hitting, shaking or scraping. Other instruments in this family include: celesta, chimes, crotales, cymbals, glockenspiel, maracas, marimba, piano, snare drum, Tam Tam, triangle, tambourine, vibraphone, xylophone and lots of others!) . Other instruments in this family: Bass Drum, Celesta, Chimes, Piano, Tambourine, Timpani, Triangle, Xylophone
About the Cymbals
What it looks like
The cymbals are shiny, round percussion instruments that make a loud, crashing sound when you hit them together. The sound is often very loud and can make music feel extra special, like in a big movie scene or a rock concert! They’re even used to sound like waves crashing or thunder.
Cymbals come in different sizes, and each size makes a different kind of sound. They add excitement and drama to the orchestra, but they can also make soft, shimmering sounds when tapped very quickly.
Did you know? In Turkish military bands, cymbals were used to scare off enemies: an effective weapon but no one got hurt! So next time you want to scare someone off, grab two garbage can lids and whack them together!
How to Play
Both Maestros
You can play cymbals by crashing two of them together or by hitting them with a special stick called a mallet. The mallet are usually made of felt and can be soft, medium, or hard depending on the sound you want.
Like the bass drum, the cymbals are unpitched, which means they don’t make a specific note, just a cool smashing sound!
Mom, Someone Broke My Cymbal!
The cymbals used in rock music are similar to the ones in an orchestra, but are mounted on a stand. Rock drummer, Keith Moon’s cymbal crashes were so wild that he would sometimes destroy them and they had to be replaced in the middle of the song!
