Percussion instrument

Percussion instrument, musical instrument from which sound is produced by striking. These are divided into 2 main classes: idiophones, (e.g., bells, castanets, cymbals) and gongs, whose wood or metal substance vibrates to produce sound, and membranophones, chiefly drums and tambourines, in which sound is produced by vibrating a stretched skin. Although the celesta, triangle, xylophone, and glockenspiel can be classed as percussion instruments, the term commonly denotes those instruments used for rhythmic effect.