Keyboard percussion instrument

A keyboard percussion instrument, also known as a bar or mallet percussion instrument, is a pitched percussion instrument arranged in the same pattern as a piano keyboard and most often played using mallets.^[1] While most keyboard percussion instruments are fully chromatic, keyboard instruments for children, such as ones used in the Orff Schulwerk, may be diatonic or pentatonic.

Glockenspiel and Crotales

Despite the name, keyboard instruments such as the celesta and keyboard glockenspiel are not considered keyboard percussion instruments, despite being idiophones, due to the different skillsets required to play them. This is because keyboard percussion instruments do not possess actual keyboards, but simply follow the arrangement of the keyboard.^[2]

Common keyboard percussion instruments include marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, and tubular bells.^[3]

Current manufacturers

• Adams Musical Instruments
• Majestic Percussion
• Musser Mallet Company
• Premier Percussion
• Yamaha Percussion

See also

• Classification of percussion instruments

References

1. Strain, James Allen (2017). A Dictionary for the Modern Percussionist and Drummer. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-8108-8693-3. OCLC 974035735.
2. Holland, James (2005). Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources. Scarecrow Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4616-7063-6. OCLC 681550519.
3. Girsberger, Russ (1998). Cirone, Anthony J. (ed.). A Practical Guide to Percussion Terminology. Meredith Music. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-5746-3059-6. OCLC 40625607.