Pitched percussion instrument

A pitched percussion instrument (also known as a melodic or tuned percussion instrument) is a <a href="/facts/Percussion_instrument/YojwA7VR">percussion instrument</a> used to produce <a href="/facts/Note_(music)/spIQyV4T">musical notes</a> of one or more <a href="/facts/Pitch_(music)/fQAK0JsC">pitches</a>, as opposed to an <a href="/facts/Unpitched_percussion_instrument/u2v133xP">unpitched percussion instrument</a> which is used to produce sounds of <a href="/facts/Indefinite_pitch/fQAK0JsC">indefinite pitch</a>.
Pitching of percussion instruments is achieved through a variety of means. 

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Membranophone/qoh3VR84">Membranophones</a> (such as <a href="/facts/Timpani/RMflATzA">timpani</a>) are tuned by altering the surface tension of the face that is struck.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Idiophone/d6A4nqtH">Idiophones</a> (such as <a href="/facts/Xylophone/3nI7DPvU">xylophone</a>) gain their pitch through the physical characteristics (such as composition, density, and physical dimensions) of each respective bar.</li></ul>
The term pitched percussion is now preferred to the traditional term tuned percussion: 

<ul><li>Many untuned percussion instruments (such as the <a href="/facts/Bass_drum/W7MvHkKJ">bass drum</a>) are tuned by the player, but this tuning does not relate to a particular pitch.</li>
<li>Untuned percussion instruments can and frequently do make sounds that could be used as pitched notes in an appropriate context.</li></ul>
This second consideration also means that the traditional division into <a href="/facts/Tuned_and_untuned_percussion/u2v133xP">tuned and untuned percussion</a> is to some extent oversimplified: 

<ul><li>Some percussion instruments (such as the <a href="/facts/Timpani/RMflATzA">timpani</a> and <a href="/facts/Glockenspiel/tt7BMh4y">glockenspiel</a>) are almost always used as pitched percussion.</li>
<li>Some percussion instruments (particularly, many types of <a href="/facts/Bell_(instrument)/oU1E1JHg">bell</a> and closely related instruments) are sometimes used as pitched percussion and, at other times, as unpitched percussion.</li>
<li>Some percussion instruments (such as the <a href="/facts/Snare_drum/IN9Arnh3">snare drum</a>) are almost always used as unpitched percussion.</li></ul>
Pitched percussion includes the class of:

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Keyboard_percussion/jLQKyCAt">Keyboard percussion</a> instruments (such as the <a href="/facts/Glockenspiel/tt7BMh4y">glockenspiel</a> and <a href="/facts/Tubular_bell/ASYvcGwT">tubular bells</a>) which are arranged in a <a href="/facts/Musical_keyboard/Mz0FGAe4">keyboard layout</a> (but not including the <a href="/facts/Celesta/DyrPPAp3">celesta</a> and other instruments using an actual keyboard mechanism).</li></ul>

Pitched percussion instrument open-in-new

Pitched percussion instrument