Cymbal Musical Instruments

Cymbal Instrument Fast Facts

A pair of round plates made of brass alloy. They are slightly convex, and the center portion of each disk is a raised dome with a hole in the middle, through which passed the leather strap the player holds. The normal cymbal stroke is a clash – the two plates being brought together in a swinging, brushing movement (and not head on, which merely sounds like a fallen tea tray!). The sound will continue to vibrate unless damped by the player holding the plates to this side. The two-plate stroke need not be loud, however. A single cymbal suspended on a special stand may be struck with various types of drum stick, or stroked with a wire brush, or rolled with soft timpani sticks. Tactfully used, the cymbals can add greatly to the sense of excitement at a climax.

A Brief History of the Cymbal Musical Instruments

Cymbals are known to go back to the second millennium BC when one of their functions was to accompany wrestling. But smaller cymbals, called crotales in orchestral scores, are also of considerable antiquity and were used to keep time during the dance. Cymbals are not of Turkish origin but the best ones used today come from Turkey, or from China. These are made to a jealously guarded formula consisting of a proportion ofcopper to a smaller proportion of tin. The large cymbals measure about 14 inches across and they have a central boss or raised portion through which a holding strap is passed. After they are clashed, they are held high for all to see and marvel at, as well as to allow the reverberations to spill out unimpeded. They are damped by pressing them inwards rapidly against the chest. Sometimes they are struck with a stick, and occasionally rubbed together to give a curious metallic shuffling sound. They were first used in an operatic score of 1680, and then forgotten until the 18th century when all schools of composers took advantage of the penetrating timbre produced by the enharmonic partials in the sound. ‘They ally themselves,’ wrote Berlioz, ‘incomparably well…with sentiments of extreme ferocity…or with feverish excitements of a bacchanalian orgy’ – a description which would have shocked those Victorian ladies who treadled away at the Turkish pedal effects on their expensive drawing room pianofortes.

The triangle was first used by Gluck in Iphigenie enTauride in 1779 and only thereafter was it heard in symphonic works, ‘Anitra’s Dance’ in the Peer Gynt suite by Grieg being an example. As with the cymbal, the penetrating timbre of the triangle is due to the enharmonic partials in the sound. Single notes are struck on the outside of the steel triangle and tremolos from side to side within the frame. As those who have attended performances of Leopold Mozart’s ‘Toy Symphony’ performed by amateurs will know, this apparently simple instrument can give a feeble or ignorant player moments of great humiliation, particularly if it decides to swing away when the beater is poised to strike.

The castanets were also used for dancing from earliest times, although originally they were probably flatter, clapper-type instruments unlike the shell-shaped, hollowed-out castanets known today, which are often played with considerable virtuosity, at least by the Spaniards. Instead of the castanets being looped over the thumb, two shells are attached to a handle and played rather in the manner of the street ‘spoon basher,’ rapped on the hands or knees rather that clacked with supple fingers. The sound of the castanets has therefore become one of the most disappointing in the orchestra, usually trying unsuccessfully to recreate the excitement of those Spanish dances.

View entire Cymbal Instrument Collection

Toca Finger Cymbals 2 Pair	Sabian AA Concert Band Cymbals

DW 9934 Double Tom/Cymbal Stand with 934 Cymbal Arm	Zildjian Zil-Bel Cymbal