Idiophone

What it means

An idiophone is an instrument in which the body of the instrument itself vibrates and produces the note — without a stretched string, without a head, without a vibrating air column. To this belong cymbals, gongs, triangles, bells, castanets, xylophone, and glockenspiel as well as rattles and claves. The term comes from systematic organology, which orders instruments by the kind of vibrating material: idiophones, membranophones with a vibrating head, chordophones with strings, and aerophones with an air column. By manner of excitation one distinguishes struck, bowed, plucked, and shaken idiophones.

Musical use

Idiophones are met in almost all musical cultures and fulfil very different tasks. Some have a clearly determinable pitch and can carry melodies, for instance tuned-bar instruments and metallophones; others supply noise and rhythm without pitch, like cymbals or rattles. In the orchestra of European art music they form a large part of the percussion and have been used in an ever more differentiated way since the nineteenth century, in the music of the twentieth century up to works in which they make up the main part of the instrumentation. Characteristic is often a long, hard-to-control decay that co-determines the way of writing.

Performance practice

What matters most is usually not the strike but the damping: where the sound stands for a long time, the stopping decides clarity. Plan it rhythmically as exactly as the stroke. Striking point and choice of mallet change the sound more than the volume — try out both deliberately and note the decision. Take care that the instrument can vibrate freely and rests nowhere on the stand. Keep metal surfaces clean and do not touch them with bare fingers. Store delicate instruments separately so that they do not strike against each other.

Bear in mind that many idiophones have no fixed pitch but nevertheless a register: a low cymbal and a small triangle occupy quite different areas and blend correspondingly differently with the orchestra. Choose instruments therefore by their effect in the texture and not only by the name in the score. Before the performance, check the placement so that changes are possible without noise. Note the mallets used in the part, because otherwise everything repeats itself at the next performance.