Cajón etymologically comes from the word Cajón, which in Spanish means simply – a box or box. In fact, cajón is a box made of wood or other materials. There are five walls: the top, the bottom, the two sides, the back. Historically, the instrument first appears in Peru. By the way, Paco De Lucia was a big fan of using cajones in his flamenco ensembles. The cajón is tapped and clapped with fingers and hands.

The tambourine is an ancient drum, the shape is cylindrical. Historically comes from France (French Tambourine), was known in the XVIII century. The rim of tambourine has metal cymbals or bells. Such instruments can be seen in engravings and paintings of the past. The picture by Albert Durer (1503) shows a musician with a tambourine in his hands. Note that the tambourine may or may not have a membrane. Often the amazing sound of this instrument is used by modern ensembles – for example, Blackmore’s Night and others.

Congo is again a drum, tall and narrow. Refers to a subgroup of membranophones, has a kinship with the djembe. Congas externally resemble barrels of different sizes. Types: tumba (or salidor) – low, kinto – high, tres (conga) – medium. The sounds of these instruments are rich in Afro-Cuban and Latin American music. The congas can be played standing or sitting, with or without a stand.

Bongo is a Cuban double drum of African origin. It is commonly played sitting down, with the instrument wedged between the calves of the legs. The small drum in the pair – reflects the masculine, and the large – the feminine. The male (macho) is Macho, the female (embra) is Hembra. The big drum sounds lower and the small drum sounds higher. Techniques of playing are based on hitting and slapping with hands, fingers.

Cowbell (or cowbell) – element of percussion with a ringing and piercing sound. It is often used in music of different genres – from jazz to metal. Appearance is a quadrangular prism made of metal; the front face is open. The instrument has a fixed pitch. From English cowbell – cowbell. Refers to a group of metal idiophones.

Maracas is probably the most familiar instrument to everyone, because all children’s rattles look like maracas. Homeland of maracas – Cuba; also, Indians from South America used this instrument in their rituals and dances. Maracasas are made of wood or plastic, with a shot or peas poured inside. Some maracas allow you to add or pour out the loose contents – then the sound can be noticeably changed. Maracas are often used by jazz and pop ensembles, especially in Latin American music. How to play the maracas? Shake or rock them!

Shaker – from ang. shake – to shake. And again we recall our childhood rattles! A shaker is a closed container filled with loose material (shot, sand, grains or beads); the shape of a shaker may be anything – it all depends on the designer and his imagination. The play technique is simple – just make back-and-forth or up-and-down motions. Sharp movements will give a pronounced attack, smooth – soft.

Castanets are small wooden slices that look like seashells. The sound is clicking, upbeat and fun. Made of hardwood, historically originating in Spain. Castanets add an expressive rhythmic pattern to dances with a series of clicks. The vibrant and passionate rhythms of Latin American pieces become even spicier.

A rain stick is a long, hollow container (tube) with loose contents. When you flip the stick – the filler moves inside and creates a beautiful, rain-like noise. The instrument is common in Peru and Chile. A rain stick can have a transparent body – and then you can see the filler moving around inside. Rainstick, another name for a rain stick, belongs to the idiophone group. The filler can be groats, beads, pebbles, seeds or any other solid pellets. There is a spiral inside, i.e. the filler rolls not just in a void, but along a special “track”. The length of the rain stick varies from 25 to 70 cm.

Slowly turn the rain stick over and you will hear an amazing sound similar to the sound of a downpour.

The kabasa is an idiophone that makes a rattling, metallic sound similar to a rattlesnake. It is used in bossa nova, Latin music, and modern movements from jazz to rock. The instrument is of Afro-Brazilian origin. The kabasa should be shaken or rotated; depending on the intensity of such movements, the sound will be different.

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During the excavations of the settlement sites of the tribes of Central Africa and the Far East, archaeologists have found more similar to the modern examples of ancient percussion instruments. Obviously, it is they who have served as a model for creating European percussion instruments in their time.

Functional features of percussion instruments
The sound produced by percussion instruments originated from primitive rhythmic melodies. The tinkling and ringing prototypes of modern percussion instruments were used during ritual dances by people of Ancient Greece and Rome and Asian countries.
But representatives of ancient Arab states used percussion instruments, in particular drums, during military campaigns. European nations adopted this tradition much later. Poor in melody, but boisterous and rhythmic, drums have become an invariable accompaniment to military marches and hymns.

And in the orchestra percussion instruments found quite a wide application. At first, they were denied access to European academic music. Gradually percussion instruments found their application in dramatic music within opera and ballet orchestras and only later they found their way into symphony orchestras. But today it is difficult to imagine an orchestra without drums, kettledrums, cymbals, tambourine, tambourine or triangle.

Classification of percussion instruments
The group of percussion musical instruments is not only numerous, but also very unstable. Several different ways of classifying them have been developed, so the same instrument can belong to several subgroups at once.
The most common percussion instruments today are timpani, vibraphone, xylophone; various types of drums, tambourines, African tambourine, as well as triangle, cymbals, castanets and many others.

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Small cylinders have been found during excavations in Mesopotamia – presumably the ancient Sumerians used them in their rituals in 3000 BC. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depict warriors with this instrument. Rock paintings in caves in Peru also testify to campaigns and religious ceremonies using a drum. The resounding sounds helped Haitian witches enter a trance and convey information at a distant distance to Indians. Some tribes made a shell with a membrane of gourd and wood, while others covered it with llama leather. But the most intimidating were war drums: they were made from the skin of the leader of an enemy settlement. The drum came to Europe, presumably from Palestine.

The variety of types of drums indicates their long history. In the army were used nakry – copper cauldrons covered with leather, the first mention of which was at the siege of Kazan in 1552. Teponazztl – an Aztec drum similar to a wooden cylinder. The sound was extracted from it with sticks with tips of rubber. The ashiko and djembe, West African drums, are played with the hands, while the Indian bahia is played with the fingers.

Many peoples play the tambourine, a leather diaphragm with bells stretched on a wooden rim. They appeared in Asia in the II-III centuries. In India their sounds are associated with the cosmos and the infinity of the universe, and in Central America playing a tambourine asked the spirits of fertility. Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich in the X century Russia made a tambourine a symbol of his valiant campaigns, later it became an indispensable attribute of Shrovetide celebrations, along with pancakes. Shamans under the rhythm of tambourine heated on fire make journeys to other worlds.

Very unusual sounds, resembling a roar, are made by a boogeyman in the countries that were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The wooden cylinder, covered with hide, is decorated in the central part with a solid bundle of horse hair. The musician pulls the hair with his hands soaked in kvass, and an inexpressible “roaring” sound is produced – and this instrument also belongs to the drums.

Modern assortment of musical percussion instruments is wide and varied – it is not known whether to envy the musicians or sympathize: you want to master both. The main thing is that the neighbors do not suffer from their exertions.

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