The information in this section has come from books by Beck (1995) and Girsberger (1998), and the Web site "music.vt.edu (n.d.)
See the "References" section at the end

Click on each picture or instrument name to hear that sound. The sounds in this section were kindly produced by Tim Ferrier (2009)

• A wide range of mostly small instruments


• Well-known auxiliary percussion instruments include the:


• tambourine


• Tambourine: a frame drum with 1 or 2 rows of jingles


• Triangle: a steel rod bent into a triangular shape


• Triangle


• cowbell


• Woodblock


• Wood Block: small and solid block of hard wood. Has a side slit for resonating


• maracas


• Maracas: pair of shakers with handles. Traditionally made with a gourd. Has plastic or metal pellets inside


• Whistles


• Whistles: the sound produced will depend upon the shape of the whistle


• Wind Chimes


• Wind Chimes come in varying sizes and can be made of metal, shell, glass, bamboo and many other materials. The most commonly used concert band wind chimes use a set of little metal rods connected to a wooden hanger with string

• This depends on what sort of auxiliary percussion instrument it is


• "Aerophones" are blown into to produce a sound


• "Idiophones" are struck together using a beater, or scraped or shaken

• Tambourine: shake to allow the jingles to vibrate or tap skin with fingertips or knuckles


• A special tambourine technique called a "thumb roll" is used when a smoother sounding roll is needed


• How to perform a tambourine "Thumb roll": thumb travels in a circular direction along the skin near the rim


• Triangle: suspend with a string and strike with a metal beater. Use a circular motion


• Wood Block: strike with a hard mallet above the resonating slit


• Cowbell: hold in palm of hand. Opening should face towards audience. Strike edge of opening with a wooden drum stick.


• Maracas: Shake to produce a sound


• Whistles: sound is produced by blowing into it or across the opening


• Wind chimes need to be moved to produce a sound. They are usually sounded by running a finger along the top of the row of little metal rods, for the entire length of the wooden hanger

• Notation is written using the "Percussion Clef"


• For more information about the percussion clef click on MUSIC NOTATION on the "Home Page"


• Most musical pieces will either provide a special "Key to Notation" chart or will indicate throughout the music, which instrument is to be played

• Auxiliary percussion provide "special sound effects" that help make the music comical, set a peaceful mood or mimic a real sound such as a train whistle or bike horn