Appendix 

Percussion Family Tree

As described in The Dysfunctional Family in chapter  1, the percussion repertoire is

riddled with issues related to wrongly assumed equivalencies between percussion
instruments. This is not a surprise, as the common methods of categorization inside
the percussion family—wood/metal/skin, idiophone/areophone/membranophone, hit/
scrape/shake, pitched/unpitched, and so on—are overly simple and incapable of captur-
ing the sophistication of the relationships existing in this very large collection of instru-
ments and sounds. Composers, without extensive listening and experimentation, are
essentially combining instruments in the dark.
The following Percussion Family Tree sheds some light on these relationships. Like
a traditional family tree, this tree presents the relationships between instruments and
explains how, why, and to what degree they are different from one another. Four criteria
have been used to determine the similarities and/or differences with respect to their
compositional function:

I. Pitch clarity
II. Register
III. Length of sustain
IV. Sound production

Before presenting the Percussion Family Tree, however, this appendix offers the follow-
ing explanatory figures for the individual variables.

Pitch Clarity Chart
Figure H.1:  “Det.” means the instrument is determinately pitched—that is, it is used
with pitch specification. “Indet.” and unmarked instruments are indeterminately pitched
instruments—that is, they are used without pitch specification.

Note-Length Chart
Figure H.2: Arrows indicate the range of instruments with variable sustain. All Group 2,
3, and 4 instruments can be dampened to have minimal sustain (Group 1). Mark tree
can only be dampened to be as short as Group 2. All instruments can be “sustained” with
tremolo to sound as long as Group 4.
273
Figure H.1
Pitch clarity Group One Group Two Group Three
Clear Pitch Somewhat Clear Pitch Less Clear Pitch

vibraphone (Det.) steel drums (Det.) tom-toms

marimba (Det.) nipple gongs (Det. or Indet.) roto-toms, low (Det. or Indet.)
xylophone (Det.) timpani (Det.) tenor drum
glockenspiel (Det.) thumb piano (Det.) djembe
tubular bells (Det.) bongos, congas, timbales ethnic tambourines
crotales (Det.) frame drum, doumbek triangle
almglocken (Det. or Indet.) roto-toms, high (Det. or Indet.) sleighbells
flexatone (Det. or Indet.) boobams, (Det. or Indet.) wood boxes
temple bowls cowbells tin cans
metal pipes anvil medium and large tam-tam
agogo bells small gongs mark tree
brake drums wood blocks, temple blocks glass or shell wind chimes
mixing bowls log drums med./lg. bamboo wind chimes
pots and pans wooden planks bell tree
finger cymbals claves string drum
bell plates (Det. or Indet.) ceramic rice bowls friction rolled instruments
small handbells church bells
church handbells (Det.) glass bottles
crystal glasses (Det. or Indet.) whistles
conch shell cuica
sirens bowed cymbals and gongs
metal wind chimes

Group Four Group Five
Nearly Unclear Pitch Unclear Pitch

snare drum hihat guiro, washboard

field drum hand crash cymbals ratchet
concert bass drum ribbon crasher rute
pedal bass drum thundersheet sandpaper blocks
suspended cymbals rims of drums slapstick
very large tam-tam Mahler hammer stones
castanets cabasa tambourine
cajón maracas vibraslap
spring coil shakers wind machine
rainstick small bamboo wind chimes
 Appendix H: Percussion Family Tree 275

Group One Group Two Group Three Group Four Figure H.2
Minimal Sustain Short Sustain Medium Sustain Long Sustain Note length
(less than 1 second) (1 to 1.5 seconds) (1.5 to 2.5 seconds) (greater than 2.5 seconds)

vibraphone
tubular bells
hihat
ratchet
sandpaper blocks
rainstick
whistles
conch shell
sleighbells
wind machine
wind chimes
sirens
bell tree crotales
string drum triangle
cuica all cymbals
cabasa glockenspiel all gongs
guiro almglocken temple bowls
washboard timpani bell plates
xylophone marimba concert bass drum church bells
bongos steel drums mixing bowls mark tree
congas roto-toms (med. & large) crystal glasses
tom-toms (small) tom-toms (med. & large) finger cymbal
roto-toms (small) timbales thundersheet
boobams frame drum church handbells
tenor drum djembe vibraslap
pedal bass drum doumbek
wood/temple blocks metal pipes
log drums spring coil
wooden planks brake drums
wood boxes cowbells
claves ceramic rice bowls
castanets flexatone
cajón Mahler hammer
snare drums small handbells
rims of drums
maracas, shakers
rute
slapstick
glass bottles
tin cans
pots and pans
ribbon crasher
anvil
stones
tambourine
thumb piano

Register Chart
Figure H.3: This is a low-resolution version of the multi-part figure in appendix F.

Sound Production Chart
Figure H.4: This is the only figure that shows discrete groups rather than a scale (from
clear to unclear, long to short, or low to high). Instruments are often categorized by
wood, metal, or skin; that method is not always accurate. The categories shown in
figure H.4 illuminate more of those similarities that are functionally effective.
Idiophones are instruments that produce sound through vibration of their entire
body. Membranophones are drums. Friction instruments produce sustained sounds
Figure H.3 Register
 Appendix H: Percussion Family Tree 277

Figure H.4
Group One Group Three Sound production
Struck Idiophones Scraped Idiophones

marimba mark tree guiro ratchet

vibraphone small handbells washboard wind machine
xylophone church handbells cabasa bell tree
glockenspiel church bells sandpaper blocks
crotales steel drums
tubular bells woodblocks, templeblocks Group Four
cymbals log drum Struck Membranophones
gongs wood planks, boxes
triangle Mahler hammer timpani timbales
finger cymbals cajón concert bass drum frame drums
cowbells claves pedal bass drum djembe
brake drums castanets tom-toms doumbek
anvil rute roto-toms snare drum (snares)
metal pipes slapstick tenor drum field drum (snares)
bell plates rim of drums bongos ethnic tambourines (jingles)
spring coil ceramic rice bowls congas
temple bowls crystal glasses
mixing bowls glass bottles
pots and pans thumb piano
tin cans stones
thundersheet coconuts
sleighbells flexatone
bell tree tambourine
wind chimes

Group Two Group Five Group Six

Shaken and Rattled Idiophones Friction Instruments Aerophones

maracas tambourine bowed instruments conch shell

shakers small handbells string drum whistles
rainstick wind chimes cuica sirens
vibraslap mark tree crystal glasses
sleighbells wind machine

when bowed or rubbed. Aerophones produce sound with a stream of blowing air.
The tambourine, sleighbells, wind chimes, mark tree, bell tree, handbells, and wind
machine appear in multiple groups.
The struck, shaken, and scraped idiophones are more like each other than like the
instruments in the other categories. Friction instruments and areophones are similar
to each other because they both produce sustained tones.
 278 Appendix H: Percussion Family Tree

The Percussion Family Tree

Figure H.6: The horizontal bottom line of the graph (X axis) represents note length.
The vertical side line (Y axis) represents register. The pitch clarity is represented by
shading (as showing in Figure H.5).

Figure H.5
Pitch clarity Clear Pitch
shading Somewhat Clear Pitc h
Less Clear Pitch
Nearly Unclear Pitch
Unclear Pitch

Note 1: “Det.” means the instrument is determinately pitched—that is, it is used

with pitch specification. “Indet.” and unmarked instruments are indeterminately
pitched instruments—that is, they are used with without pitch specification.
Note 2: Sound production is indicated by abbreviation, as follows: StI = struck idio-
phones; ShI = shaken and rattled idiophones; ScI = scraped idiophones; M = struck
membraophones; F = friction instruments; A = aerophones. The idiophone groups
will be more similar to each other than to the M, F, or A groups.
Note 3: “Sm.,” “med.,” and “lg.” mean small, medium, and large.
Note 4: Arrows indicate range of instruments with variable sustain.

Using the Family Tree

Of the four variables—pitch clarity, register, note length, and sound production—
note the following. If two instruments share:

four of the four variables, it is very likely a homogeneous-sounding combination.

three of the four variables with one neighboring category, it is probably
homogeneous and very likely a good blend.
two of the four variables with two neighboring, it may be homogeneous but is
probably a good blend.

And so on. As a point of reference, the combination of violin and cello is consid-
ered homogeneous sounding; the combination of bass clarinet and cello is considered
a good blend.
Beater choice, beating spot, degree of dampening, and dynamic can significantly
affect some of the variables, as follows:
Harder beaters:
 Appendix H: Percussion Family Tree 279

less clear pitch
brighter color or higher pitch
louder dynamic

Playing toward the node:

less clear pitch
brighter color or higher pitch
softer dynamic

Addition of damping:

more clear pitch (light dampening)

less clear pitch (heavy dampening)
shorter sustain
softer dynamic

Louder dynamic:

less clear pitch
brighter color or higher pitch

The opposite treatments—soft beaters, playing away from the node, removal of
dampening, and softer dynamics—have opposite effects. The Percussion Family
Tree represents a dynamic of mf and “normal” beaters, beating spots, and degrees of
dampening.
Figure H.6 Percussion Family Tree