Percussion mallet

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Mallet bag showing variety of mallets

A percussion mallet or beater is an object used to strike or beat a percussion instrument in

order to produce its sound.

The term beater is slightly more general. A mallet is normally held in the hand while a beater
may be foot or mechanically operated, for example in a bass drum pedal. The term drum stick
is less general still, but still applied to a wide range of beaters. Some mallets, such as a
triangle beater, are normally used only with a specific instrument, while others are used on
many different instruments. Often, mallets of differing material and hardness are used to
create different timbres on the same types of instrument (e.g. using either wooden or yarn
mallets on a xylophone).

Some mallets, such as vibraphone mallets, are normally just called mallets, others have more
specialized names including:

• Drum sticks, of many types, some used with a wide variety of instruments,.
• Rutes, used with many instruments.
• Brushes, used particularly with snare drum but also with many other instruments.
• Tippers used to strike a bodhrán.
• Bachi, used with Japanese taiko drums.

Contents
• 1 Types
o 1.1 Drum sticks
 o 1.2 Mallets
o 1.3 Brushes
o 1.4 Rutes
• 2 Major percussion mallet companies
• 3 See also
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Types
Drum sticks

Main article: Drum stick

Drum sticks are beaters normally used in pairs, with each held in one hand, and are similar to
or derived from the snare drum sticks that were subsequently adopted for kit drumming.

They are the most general-purpose beaters, and the term covers a wide variety of beaters, but
they are mainly used for untuned percussion.

Synthetic yarn mallets held in Stevens Grip

Mallets

Cartwheel mallets with wooden shafts and heads of felt held between steel washers

As well as being a general term for a hand-held beater, mallet is also used specifically to refer
to a hand-held beater comprising a head connected to a thin shaft, and used in pairs. There is
a wide selection of mallets to choose from to create a desired sound, articulation, character,
and dynamic for the pieces being played.[1] Professional percussionists typically have a good
selection of mallets on hand in order to be prepared for each piece. There are three main
types:

• Unwrapped mallets, used on glockenspiel, xylophone, and other instruments with

keys made of durable material, have heads made of brass, rubber, nylon, acrylic,
wood, or other hard materials.
Timpani mallets

Brushes in use on a snare drum

• Rutes and nylon brushes

• Wrapped mallets, mostly used on marimba, vibraphone, and other instruments with
softer keys (though they can be used on more durable instruments as well), have heads
of kelon, rubber, nylon, acrylic or other medium-hard materials wrapped in softer
materials like yarn, cord or latex. Wrapped mallets are also the mallets of choice to
play suspended cymbal, though drum set players will typically use drum sticks
instead.
• Felt mallets or cartwheel mallets have heads composed of layers of felt, held
between two steel washers. They are mainly used on untuned percussion as well as on
timpani.

Mallet shafts are commonly made of rattan, birch, or synthetic materials such as fibreglass.
Birch is stiff and typically longer in length, while rattan is a more flexible shaft and gives a
more open sound. Fiberglass is ideal for playing lightly on an instrument because it is easy to
control.
Different mallets are used primarily to alter the timbre of the mallet instrument being played.
Generally, mallets composed of softer materials will stick to the instrument for longer as they
bounce off of it, which gives a deeper sound made up of lower frequencies. Harder materials
tend to bounce off quicker, and as they stick to the instrument for a shorter amount of time,
they tend to be able to excite more of the higher frequencies, giving the sound a higher pitch
with more overtones. Mallet choice is typically left up to the performer, though some
compositions specify if a certain sound is desired by the composer.

Players frequently employ two mallets in a matched grip or four mallets in a four-mallet grip;
however, use of up to six mallets is not uncommon. More than two mallets may be used even
when no chords are called for by the composer so that the performer has a wider range of
timbres from which to select or to facilitate performance of music that moves rapidly between
high and low, and if hit properly can switch between the two pitches.

If the mallet is too hard, the instrument may be damaged. For example, on rosewood
marimbas, certain mallets may be too hard, increasing the risk of a cracked bar.

Brushes

Brushes are a set of bristles connected to a handle so that the bristles make a rounded fan
shape. They are often used in jazz or blues music, but also in other genres such as rock,
country and pop. The bristles can be made of metal or plastic; the handles are commonly
made of wood or aluminum, and are often coated with rubber. Some brushes are telescoping
so that the bristles can be pulled inside a hollow handle and the fan made by the bristles can
be of variable length, width and density. Retracting the bristles also protects the brush when it
is not being used. The non-bristled end of the brush may end in a loop or a ball.

Rutes

Main article: Rute (music)

A rute or multi-rod consists of several thin sticks that are bound together to form one stick. Its
sound is midway between a stick and a brush.

Long used in orchestral music, in the mid 20th century rutes also became popular for many
other purposes including kit drumming and bodhrán.

By dissipating much of the energy of the stroke within the stick, a rute allows a drummer to
achieve both a tone and a playing action that would normally be associated with quite loud
playing, but at a moderate or even low volume. The tone produced by many can be adjusted
by adjusting the position of one of the bands holding the bundle together.

Major percussion mallet companies

• Vic Firth
• Vater
• Regal Tip
• Pro-Mark
• Ayotte Drums
See also

• Music portal

• Grip (percussion).

References
1.

1. Peters, Kyle (7 May 2019). "How to Choose the Right Mallet". Yamaha Educator
Suite. Retrieved 23 March 2021.

External links
• Accessory Fetish A Complete List of Drumstick Manufacturers
• Traditional letter/number scheme for snare drum stick model names

• v
• t
• e

Percussion instruments
List of percussion instruments
• Carillon
• Crotales
• Glockenspiel
• Handbell
• Marimba
• Steelpan
Pitched
• Handpan
percussion
• Tabla
• Timpani
• Tubular bells
• Vibraphone
• Xylophone

• Bass drum
• Bodhrán
• Bongos
• Cabasa
Unpitched
• Cajón
percussion
• Castanets
• Claves
• Conga
• Cowbell
 • Cymbals
• Djembe
• Maracas
• Mark tree
• Snare drum
• Tambourine
• Temple blocks
• Timbales
• Triangle
• Wood block

• Electronic drum
• Octapad
Electronic
• Groovebox
percussion
• Drum machine

• Drum kit
• Marching percussion
• Front ensemble
Percussion • Indoor percussion ensemble
groupings • Percussion section
• Percussion ensemble
• Drum circle

• Classification of percussion instruments

• Drum stick
• Percussion mallet
• List of cymbal manufacturers
Other • List of drum manufacturers
• List of marimba manufacturers
• List of vibraphone manufacturers
• List of timpani manufacturers

Authority
control:
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National
libraries

Categories:

• Drum kit components

• Drumming
• Percussion instrument beaters

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