What is the difference between playing the drums and percussion?

Why is it that sometimes when you ask a drummer what instrument he plays he will say "percussion" or "drums and percussion"? Is it there some difference between drums and percussion I don't understand, or is "percussion," just a hoity toity word that sounds more respectable than "drums." To me if a musician says they play percussion it should imply they play other instruments that involve making a noise by making force with an object besides a set of drums. What are these other instruments? I can think of some songs that have a bell, like Penny Lane, but does ringing a bell elevate a drummer to percussionist? Also, many musicians are listed as both. For example, the Wikipedia entry for AC' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acdc]AC DC lists one current and two former members as playing, "drums, percussion." What musician plays one and not the other? Is it that the cymbals in a drum set count as percussion? If so, come on, they go together. That would be like a piano player bragging he can play the white keys and black keys. Maybe I'm making a fool of myself, but this is one of those nagging questions I've wondered about for decades.

Percussion is a broad class of instruments where sound is produced by hitting or other force. Contrast with wind instruments like saxophone or trumpet where the sound is produced via a vibrating wind column, or strings like violin or piano where the sound is produced via a vibrating string. A drum is a percussion instrument which has a taut head, traditionally animal skin but now often a synthetic material, stretched over a hollow or open cavity which amplifies the sound when the head is struck with the hand, mallet or stick. Drum percussion includes snare drum, tom-tom, tympani, bass drum, timbale, congas, etc. Non-drum percussion includes cymbals, cowbells, any mallet percussion (xylophone, glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone, etc.), sleigh bells, egg shakers, the Vibra-Slap(tm), and many others. If you're looking for a longer list of non-drum percussion, I could name probably two dozen more before I had to go get a book. Wood blocks, guiro, claves, castanets...

For a Las Vegas-based example, the Blue Man Group's giant pipes are percussive wind instruments, but they are not drums. The up-lit surfaces with the paint on them, on the other hand, are big drums.

To answer one of your other questions, there is a very big difference in the techniques between playing pitched mallet percussion like vibes or bells and the typical rock or jazz drumset. Very few percussion players are excellent at both.

Quote: MathExtremist

Percussion is a broad class of instruments...

Thanks. That was a very good textbook answer.

However, it is after midnight and that isn't going to help me get any sleep. Some of those instruments I can respect, like the xylophone and glockenspiel. If I could play those, I think I would proudly name the instrument if somebody asked me what I played, as opposed to saying "percussion." But cow bells and egg shakers? Come on, waving those I don't think should allow a musician to add percussion to his resume. Am I wrong, or is in most cases is a drummer calling himself a percussionist, like a garbage man calling himself a sanitation engineer.

I'm definitely not a musician or an aficionado, but during my school-band days the piano was also considered a percussion instrument.

Quote: Wizard

Thanks. That was a very good textbook answer.

However, it is after midnight and that isn't going to help me get any sleep. Some of those instruments I can respect, like the xylophone and glockenspiel. If I could play those, I think I would proudly name the instrument if somebody asked me what I played, as opposed to saying "percussion." But cow bells and egg shakers? Come on, waving those I don't think should allow a musician to add percussion to his resume. Am I wrong, or is in most cases is a drummer calling himself a percussionist, like a garbage man calling himself a sanitation engineer.

In many symphony orchestras, there is a "percussionist" who plays a lot of the "miscellaneous" instruments like the triangle or cymbals. There are often arguments about whether someone who just plays the timpani is a timpanist, or is also a percussionist, because sometimes there is no specialist, and one of the timpanists gets drafted to play the cymbals or the triangle....

And let's not forget the PDQ Bach concert's bass drum, where the percussionist hits the drum with a big fish.

I'm wondering if the artists are listed that way, on album liner notes (as in the AC/DC reference), at least partially because the music industry is so particular about assigning royalties. Perhaps you get a bigger piece of the pie (or it's more easily divided) if you're credited as both a drummer and a percussionist.

Quote: Wizard

Thanks. That was a very good textbook answer.

However, it is after midnight and that isn't going to help me get any sleep. Some of those instruments I can respect, like the xylophone and glockenspiel. If I could play those, I think I would proudly name the instrument if somebody asked me what I played, as opposed to saying "percussion." But cow bells and egg shakers? Come on, waving those I don't think should allow a musician to add percussion to his resume. Am I wrong, or is in most cases is a drummer calling himself a percussionist, like a garbage man calling himself a sanitation engineer.

Technically, clapping ones hands is "percussion" (though it's not "drumming"). With one brief exception I've only ever been an amateur musician, so I can't speak to the legitimacy of "allowing a musician to add percussion to his resume". I've played drums as well as egg shakers in the past (in live performances), but I wouldn't say I'm either a drummer or a percussionist. I've also played tuba in the past, but I wouldn't say I'm a tubist either.

From a hierarchical standpoint, I play saxophones and that makes me both saxophonist and a wind player. If someone plays drums that makes them both a drummer and a percussionist. Sorry if that doesn't help you sleep, but drums usually don't. :)

I'll also submit that being able to play an egg shaker *well*, in time and without sounding sloppy, is very different than just waving it around. It's like the recorder - everyone can blow into it and make sounds, and even play Mary Had a Little Lamb, but not everyone can play it like this.

"Drums" means the common percussive set of instruments used in modern music to keep a beat (this is found in rock, pop and jazz among other genres). "Percussion" are the instruments you hit, as stated above, not commonly part of a drum set.

Some bands use the drum set for more than keeping a beat. A good example is Rush. Of course this is limited by the nature of drums, but in "Tom Sawyer" in the album Moving Pictures you can hear exactly what percussionist Neal Peart can do.

Quote: Wizard

Am I wrong, or is in most cases is a drummer calling himself a percussionist, like a garbage man calling himself a sanitation engineer.

Not typically. Generally if you've asked the musician in question you'll get either "drums/drummer" meaning he plays a drum kit or "percussionist" if he plays another serious instrument or does double duty. It's not uncommon for people to take lessons on both drums and some kind of metallophone. My teacher, for example, did play drums in a band but could also play a wide array of piano music on the glockenspiel.

Also anyone playing timpani is a percussionist even though they're drums, similar to how NASCAR has motors rather than engines. Contrary to marching bands, which are full of drummers because percussionist is a more pejorative term there. (See relative lack of marching percussion instruents that aren't drums.)

As far as wikipedia goes, that's either off the album covers or from a fan. If you look at the discography on individual AC/DC members' entries sometimes they're listed as drums others as drums/percussion. The obvious conclusion being that it's a) written by a doofus who thinks cymbals make "drums" incorrect b) was credited on the album as both due to the inclusion of something non-standard in the drum kit.

Quote: annaj10

I'm wondering if the artists are listed that way, on album liner notes (as in the AC/DC reference), at least partially because the music industry is so particular about assigning royalties.

I checked two AC/DC CDs, and they both listed Phil Rudd as just "drums," as it should be.

Percussionists were integral to Frank Zappa's sound. For a long time, his lineup was Ruth Underwood on percussion, Terry Bozzio on drums.

Zappa, "I am the Walrus"

Notice, the percussionist has chimes, gongs, vibes, and various handheld (congas, etc).

Quote: Mosca

Percussionists were integral to Frank Zappa's sound. For a long time, his lineup was Ruth Underwood on percussion, Terry Bozzio on drums.

Zappa, "I am the Walrus"

Notice, the percussionist has chimes, gongs, vibes, and various handheld (congas, etc).

Great clip! Here's "Peaches En Reglia" on SNL as another example. There is also definitely xylophone in this one even though it doesn't show who is playing it...maybe one of the SNL band members.

I checked out some bands' wiki pages to see what the drummer was listed as...for Rush Neil Peart was correctly called drummer AND percussionist, but one that was really funny was Dream Theater, James LaBrie listed as lead vocals and percussionist (he's known to use a tambourine in concert on occasion) and Mike Portnoy listed simply as drums, even though he is quite accomplished in all manners of percussion.

On a pitch black night, outside of Fort Laramie circa 1883, sat two army recruits who were assigned to lookout duty.

There were rumors of Indian unrest, and everyone was very nervous. In the distance, the lookouts heard the first sounds of the Indian war drums. As the sound grew louder, the two green recruits took shelter behind a formation of rocks outside of the fort. Soon, the indians were only a few yards away. From behind the rocks, one recruit says to the other: "Man, I really don't like the sound of those drums". An indian responds:

"It's not our regular drummer"


This joke just doesn't work if you substitute percussionist for drummer.

Wikipedia lists the following percussion instruments which includes the piano.

The Hill Folk back in appalachia used to play something called a boom-ba. Enjoyment usually requires the drinking of a great deal of beer. The home of the boom-ba is the The Leather Corner Post built in 1861 and about 19 miles from my parents home.


Tuned percussion
Bell Chime
Chimes (a.k.a. tubular bells)
Cimbalom
Crotales
Gong
Glass harmonica
Hammered dulcimer
Handbells
Hang
Lithophone
Marimba
Marbaphone
Metallophone
Glockenspiel
The harp stop and other effects on the organ
Piano
Skrabalai
Steel drums
Tabla
Timpani (a.k.a kettle drum)
Vibraphone
Xylophone
Xylorimba

Untuned percussion
Bass drum
Bell tree
Bodhrán
Bones (instrument)
Chime tree (a.k.a. mark tree)
China cymbal
Crash cymbals
Cymbal
Gong (has a definite pitch, but is not often tuned)
Hi-hat
Kick drum (see drum kit)
Pogo cello
Ride cymbal
Sizzle cymbal
Snare drum
Splash cymbal
Spoon (musical instrument)
Suspended cymbal
Taiko drum
Tamtam
Tenor drum
Tom-toms
Turkish crescent

Auxiliary percussion
Agogo bells
Anvil
Dayereh zangi
Doyra
Frame drum
Finger cymbals
Flexatone
Glass harp
Jam blocks
Lagerphone
Marching machine
Mendoza (a.k.a. monkey stick)
Ratchet
Rattle
Sand blocks
Siren
Slapstick (a.k.a. whip or woodcrack)
Jingle bells (a.k.a. Sleigh Bells)
Slide whistle
Tambourine
Taxi Horn
Temple blocks
Thunder Machine
Thundersheet
Triangle
Typewriter
Vibraslap
Whistle
Wind Chime
Wind machine
Wood block

Latin/Afro-Caribbean percussion
Atabaque
Bàtá
Bongo drums
Cabasa
Castanets
Cajón (box drums)
Chácaras
Claves
Conga
Cowbell
Cuíca
Djembe
Güiro (a.k.a. scraper)
Jawbone
Maracas
Pandeiro
Shekere
Tambora
Timbales
Zill

deleted