Keyboard Percussion

A keyboard percussion instrument, also known as a bar or mallet percussion instrument, is a pitched percussion instrument arranged in a similar pattern to a piano keyboard and played with hands or percussion mallets. While most keyboard percussion instruments are fully chromatic, keyboard instruments for children, such as ones used in the Orff Schulwerk, may be diatonic or pentatonic. Despite the name, keyboard instruments such as the celesta and keyboard glockenspiel are not considered keyboard percussion, owing to the different skills required to play them. These instruments are percussion instruments in most senses but are part of the keyboard section rather than the percussion section of an orchestra. Keyboard percussion instruments do not possess keyboards as such, but instead follow the arrangement of the keyboard.

See Also

Marimba
Vibraphone
Xylophone
Orchestra Bells
Chimes
Celesta
Crotales

Current Manufacturers

• Yamaha Percussion
• Adams Musical Instruments
• Majestic Percussion
• Premier Percussion
• Musser Mallet Company