Becken freihängend

As Printed on a Score

Printed in the cymbal part to call for a single suspended cymbal, usually with the beater named alongside; it holds until mit Tellern or another instruction.

Also spelled: Becken freihaengend

How Composers Use It

Suspended cymbal: a single plate on a stand, played with sticks or mallets — soft mallets for rolls and swells, hard sticks for pings. It allows soft dynamics and crescendos impossible with clashed plates. Name the beater beside it, as German scores do (mit Schwammschlägel, mit Holzschlägel), and say whether to let it ring.

Example

Mahler, Symphony No. 5, first movement, cymbals, m. 144: “Becken freihängend” with “mit Schwammschlägen.” (sponge-headed sticks), and pp in the next bar.

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