Percussione

As Printed on a Score

Used as a group heading for the percussion staves, or on a single staff that one player reads for several instruments, with each instrument named over the notes as it changes. Perc. on later systems; Batteria can also name the section, and in modern Italian a drum kit.

Abbreviations: Perc., Perc

Also spelled: Batteria, Batterie

How Composers Use It

Percussion covers unpitched instruments (drums, cymbals, triangle) and pitched ones (glockenspiel, xylophone, bells), with timpani usually listed separately. Count players as well as instruments: each player can change instrument only with time to put down one set of sticks and pick up another, so list the instruments per player and allow for the moves. Specify beaters and techniques, which change the sound as much as the instrument does.

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