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Sleigh bells.
Labels sleigh bells (Sonagli) on a single line. A continuous jingle is written as a tremolo or roll, and individual shakes are notated as rhythms; the instrument has no pitch, so only rhythm and dynamics are shown.
A cluster of small pellet bells on a strap or handle, shaken or struck, with an immediate association of winter and sleigh rides. Mahler opens his Fourth Symphony with them, and Prokofiev uses them in the “Troika” of Lieutenant Kijé. They are not subtle: use them for that specific colour and keep the rhythm simple, since the attack is never perfectly crisp.
Sonagli is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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