Percussionist
A percussionist , also known as a percussionist , is a musician who specializes in classical music . They play the drums .
Percussionists are ( orchestral ) drummers and almost always work together as a team (a large orchestra like the Berliner Philharmoniker has an average of 4–5 percussionists). Their area of responsibility is the largest after that of the conductor, since everything falls to them that does not belong to the other instrument groups. Anything that generates sound and is not a string instrument , no wind instrument (in the "classical" sense), no string instrument or timpani is served by the percussionists. (The timpani is also a percussion instrument , but it plays a special role as it is usually played by specialists (solo timpani ).)
The main task is thus playing the so-called Concert percussion / percussion mechanism, which consists of noise and melody - instruments composed. A well-known example of a sound instrument with an indeterminate pitch are the cymbals , and one for a melody instrument with a certain pitch is the xylophone . An example of an unusual sound effect that a percussionist has to “play” are the alarm sirens (sirène claire, sirène grave) from Edgar Varèses ionization or one of the 18 anvils of different sizes (9 smaller, 6 medium-sized, 3 large) from Richard Wagner's Rheingold .
Since the music of the mid to late 19th century , but even more so in New Music , the importance of the percussion has increased so that the first percussionist in an orchestra is almost as important as the concertmaster .