MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: PERCUSSION

Idiophones

(Instruments made of sonorous substances that do not require tension in order to produce sound)

A large array of percussion instruments made of metal and wood are housed in the Horniman Museum. Many are used in the context of religious ritual, notably the examples from the collections of rattles and over 500 bells.

Specific examples of tuned percussion instruments include a gamelan with iron keys dating from the 19th century. It was collected from the Anglo-Dutch estate Muara and Ciasem near Subang, and originated in Sunda, or West Java, in Indonesia.

There are over 75 examples of the mbira. These instruments that are classified as 'lamellaphones', with plucked keys of metal or cane, and are played all over sub-Saharan Africa. The raw and recycled materials used in a modern mbira dza vadzimu from Zimbabwe form part of the museum's collection of objects associated with the technology of manufacturing musical instruments.

Tuned percussion instruments are the mainstay of the museum's collections associated with Variety Theatre in the UK in the mid-20th century. There is the xylophone with levers operating visual gags such as pop-up donkey, owned and part-created by Sid 'the xyli-fool' Plummer (1901-1967). The musical saw and sleigh bells with which the variety artiste Joan Stonehewer enlivened the stage and recording studio in the middle of the last century, now do the same for the museum's musical instrument gallery.