Collection: Musical Blocks

Every wooden block instrument in one place: wood blocks, tone blocks, tick-tock blocks, temple blocks and sand blocks, from EMUS, NINO, SUZUKI and Timber Drum Co.

Wood is the clearest material in a classroom percussion set. The note starts and stops immediately with no ring after it, which is what makes a wooden instrument the right choice when the job is holding a steady beat or playing a rhythm that has to stay legible in a room full of students.

Wood blocks are hollow hardwood struck with a mallet, giving one clear dry note. Double tone and tick-tock blocks have two slots of different lengths for a high and a low note from the same instrument. The EMUS guiro tone block adds a ridged face for scraping, and the multi-tone tank gives several pitches from one body.

Temple blocks are the resonant relative. A set of five mounted on a frame and tuned to a rising scale, they give a rounder, hollower knock and let a short melodic phrase be played across them.

Sand blocks work the opposite way. Sandpaper faces rubbed together produce a soft brushing hiss with no attack at all, quiet enough to sit under singing.

SUZUKI BARcussion high and low woodblocks come on a key base for one-handed table playing.