Collection: Small Percussion

Hand-held percussion for classroom rhythm work: guiros, claves, rhythm sticks, triangles, castanets, wood and temple blocks, musical spoons, shakers, bells and tambourines.

These are the instruments a general music program runs on. They are small, they are practical to buy in quantity, they survive being handed out and collected each week, and every one of them makes an acceptable sound in the hands of a beginner.

Choosing between them comes down to what the part needs to do. Wooden instruments, meaning claves, wood blocks, rhythm sticks and temple blocks, give a dry click with no ring, which makes them the clearest for teaching a steady beat or a rhythm pattern. Metal instruments, the triangles, bells and finger cymbals, ring on and cut through, which suits marking a phrase or adding colour on a single note. Scraped and shaken instruments, the guiros, cabasas and shakers, fill the space in between.

Most of these are stocked in class packs as well as singly, which is the sensible way to equip a room where every student needs an instrument at once.