A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being struck with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. The term usually applies to an object used in a rhythmic context and/or with musical intent.
The
word, "percussion", has evolved from Latin terms: "percussio" (which translates as "to beat, strike" in the musical sense, rather than the violent action), and "percussus" (which is a noun meaning "a beating"). As a noun in contemporary
English it is described at Wiktionary as "the collision of
two bodies to produce a sound". The usage of the term is not
unique to music but has application in medicine and weaponry, as in percussion cap, but all known and common uses of the
word, "percussion", appear to share a similar lineage beginning with the original Latin: "percussus". In a musical context then, the term "percussion instruments" may have been coined originally to describe a
family of instruments including
drums, rattles,
metal plates, or wooden blocks which musicians would beat or strike (as in a collision) to produce sound.
