A Brazilian shaker instrument made of a weaved basket with a flat bottom skin, filled with seeds or other small objects. Natives believe the Caxixi can summon good spirits and ward off evil spirits.

Loops of steel chain wrapped around a cylinder with a handle. It’s often used in Latin jazz and bossa nova music.

A Puerto Rican instrument made of dried gourds or coconuts filled with dried beans.

Dried beans or pebbles inside a wooden or dried gourd shell. It’s similar to Maracas, but smaller and with no handle.

Many spherical metal bells mounted to a wooden handle. Also known as “Jingle Bells”, they are a prominent part of American Christmas music.

A metal frame holding several small metal jingles that can be hit or shook. It’s popular in American folk music.

Concave shells that can be hit to produce a clicking sound, often played by dancers or singers.

Thick wooden dowels, that when struck together, produce a clicking sound. They are popular in Afro-Cuban music, such as samba.

A hollow gourd with notches in one side, which are rubbed with a stick to produce a ratcheting sound. They are often used in the Cumbia music style, which began as a courtship dance in Columbia. (Long and Short sounds.)

A wire handle connected to metal teeth inside a wooden block. When you hit the ball on one end of the wire, the teeth rattle inside the wooden block. It’s also sometimes called a machine gun cowbell.

A block of wood tuned to play a specific pitch when hit with a stick. It’s one of the oldest musical instruments, originally constructed by hitting hollow logs.

A pair of wrought-iron bells popular in Nigerian Yoruba music. (Hi and Lo sounds.)

A metal wire or bar suspended from a strap or wire that can be hit to produce a single high-pitch ring. It’s also used in the American old west to signal that dinner is ready.

A large metal disc suspended on a frame and hit with a mallet for a deep chiming sound.

A high-pitched Brazilian drum with a squeaky tone. It’s often called “the laughing gourd”. It’s played by rubbing a bamboo stick attached perpendicular to the drum head while pressing the drum head to change the pitch. (Hi and Lo sounds.)

A metal whistle often used in Brazilian Samba music. You can play it in short or longer bursts. (Long and Short sounds.)

A pair of small open-ended Latin-American drums. In Spanish, the larger drum is called the macho, and the smaller is the hembra. (Hi and Lo sounds)

A high-tuned metal kettle drum, popular in Cuban music. You can produce different pitches in timbales by hitting different parts of the drum, or hitting the sides. (Hi, Lo and Side sounds.)

A Cuban drum of African descent, played bare-handed by a “conguero”. The conga is popular in rumba, salsa, and meringue music. (High mute, High open, Low open, and High slap sounds.)

A large bass drum, often used in Brazilian samba music. (Mute and Open sounds.)

Hand drums, played in pairs in Hindustani classical music. (Baayan and Daayan sounds.)

A large bass drum, played with a beater attached to a foot pedal. Ludwig Drums started in 1909 with the invention of the modern bass drum pedal.

A drum with tightly-stretched metal strands stretched across the bottom. Popular in military and marching bands, they’re also the centerpiece of most modern drumkits.

A metal bell traditionally used by herdsmen around the necks of animals they watched.

The sound made when hitting the rim of a drum with a drumstick.

The oldest percussion instrument – slap one hand against the other.

A cylindrical, snareless tom-tom drum.

A formed metal disc mounted to a stand that is hit with a stick to form a crashing sound. Modern cymbals are very similar to those used by ancient Egyptians.

Two small but heavy cymbals that open or mute closed with a foot pedal. Used frequently in drum kits by pop/rock musicians to keep time. (Closed and Open sounds.)

The clicking sound of two wooden drumsticks hit together.