"Once upon a time"....oh, wait...wrong beginning. As the title suggests, today I'm going to write a bit about cymbals (I call them shiny things).
Cymbals are part of the percussion instruments category and they consist of round plates of different sizes, thickness and various alloys, which I'm going to talk about a bit later. Cymbals are used in almost every musical situation ranging from orchestra, percussion ensembles and jazz bands to heavy metal bands, and marching groups. Pretty cool I say, don't you think?
Now, a bit of history about how cymbals were "born". Most of the cymbals we see nowadays are based on ancient designs, as one of the oldest cymbals found dates back to 5th century BC and it was made of bronze as most of the cymbals today, that's pretty old huh?
The anatomy of a cymbal
A cymbal's anatomy plays a crucial role in the sounds it produces. The hole in the center is used to mount the cymbal on a stand or straps. The "bell" is the raised area surrounding the hole and it produces a higher pitch than the rest of the cymbal. The bow is usually comprised of two sections, the crash and the ride. The ride is the thicker area of the cymbal and it closer to the bell, while the crash is the thinner section and is closer to the edge of the cymbal.
Classification
There are thousands of cymbals out there and they are organized in 5 big categories:
- Crash Cymbals
- Splash Cymbals
- China Cymbals
- Hi Hat Cymbals
You can have a look at our cymbals section and choose from:
- Paiste Cymbals
- Meinl Cymbals
- Stagg Cymbals
- Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals
- Zildjian Cymbals
- Sabian Cymbals
- Dream Cymbals
- Istanbul Agop Cymbals
So take a look at the shiny things and if you need any help don't hesitate to give us a call at 0191 221 0301 and we'll sort it out for you. Also, if you enjoyed this article, don't be shy and press that Tweet/Like button.