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# percussion

noun (percussion; uncountable); adjective (percussion instruments)

«percussion» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Percussion means musical instruments that you play by hitting, shaking or scraping them, such as drums, tambourines, triangles, cymbals and xylophones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#m1)
2. The percussion is the part of an orchestra or band that plays these instruments. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#m2)
3. Percussion means the hitting of one thing against another, a sharp knock (formal). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#m3)

### In the lessons

In music lessons, children play percussion instruments to keep the beat and learn rhythm; percussion is one of the orchestra's four families (strings, woodwind, brass, percussion). «Body percussion» is clapping, clicking and stamping to make music. Phrases: «percussion section», «percussion instruments», «body percussion», «tuned percussion».

### Examples

- The drum is a percussion instrument. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x1)
- In music we played percussion with shakers and drums. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x2)
- The percussion section sits at the back of the orchestra. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x3)
- A xylophone is tuned percussion, because it plays notes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x4)
- Clap and stamp for body percussion. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x5)
- My brother has percussion lessons on Saturdays. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/#x6)

### Note

Uncountable: «She plays percussion», not «a percussion». Someone who plays it is a percussionist. Tuned percussion (xylophone, glockenspiel) plays notes; untuned percussion (drum, triangle) does not.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «percussion» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/percussion/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«percussion» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/percussion.html) on Mova free.