Suspended Cymbal for Hire

The cymbal is one of the oldest and most recognised percussion instruments around. Much could be written about the cymbal but a simple description would be a piece of metal, either bronze, brass or an alloy, heated then rolled and hammered. Each cymbal manufacturer have their own secret combination of materials that gives their own cymbal its specific and recognisable sound. Generally the thicker the metal, the heavier the sound and these days, most players prefer cymbals to sound or speak quickly with a fast decay. There are many size variations of cymbal, the smallest cymbal known as an accent cymbal is around 4" in diameter rising to around 26". These monsters of the cymbal world by their very nature and size have to be manufactured thick and so are only really acceptable as a cymbal that would give pulse, such as a ride cymbal.

There are many variations of cymbal. For example a standard drum kit would generally employ 4 different cymbals; the hi-hats which are paired and controlled by a foot pedal have one cymbal inverted and then the other sitting on top. With the use of a clutch connected to the top cymbal, the drum kit player can skilfully create a myriad of sounds when opening and closing the cymbals with the use of the foot pedal. Generally the bottom cymbal that sits inverted is the heavier of the two, although this is not always the case. The other two cymbals that are usually found on a drum kit are the crash cymbal, which is designed to give a crash of sound and then quickly disappear and also the ride cymbal which is generally larger and thicker than the crash and provides the pulse. Jazz drummers make the best use of the ride cymbal. Orchestras have their own specific cymbals, clash cymbals. These are always evenly paired and percussionists take great care when choosing clash cymbals so as to match the best pair. Clash cymbals have straps and these are brought together to provide a range of clash effects from a huge climax such as in Carmina Burana, by Orff to subtle and delicate notes such as in the 2nd movement of Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto. Playing the clash cymbals, like so many percussion instruments, is an art form and requires great skill and years of study and practice.

Other cymbal styles are chinese cymbals, which produce an unusual quossshhyy low cymbal sound and are unique as they have upturned edges and also sizzle cymbals which is effectively a normal crash cymbal but has several holes drilled with rivets loosely inserted into the holes. This has the effect of a shimmer and can double the length that the cymbal will sound.

Italian - Piatti
French - Cymbales
German - Becken
Spanish - Platos