(from Gk. kymbos; Fr. cymbales; Ger. Becken, Schellbecken, Tellern; Tschinellen [obsolete]; It. piatti, cinelli; Sp. platillos).
Instruments of percussion (classified as vessel clappers with everted rim; see Idiophone), normally of indefinite pitch, in the form of concave plates, each with a raised boss in the centre. The shape and size of the plate, and the size of the boss in proportion to the area of the cymbal varies widely from type to type. Pairs of cymbals are clashed together, one held in each hand by a strip or loop of cloth or leather tied through a hole or holes in the boss, or, in the case of the hi-hat (see below), by means of a foot pedal. Alternatively, single cymbals are suspended (by one hand or on a stand) and struck with a beater. The modern orchestral cymbals are a pair of large round plates of metal (an alloy of approximately 80% copper and 20% tin), the exact constituents and processing of which are the makers’ secrets. The highest-quality cymbals are said to contain pure silver. Present manufacturers include the long-established and world-famous Zildjian family with branches in Turkey, the USA and Canada (fig.1; for further illustration see Zildjian), M.M. Paiste & Sohn of Switzerland, the Premier Drum Co. of England and the Italian firm of Ufip.
2. Ancient history: Near East and Europe.
4. Modern Western history, usage and technique.
JAMES BLADES/JAMES HOLLAND (1, 2, 4), ALAN R. THRASHER (3)
To meet present-day requirements in the orchestra and in jazz groups, cymbals are made in many sizes and grades of sound. Diameters (edge to edge) range from 15 cm to 61 cm. Cymbals of antiquity are known to have been considerably smaller; modern small suspended cymbals tuned to a definite pitch, inspired by surviving ancient examples, are known as Crotales (also ‘antique cymbals’; see §2 below), and small pairs of cymbals, held one on the thumb and the other on the index or middle finger, are known as Finger cymbals (fig.2). For standard orchestral purposes the desired tonal qualities are brilliance, resonance and a multiplicity of overtones. In general, orchestral cymbals are ‘paired’ with a slight difference in pitch. The finest-quality cymbals are cast, rolled, hand-beaten and machine-skimmed (pared) to a predetermined thickness. Each plate is slightly convex to ensure that only the outer edges meet. In the centre of each plate is a shallow saucer-like recess forming a dome. A double strap by which the cymbal is normally held is passed through a central hole and is knotted with a crown (‘sailor’s’) knot inside the cymbal where the recess is concave. The strap is gripped between the thumb and first finger. To shield the knuckles a circular pad of soft leather or felt covers the dome. In some cases cymbals are held by a special handle. Moderate-quality cymbals of brass serve useful purposes, but are completely out of place in the full orchestra, where, with certain exceptions such as the occasional use of Chinese cymbals, only the best quality ‘Turkish’ instruments are acceptable.
Cymbals are of ancient origin. Three sherds with painted relief decoration (first half of 2nd millennium bce) from Kabakh in Hittite Anatolia show musicians with cymbals; and on a terracotta plaque of similar date from Larsa (Old Babylonian period) a drummer and cymbal player are performing while two men box or wrestle. There is much reference to cymbals in the Bible, and Psalm cl refers to mesiltayim and selselim (probably identical instruments, made of bronze or copper; see Jewish music, §I, 3(vi)). Canaanite bronze cymbals have survived from the area, and pairs of cymbals were used in the liturgy of the First Temple at Jerusalem. David’s chief musician, Asaph, was a professional cymbal player. During the dedication of the Ark, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were all three appointed to play cymbals of brass. In the last century of the Temple only one cymbal player was regularly employed, to mark pauses in the chanting, or to signal the beginning of the Levitical chant.
Cymbals not unlike those in use today are represented on Babylonian and Assyrian reliefs from the turn of the 1st millennium bce, and a number of actual instruments have been found at Nimrud. A Babylonian plaque dated c700–600 bce (British Museum, London) shows a pair of cymbals held vertically (as in the modern orchestra) and a drum; an Assyrian bas-relief of c680 bce depicts cymbals held horizontally. Cymbals had their place in Assyrian military bands, where they are shown in combination with lyres and drums.
Egyptian cymbals, mostly from the Greco-Roman period, have survived in three main sizes: large, flat instruments; medium-sized cymbals with comparatively deep central depressions; and small instruments often attached to long, forked handles (‘tong-cymbals’). An interesting pair of beaten bronze cymbals (their date is uncertain) measure some 15 cm in diameter and are secured by the original cord. Many of the smaller instruments produce well-defined, bell-like notes of high pitch. The Egyptian cymbal found a new, religious role in the Coptic Church, where melodies in strict rhythm are accompanied by small cymbals or cymbals and triangles. The instrument is also used at Coptic burials.
In Europe the cymbal appears in many ancient Greek and Roman iconographical sources (see Cymbala). A pair of small bronze cymbals from Greece (c500 bce) survives (fig.3). The instrument is also clearly portrayed on a marble statue of the Hellenistic period (3rd century bce), and on a mosaic found at Pompeii dated 73 ce. An illustration from Herculaneum shows a pair of cymbals connected by a strap. In contrast, on an ancient Greek drawing of a female centaur and a bacchante, the centaur holds a cymbal in her left hand which she strikes against an identical instrument held in the bacchante's right hand, to assist, it is supposed, in the musical activity concerned with an orgy. Greek cymbals were closely associated with such rites, particularly the ancient orgiastic rites of the goddess Cybele, and the raucous rites connected with the worship of Dionysus (or, in Rome, Bacchus; fig.4). In many cultures cymbals, in addition to their use in religious and secular life, have been credited with remarkable powers. This subject, and the use and properties of antique cymbals in Greek, Roman and Jewish history, were discussed at length by F.A. Lampe in De cymbalis veterum (1700) and R. Ellys in Fortuita sacra quibus subjicitur commentarius de cymbalis (1727).
A
set of cymbals from the ruins of Pompeii (in the City Museum Pompeii) range
from small crotales to cymbals measuring 41 cm in diameter. These instruments
are said considerably to have interested Berlioz, who was certainly responsible
for introducing the gentle tinkle of ‘antique cymbals’ into the orchestra. In
the scherzo of his dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette (1839) two pairs
of antique cymbals tuned a 5th apart to b
'' and f''' are needed. Debussy
scored for two antique cymbals (cymbales antiques) in e'' and b''
in Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1891–4). In Daphnis et Chloé
(1912) Ravel scored for six pairs of antique cymbals with definite notes
sounding b', c'', d'', e'', f'', a''.
Cymbals seem to have been introduced into China from Central Asia, most likely during the 3rd or 4th centuries ce. Pictures of musicians playing pairs of cymbals, roughly 20 cm or more in diameter, are found in the late Dunhuang cave frescoes (c7th century ce), the Wang Jian reliefs (late 9th century) and other pictorial sources. Historically known in China as tongbo (‘copper [alloy] cymbals’), period sources show that they were employed in six of the ten official ensembles functioning within the Tang court (618–907). Cymbals known as nao were also commonly used in Buddhist rituals. Description of the tongbo in the early 10th-century dynastic history Jiu Tangshu suggests that the instrument has changed very little over the last millennium. Today, cymbals are widespread throughout China, used in accompaniment of the regional opera traditions and for ceremonial occasions such as weddings and funerals.
Chinese cymbals are constructed of ‘resonant copper’ (xiangtong), an alloy of essentially three or more parts copper to one part of tin. Cymbals in use today are of two basic types: bo and nao . The bo type is more common; its boss is large – as much as half of the total diameter – and bulbous with a strip of cloth or cord inserted through the boss for holding. The nao is made of thinner metal; it has gently sloping shoulders and a narrow, slightly upturned rim; its boss is small and held directly. Profiles of these cymbals are shown, together with the modern ‘Turkish’ cymbal in fig.5. Sizes vary considerably, from the small ‘capital cymbals’ (jingbo) that accompany Beijing opera (c15–20 cm in diameter), to the generally larger nao (c40–65 cm in diameter) and occasionally large bo of similar size. (For a discussion of the modern South Asian cymbal see Tāl.)
Cymbals closely resembling those used by the Greeks and Romans frequently appear in pictorial representations of the Middle Ages. In most cases instruments are represented as played – by angels and women generally – in the manner of ancient cymbals, i.e. horizontally, as portrayed by Matteo Giovanni (Assumption of the Virgin, late 15th century). Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636–7) illustrates cymbals with straps similar to those in use today. Cymbals – flat and hemispherical – are illustrated in 13th-century English manuscripts. In addition to their use in Christian and pagan rites and as instruments of war, cymbals (smaller than those in the modern orchestra) were used throughout the Middle Ages by dancers and to some extent in ensemble music.
Cymbals (zil) were used in the mehter, bands of the Turkish janissaries (élite troops), from at least the 14th century (see Janissary music). Turkish bands were known in Europe from the early 17th century and by the end of the century were being employed by east European rulers, and instruments from these bands were being used in European music. Turkish cymbals were included by N.A. Strungk in the orchestra for his opera Esther, and by Freschi in Berenice vendicata(both 1680). The adoption of Turkish percussion (including cymbals) into European Feldmusik ensembles in the mid-18th century led eventually to the growth of the large military bands early in the following century (see Band (i), §§II and III). Under the influence of this fashion for ‘Turkisms’, composers also began to use these instruments for special effects in the orchestra. Gluck’s use of cymbals in Iphigénie en Tauride(1779) excited Berlioz. Mozart (Die Entführung aus dem Serail, 1782), Haydn (‘Military’ Symphony, 1793/4) and Beethoven (Die Ruinen von Athen, 1812, and the Ninth Symphony, 1822–4), made cunning use of cymbals with other Janissary effects.
It is from the early part of the 19th century that a more positive and extended use of cymbals as orchestral instruments is found, largely because of the pioneering of Berlioz. In his Grande messe des morts (1837) Berlioz scored for ten cymbals, certain of which he specified to be struck and/or sustained with soft sticks. His ideal ensemble included four pairs of cymbals (he frequently scored for more than one pair), and he scorned the combination of bass drum and cymbals played by one musician.
Wagner’s use of cymbals is exemplary. One of the finest moments for the cymbals is their first entry in the overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. There is also the truly noble effect of two loud strokes at the climax of the Lohengrin prelude. Here as in Die Meistersinger two cymbals are clashed in the normal manner. In Der Ring des Nibelungen Wagner used the mysterious ringing sound of a single cymbal, in some cases struck with a drumstick and in others with two drumsticks to produce a roll. In Das Rheingold a roll (‘Becken mit Paukenschlägeln’) describes the glitter of the precious metal, and a similar effect occurs in the second act of Die Walküre, when Wotan utters his mysterious blessing of Alberich. Wagner also used the two-plate roll. Here a pair of cymbals are rubbed together or the edges agitated against each other. Bartók scored for this effect in his Second Violin Concerto (1937–8) and his Second Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra (1928, rev. 1935). It also occurs in Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony (1911–13, rev. 1920 and 1933). Players sometimes achieve the effect by holding the faces of two plates loosely together while a colleague executes a roll with timpani sticks.
Tchaikovsky used cymbals imitatively (short notes) in the duel scene of his fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet (1869, rev. 1870 and 1880). The single stroke (mf) with the well-calculated vibrating period prescribed by Dvořák in his Symphony ‘From the New World’ (1893) is a model of economy in the use of orchestral percussion.
Many
late 19th- and 20th-century composers have made considerable demands on cymbals
(and the player). Most professional orchestras have developed an ‘armoury’ of
cymbals, both in pairs and suspended, from which to choose. They can range in
diameter from 61 cm (for a big climax in a Mahler symphony) to a tiny ‘splash’
cymbal of 15 cm. 20th-century manufacturers have made two-octave chromatic sets
of tuned crotales with a standard range of c''–c'''', although it
is an advantage to have them built into a single instrument with a damper
pedal, because of the great resonance. Kolberg not only provides the damping
mechanism but has also extended the range to five octaves. Messiaen wrote for a
two-octave set of crotales in several works, including Des canyons aux
étoiles (1971–4), as did Henze in his Seventh Symphony (1983–4). In Antigonae
(1949) Orff requested ten pairs of cymbals. Peter Schat in Signalement
(1961) wrote for 12 suspended cymbals of specified sizes. Composers such as
Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, Bartók, Stravinsky, Bliss, Hindemith, Gerhard and
Walton have requested various effects. Mahler asked for the cymbal to be struck
with a steel rod in his Third Symphony (1893–6, rev. 1906). In Ein
Heldenleben (1897–8), and also in Don Quixote (1897) Strauss wrote zischend,
here usually interpreted as ‘hissing’. This effect is customarily produced by
the brushing of the two inner faces of the cymbals, by passing the edge of one
of the cymbals swiftly across the inner face of the other, or by scraping
across the striations (tone-rings) with the fingernail or a coin. Debussy also
used this effect in La mer (1903–5). Schoenberg wrote for a sustained
note to be played by drawing a cello bow over the edge of a cymbal in his Five
Orchestral Pieces (1909). Bartók in his Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
(1937) required the suspended cymbal to be struck forcibly on the dome with the
heavy end of a side-drum stick, and in contrast, that the instrument be struck
on the very edge with the fingernail or the blade of a pocket-knife (pppp).
Stravinsky frequently specified cymbal with triangle beater, e.g. in the Firebird
Suite (1910) and Les noces (1921–3). Bliss asked for two cymbals,
placed respectively on the heads of a pair of timpani, to be struck with hard
beaters in Meditations on a Theme by John Blow (1955). Hindemith in his
Symphony in E (1940)
sought a sound similar to the ‘sizzle’ cymbal (see below) in his instruction
for a cymbal to be struck with a soft stick while a thin rod is held to vibrate
against the edge of the instrument.
Further unusual effects come from Gerhard and Walton. In Hymnody (1963) Gerhard scored for the edge of a large suspended cymbal to be scraped with a threaded rod. In one of Walton’s earliest works, Façade (1922–9, rev. 1942, 1951, 1977), occur two novel requests: that the suspended cymbal be struck (and sustained by means of a tremolo) with wire brushes (this technique had been developed in jazz and popular music), and the (possibly unique) effect produced by striking the edge of a cymbal with a triangle.
Ceng-ceng are pairs of thick brass cymbals with a large dome, about 20 cm in diameter, used in certain Balinese gamelans. Britten used these to great effect in his ballet The Prince of Pagodas (1956).
Single cymbals may be suspended and struck with a variety of beaters. Formerly, in the orchestra, one of a pair of hand cymbals would be held in one hand and struck with a beater held in the other. Today an individual cymbal is suspended on a stand so that both hands are free to operate beaters. On a suspended cymbal, tremolo is normally executed in the same way as a roll on the timpani: by a series of reiterated single strokes. To keep the cymbal horizontal during a tremolo, the beaters operate on the edge away from the performer. The playing spot, unless otherwise requested, is about 3 cm from the edge. Where a single stroke with a hard stick is indicated, the cymbal is normally struck on the edge. A more rarely used effect is a roll with snare drum sticks. Note values on the suspended cymbal are usually observed by the method of ‘hand-damping’.
Several types of suspended cymbal were first developed for the Drum kit in jazz and popular music in the 1920s and 30s, and were also adopted by the orchestra. The ‘sizzle’ or rivet cymbal is a suspended cymbal with loose rivets inserted in holes drilled close to the edge at regular intervals around the circumference. As the cymbal vibrates the rivets rattle, producing a ‘sizzling’ sound. Other types associated with the drum set include the small ‘splash’ cymbal, the ‘crash’ (about 36 cm, used for accents rather than steady time-keeping), the large ‘ride’ (44–66 cm), and ‘bounce’ cymbals. The hi-hat or ‘choke’ cymbals are two suspended cymbals, about 35 cm in diameter, suspended face to face on a stand and brought together by means of a pedal mechanism (fig.7).
In orchestral scores the part for the cymbals is written either on a staff or on a single line. At times the cymbal part is combined with that of the bass drum, and is signified by the use of ‘tails up’ and ‘tails down’, a method used since the time of Haydn. In many modern scores easily recognizable shapes are given; ex.1a shows cymbals clashed (naturale) and ex.1b a suspended cymbal struck with a soft stick.
For the normal two-plate stroke (naturale, a 2) the cymbals are held vertically and clashed together with a swift up-and-down or across movement. Maximum brilliance is obtained by the almost full circumference of each plate meeting simultaneously. Long notes are indicated by the direction laissez vibrer (‘let ring’) or the sign in ex.1b, in which case the plates ring freely. Short notes are also indicated by notation, or by the terms sec, étouffé etc. To still the vibrations the cymbals are damped by being pressed against the player’s clothing. Since composers are generally extraordinarily lax in writing their cymbal parts, a great deal is left to the discretion of the player, who in many cases must judge by ear (and musical acumen) rather than eye the appropriate length of the note.
The observance of note values and dynamics is a major part of orchestral cymbal technique. For pp the two cymbals meet as in the full clash, the degree of movements being adjusted to ensure the required volume. In certain circumstances the cymbals are played edge to edge to produce a pianissimoeffect. Occasionally, to produce the minimum sound or a particular effect, one cymbal is lightly brushed across the other, or the two plates merely pulled apart.
The combination of cymbals with bass drum (one performer) as a measure of economy is very largely obsolete. However, the effect produced by a player striking a cymbal fixed to the bass drum with a held cymbal simultaneously with a stroke on a bass drum is effective, particularly in the military band and when requested for a particular reason (as by Mahler in his First Symphony: Turkische Becken and grosse Trommel; and by Stravinsky in Petrushka, 1910–11 rev. 1946).
Among the many 20th-century improvements in cymbal equipment is the insulated rack to hold one or more pairs of cymbals upright during tacetperiods.
BladesPI
SachsH
C. Engel: The Music of the Most Ancient Nations (London, 1929)
H. Hickmann: Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire (Cairo, 1949)
L. Picken: Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey (London, 1975)
R.D. Anderson: Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum, iii (London, 1976)
C. Ziegler: Les instruments de musique égyptiens au Musée du Louvre (Paris,1979)
N. Del Mar: Anatomy of the Orchestra (London, 1981)
Liu Dongsheng and others, eds.: Zhongguo yueqi tuzhi [Pictorial record of Chinese musical instruments] (Beijing, 1987), 175ff
Liu Dongsheng and Yuan Quanyou, eds.: Zhongguo yinyue shi tujian [Pictorial guide to the history of Chinese music] (Beijing, 1988)
Liu Dongsheng, ed.: Zhongguo yueqi tujian [Pictorial guide to Chinese instruments] (Ji’nan, 1992), 58–61
Zhongguo yueqi zhi [Monograph on Chinese musical instruments] (Ji’nan, n.d. [c1995])