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School of Music
Percussion Techniques

Hand Cymbals/Piatti

Click above to watch how the hand cymbals/piatti is played.

Hand cymbals or "Piatti" are a pair of cymbals held by means of leather straps and clashed together. They come in a variety of thicknesses or weights, from roughly 14 inches to 22 inches in diameter. Germanic cymbals are the thickest, Vienese are the middle weight, and French are the lightest. The term hand cymbals is less confusing than referring to them as crash cymbals because crash cymbals are also found in a drum set. There are a variety of ways to play these cymbals and no one way should be considered the absolute standard. Those techniques presented in this video are the most common.

MORE CYMBALS

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Gongs/Tam Tam

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Hand Cymbals/Piatti

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Suspended Cymbals

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