The term ‘Percussion’ covers a lot of instruments. As such, it’s a pretty common to come across ones listed in your sheet music which you don’t have access to. Whether this is due to limited budget, broken instruments, or obscure rarities don’t really matter. What does matter is figuring out a suitable alternative.

The basic principle to selecting an alternative is to find something with the closest equivalent timbre or function. So, without further ado, here are my Top 10 percussion substitutions!

Picture it: you’ve been presented with the opportunity to buy some new percussion equipment but you aren’t sure where to start. What brands should you get? How much should you spend? What are crotales?

It’s a difficult situation. But I’ve got some tricks you can use to help figure it out!