A percussionist’s instrument preference is highly personal. It depends on many factors, including stylistic preference, concert hall acoustics, ensemble size, technical ability, etc. It would not be an over-generalization to say that some percussionists prefer symphonic tambourines with a healthy amount of resonance, while others gravitate towards drier-sounding concert tambourines.
We added two “Custom Dry” tambourines to the product mix a few years ago, specifically for percussionists who wanted extra articulation and “crunch”. These tambourines were designed in the spirit of some of the very old “crinkle jingle” concert band tambourines, which have been out of manufacture for decades.
Recently, we were the first company to introduce the concept of a “Hybrid” tambourine, namely, a tambourine frame that contains both our Projection Plus and Custom Dry German Silver jingles. The result is an instrument with a broad array of resonance that produces enhanced articulation, especially at soft dynamics.
Since 1980, our most popular model has been the T2/GS double row with hand-hammered German Silver jingles. However, more and more players are discovering the option of choosing for general-purpose playing our Hybrid Tambourine with both hand-hammered German Silver and heat-treated Silver jingles.
Our website now features new sound samples of each concert tambourine model. You can hear our tambourines alone and with orchestral background. Check it out on our tambourine products page.
(nb: apologies to Leonard Bernstein and Candide)
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