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Percussion

pr · kuh · shn

🔊

Invented: 18th century

Fun Facts

  • Any instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken, or scraped is part of the percussion family!
  • Because there are so many percussion instruments, one percussionist usually has to play several different instruments during a single concert.
  • Percussionists use a huge variety of sticks and mallets wrapped in materials like felt, rubber, wood, or yarn to change how the instrument sounds.
  • Some unusual objects have been used as orchestral percussion instruments, including whip cracks, train whistles, anvil blocks, and even car horns!

Famous Works

Listen to the Percussion

Every instrument gets its moment to shine! Press a Listen button below and hear what the Percussion can do.

  • Gubaidulina's Glorious Percussion

    How many wildly different worlds can you create just by hitting, scraping, or shaking an object? In this concerto, a powerhouse ensemble of five percussionists takes center stage, turning an extraordinary array of instruments, from shimmering gongs and tuned drums to ringing glass and wood, into a dizzying, cinematic landscape of rhythm and color.

    Listen

CSO Members

Meet the Musicians

Get to know the people behind the music! In this section, you’ll meet the talented musicians of the Columbus Symphony, learn about their instruments, and discover what inspires them to perform. 

  • Cameron Leach

    Principal Percussion

    Cameron Leach

    American percussionist Cameron Leach is a bold performer recognized for his expressive virtuosity, musical athleticism, and daring interpretations. As a soloist and chamber musician, Leach has concertized in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Leach is the winner of both the Percussive Arts Society Solo Artist Competition and Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, and was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He serves as Principal Percussion for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and teaches at Capital University. Leach proudly endorses Black Swamp Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, Rustic Percussion, and Malletech.

    Highlights from recent seasons include recital appearances in Beijing, Nuremberg, Salzburg, San Francisco, Orlando, Houston, and Portland, as well as residencies at the Space City New Music Festival, MalletLab Summer Intensive, TUTTI Festival at Denison University, and Purdue University Fort Wayne. Leach has performed on series such as the Eastman Summer Concert Series, Old First Concerts, New Music at Short North Stage, Rochester Fringe Festival, SPLICE Festival, and more.

    During the COVID-19 lockdown, Leach continued engaging audiences with an array of virtual concerts and clinics. He collaborated with the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, World Vibes Congress, Johnstone Fund for New Music, and music programs across the United States. Most notably, Leach premiered a new percussion concerto by Adam Roberts with the New Albany Symphony Orchestra in March 2021, a project documented by WOSU Public Media.

    Leach’s concerto debut with the Dallas Winds continues to be rebroadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, America’s most popular classical music radio program. Other concerto highlights include performances with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Euclid Symphony Orchestra, and McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, plus world premieres of several concertos written for Leach: Dave Maric’s SPIEL; Durwynne Hsieh’s Prelude and Cartoon; and Garrett Schumann’s This Could Be Madness.