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Glite Dictionary
percussionist

percussionist

8 4.4
A musician who plays instruments you hit, like drums or cymbals
  • noun
  • /pərˈkʌʃənɪst/
translation icon : percusionista
  • At the music festival, the percussionist showcased various rhythms on the drums and cymbals.
  • percussionist play

Evelyn Glenny, A percussionist, saying, like, let me figure out if I could harmonize Bach on a snare drum.

Examples

  • What rhythms do the various drummers and percussionists play in a typical ensemble?

    Academic text (2003)

  • Steeple Center concert by two Twin Cities musicians: jazz bassist Gordon Johnson and percussionist Lamont Sandifer.

    Blog text (31)

  • The selection you just heard was the nuclear love song composed by our percussionist.

    Where the Boys Are (1960)

  • I liked best that the percussionists were playing with us and that the audience got to be in it too.

    Academic text (2009)

  • If you have only four percussionists, you're stuck!

    Academic text (1991)

  • The morning AP test involved the top clarinetist, the top percussionist, and the top trumpet student.

    Academic text (1998)

  • A Kathakali group includes vocalists and percussionists, who typically stand throughout a performance.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Female percussionists playing music reminiscent of Stomp could be highly effective.

    Academic text (2011)

  • For example, I have a fairly even split in my seventh-grade band between percussionists who feel confident on mallet instruments and those who do not.

    Academic text (2008)

  • In addition to the steel drums, both Trinidadian and North American ensembles use a group of percussionists known collectively as the engine room.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

drummer
vspercussionist
171 1.1

A person who plays drums in a band

is broader, covering many percussion instruments not only drums
timpanist
vspercussionist
1 9.5

A person who plays large tuned drums in an orchestra

is broader, includes many percussion instruments beyond kettledrums
xylophonist
vspercussionist
1 9.3

A person who plays the xylophone in concerts or bands

is broader, including both pitched and unpitched percussion instruments
vibraphonist
vspercussionist
1 8.5

A musician who plays an instrument with metal bars you hit to make a soft ringing sound

is broader, covering many percussion types not only tuned metal instruments
tympanist
vspercussionist
9.8

A musician who plays the large tuned drums in an orchestra or band

is broader, includes other percussion instruments besides kettledrums
cymbalist
vspercussionist
8.2

A person who plays cymbals in a band or orchestra

is broader and covers melodic and unpitched percussion beyond cymbals

How Large

percussionist
8 4.4

Surface Forms

percussionist singular
percussionists plural

Morphology

percussionist = percussion (transparent) = percussion + ist

Agentive formation from the noun 'percussion' using the common suffix '-ist' meaning 'one who practices or is concerned with'.

Etymology

Percussionist comes from the root percuss meaning 'to strike' and the ending -ist meaning 'a person who does something'. So, a percussionist is a person who plays instruments by hitting or striking them, like drums, cymbals or a xylophone.