How to Use percussion in a Sentence

percussion

noun
  • He plays percussion for the band.
  • The marimba is a percussion instrument.
  • The Capitol shook with the force of percussion grenades, and smoke rose above the crowd.
    Sarah D. Wire, Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024
  • So that was echoed by the string section, by the horn section, by the percussion.
    Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 June 2024
  • Soon, the sounds of keyboards, standup bass and percussion echoed from down the long hallway.
    Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 7 Mar. 2024
  • Go-go, a unique blend of funk, rhythm, and percussion born in the streets and clubs of Washington in the 1970s, has been the lifeblood of the city for decades.
    Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 24 Sep. 2024
  • The little brown thing in the middle is percussion at best.
    Joe Brown, Men's Health, 28 Feb. 2022
  • The distinctive sound of each section of the orchestra—the brass, the strings, the woodwinds, the percussion—would carry, or not, in the space.
    Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2022
  • Toto did all the percussion in L.A. here, and Steve Lukather did some of the guitar backward sounds.
    Max Evry, Pitchfork, 13 Oct. 2023
  • It’s a daring opener because of its eight-minute length and the lack of percussion in its first half.
    Mark Richardson, WSJ, 28 Nov. 2022
  • Mälkki made sure that gong had the gusto of avant-garde percussion.
    Los Angeles Times, 24 Nov. 2021
  • The spaces among bowed strings, brasses and percussion are wider.
    Seth Colter Walls, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2023
  • There are guitars, a drum kit, drum machines and lots of percussion.
    Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 26 June 2023
  • Then, a lot of rock bands came along and copied us, having background singers, percussion, adding things like that.
    Brittany Delay, The Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2024
  • All that’s left is his Colt Model 1860 Army percussion revolver with the notch on the handle.
    Katy Roberts, Washington Post, 29 July 2024
  • Like the jive of Cab Calloway, toasting used language for its rhythm, percussion, and style.
    Heather Augustyn, Spin, 9 Aug. 2023
  • Working together, the two crafted the bulk of the work on the album’s songs, from percussion and chords to vocal melodies.
    Britt Julious, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2023
  • There are whistles and toe taps and yowls and warbles and percussion produced by acrylic nails.
    Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2024
  • At the age of 8, Jon played percussion and drums with his brothers in the Batiste Brothers Band, co-founded by his father.
    Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE.com, 24 Nov. 2021
  • These were then overdubbed with layers of African and Latin percussion.
    Jon Burlingame, Variety, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Vinyl records spin over a percussion of a cocktail shaking.
    Brock Keeling, Orange County Register, 12 Sep. 2024
  • Come out to the Civic Center Library to dance, sing, celebrate and be transported across the globe through the sounds of drums and percussion.
    Brittany Delay, The Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2024
  • And since there’s not a lot of percussion, that element gets so abrasive.
    Vulture, 27 July 2023
  • As the soundtrack quiets to a whisper of percussion to prepare a swell, the Frank look appears at the foot of the runway, worn by a new model.
    Nathan Heller, Vogue, 29 Aug. 2023
  • For their part, Mal and May made half-hearted efforts at percussion.
    Jordan Runtagh, Peoplemag, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Moods range from bleak to mournful, voiced mostly by strings, choir (singing in the Mapache language of the region) and Latin percussion.
    Jon Burlingame, Variety, 29 Nov. 2023
  • The music turns out wild and aggressive notes with the metallic oil drum rounding out the percussion.
    Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 10 May 2024
  • Made from waves of synthesized guitar, crashes of percussion and a cheeky bell, the track finds the duo at their most playful.
    Katie Bain, Billboard, 22 Mar. 2024
  • Plus, the loud singing pairs perfectly with the percussion provided by your noisy heater.
    Talib Babb, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2022
  • The brief visual featured a snippet of the track — a few ominous piano notes with some percussion.
    Ilana Kaplan, People.com, 28 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'percussion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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