Concussion idiophones are struck together, usually in pairs. Turkish-style brass cymbals and Spanish wooden castanets are the most familiar types, but ivory and bone clappers were common in ancient Egypt. Egyptian worshipers also used the sistrum, a rattle with metal rings fitted loosely on rods. Rattles are normally shaken rather than struck. The jingle, or pellet, bell is a metal vessel rattle, not a true bell.
Moistened fingers rub the rims of musical glasses, tuned by partial filling with water.
The instrument is held in the hands or on the player's lap, and the free ends of the strips are plucked with thumbs or forefingers. Lamellaphones are used throughout Africa and are also referred to as mbira, kalimba, or likembe. This sansa, a type of thumb piano from South America, is related to the mbira of Africa. It is played by plucking the metal tongues with the thumbs or forefingers. The different lengths of the tongues produce different notes.