Many of the activities in Music Express involve using classroom percussion instruments.

Specific instruments are frequently mentioned although teachers are encouraged to use whichever instruments they have available. Below is a list of the most common classroom percussion instruments with their picture.

For a full guide to using classroom percussion instruments, including how to play them, where they originated, and how to look after them, see Agogo bells to xylophone by Maggie Cotton.

Rattles and Jingles | Wood | Metal | Skin | Tuned percussion | Concussion instruments | Friction instruments

Ankle and wrist bells

Basket rattle

Box rattle

Chocolo

Clapper drum

Headless tambourine

Jingle bells

Jingle stick

Maracas

Rainmaker

Vibraslap

Gato drum

Temple block

Tone block

Wooden agogo

Wood block

Agogo bells

Banana gong

Burma gong

Cow bell

Gong

Suspended cymbal

Triangle

Bass drum

Bongos

Conga

Goblet drum

Hand drum

Ocean drum

Roto drum

Snare drum

Tambourine

Timbales

Talking drum

Tom tom

Chime bar

Glockenspiel

Hand/tone chime

Metallophone

Tubular bells

Xylophone

Binasara

Castanets

Claves

Cymbals

Finger cymbals

Flexatone

Khartal

Slapstick

Tibetan bells

Wind chimes

Afuche cabasa

Bell tree

Calabash

Guiro

Multi guiro

Sandpaper blocks