In music, "noise" has been variously described as unpitched, indeterminate, uncontrolled, convoluted, unmelodic, loud, otherwise unmusical, or unwanted sound, or simply as sound in general. The exact definition is often a matter of both cultural norms and personal tastes. Noise is an important component of the sound of the human voice and all musical instruments, particularly in unpitched percussion instruments and electric guitars. Electronic instruments create various colours of noise. Traditional uses of noise are unrestricted, using all the frequencies associated with pitch and timbre, such as the white noise component of a drum roll on a snare drum, or the transients present in the prefix of the sounds of some organ pipes.
Dolby 361 A-type noise reduction module
Maracas owe their distinctive tone to the noise in their sound
Traditional Yangge dance performances are accompanied by unpitched percussion ensembles (Dream Butterfly Dance Group (蝶梦舞团) pictured here)
Ensemble of chenda and elathalam performers
Unpitched percussion instrument
An unpitched percussion instrument is a percussion instrument played in such a way as to produce sounds of indeterminate pitch, or an instrument normally played in this fashion.
A pair of timbales, two cowbells, a jam block and a cymbal all in use as unpitched percussion
Andrea Neumann's prepared piano, Goethe-Institut, Boston, 2010, showing a dinner knife, a dinner fork, a piece of felt and a piece of cardboard interfering with the normal movement of the strings.
The tabla, left, is tuned to the tonic, dominant or subdominant of the soloist's key and thus complements the melody. Its drum head is reinforced at the centre to reduce inharmonic overtones.
The cowbell is most often used as unpitched percussion, but here is a pitched set
