This instrument may be found with or without a clapper. Originally, it used to be hung to the neck of an animal for identification. There is a variety of sizes – small cowbell, medium cowbell and large cowbell – with direct influence over the tessitura. The specimen possessed by the Museum has no clapper and is small in size, containing a piece included to fix it to a proper shelf. According to the melodic percussive principle, it is possible to obtain a variety of pitches, depending on the articulation mode. It was used in orchestral music by Darius Milhaud, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Pierre Boulez, among others.
Text written by Professor Pedro Sá, percussion professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).