Crotales are thick bronze discs, each tuned to a pitch and mounted on a stand. They sound like a crystalline little bell, and the note keeps ringing for a very long time. They are not small cymbals: they are an instrument of definite pitch, with their own chromatic scale.
And they come with the same trap as the glockenspiel: they sound two octaves above what is written.
Which note really sounds
Pick a written note and the disc to strike lights up, with the sound that actually comes out.
Range and sets
Each set of crotales is one chromatic octave: thirteen discs, from C to C. And here is what confuses people most when buying or renting: manufacturers sell the low octave and the high octave separately. The two-octave set in the photo is simply the two sets mounted on the same bar.
| Set | Discs | Written | Sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low octave | 13 | C4–C5 | C6–C7 |
| High octave | 13 | C5–C6 | C7–C8 |
| Two octaves (both sets) | 25 | C4–C6 | C6–C8 |
That sounding C8 is the highest note of a piano. That is why crotales are heard even when the whole orchestra plays: they do not compete in power, they compete in register.
Watch the octave in the catalog
If you compare catalogs you will see the same set advertised with different octaves: one calls it C4–C5 and another C3–C4. Neither is wrong: two ways of numbering octaves coexist. In scientific pitch notation middle C is C4; in the Franco-Belgian system, the one usually used in Spain, that same middle C is C3. There is exactly one octave between them, hence the mix-up (how octave numbering works).
This page uses scientific pitch notation. When renting crotales for a concert, the practical thing is not to trust the number, but to ask directly whether you need the low set or the high set, which is how everyone names them.
They are not small cymbals
The confusion is constant, and understandable: in English they are called antique cymbals and in shops they appear next to cymbals. But a cymbal and a crotale are different things:
- Thickness. A crotale is solid compared with a cymbal: much thicker in proportion to its diameter, which is why it gives a clear note instead of a crash.
- Pitch. Each disc is tuned to a specific note. A cymbal, on the other hand, spreads its energy over so many closely spaced partials that the ear picks out no note from them: that is why it is classed as an instrument of indefinite pitch.
- How they are played. They are not clashed together like band cymbals: they are struck one at a time, mounted on their stand.
How they are played
They are played with the same mallets as the glockenspiel: hard ones, made of plastic, nylon or brass, striking the edge of the disc. On bronze, the harder the mallet, the more glassy and bright the sound.
But the technique that makes crotales special is the bow: drawing a bow across the edge of the disc gives a very long sound with no attack, which appears out of nothing. The score does not usually say which bow: in practice it is a double bass or cello bow, whichever the ensemble has. It is called for in Impressionist music and in much contemporary repertoire.
And one thing to plan for: they ring for a very long time. A struck disc keeps sounding for quite a few seconds, so in a passage with changing harmonies you have to damp them with the hand or against the body, because a set of crotales has no pedal.
Where you hear them
Their role is almost always the same: a glint that lights up a chord or an ending. Berlioz was among the first to bring them into the orchestra, in the Queen Mab scherzo of Roméo et Juliette. Debussy asks for them in Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, where they appear at the end as a suspended shimmer, and Ravel uses them in Daphnis et Chloé.
In the wind band they are seen mostly in contest pieces and modern repertoire, often bowed to sustain a color. It is not an instrument with a fixed place in the ensemble: it is rented or borrowed when the work requires it.
Crotales and glockenspiel: how they differ
They share the transposition (both sound two octaves above what is written) and both are high-pitched metal, so they are easy to confuse on a recording. They differ in something else:
- The glockenspiel has rectangular steel bars and a drier, more percussive sound.
- Crotales are bronze discs and their sound has more body and a much longer tail, almost bell-like.
If the sound keeps vibrating and shining after the strike, they are crotales. If it dies away sooner, it is the glockenspiel.
When writing for crotales
- Remember the two octaves. Write in treble clef, inside the staff (UK: stave); it sounds two octaves higher (15ma). Writing them where they sound fills the part with ledger lines.
- Check which set you have. If the work calls for notes of both octaves and only one of the two sets is available, half of the notes do not exist.
- Say if they are bowed. Mallet and bow are two different instruments, and the player needs to know in advance to prepare the bow.
- Leave room. The resonance is very long: fast passages blur and harmonies pile up.