The Complete Handbook of Musical Triangles

I've been playing percussion professionally for over a decade and I still learned things from the first chapter alone. The explanation of how strike point affects the overtone series finally made sense of why my go-to triangle sounds different in a live hall versus a studio. I docked a star only because I wish the chapter on brands had included more specific contact information, but overall this is the reference I've been looking for.

This is a solid, no-nonsense handbook. I'm a music teacher and I've been buying triangles for my school's percussion section for years by just picking the biggest one in the catalog. The chapter on types and specifications changed how I shop. The book is a bit dense in places, but it's genuinely practical. I'll definitely keep it on my desk.

I bought this expecting the usual fluff you get from musician-oriented books, but it's actually written like a real technical manual. The section on mounting and suspension was worth the price alone - I've been fighting with a rattling holder on my studio triangle for months and the fix was in the maintenance chapter. Minor gripe: I wish there were more photographs or diagrams, but the text is clear enough.

As someone who runs a small percussion rental business, I found the business chapter very useful, even if it wasn't the main reason I bought the book. The maintenance chapter has already saved me from replacing two triangles that I thought were dead. It would get five stars if it had a few more case studies of real repair work, but it's already proven its value to me.

This is the book I wish existed when I started playing percussion in college. The chapter on understanding triangles is exactly right - it gets into the metallurgy and the acoustic theory without being pretentious about it. I've already used the selection framework to buy a new orchestral triangle that sounds noticeably better than my old one. If you play any kind of hand percussion, this is a must-own.

Finally, a serious reference for a seriously underrated instrument. I'm a retired orchestra librarian and I've handled a lot of instrument literature, and this one is as good as anything put out by the major publishers. The writing is clean, the information is concrete, and the chapter on future trends is genuinely forward-looking without being speculative fluff. I've already recommended it to three people.

It's a decent reference, and I appreciated the clear explanations of triangle types and how to choose one, but I felt the book was a bit too academic for my needs. I was hoping for more of a hands-on 'how to actually play' guide, and that came later in the book than I expected. The maintenance section was helpful, but I found myself skipping the dense parts about acoustic physics. A solid three stars for me.

I've been a full-time freelance percussionist for 20 years and I thought I knew everything there was to know about triangles. I was wrong. The section on troubleshooting false overtones and the exact differences between bar alloys is something that should be taught in every music school. The writing is exactly what I want from a reference: direct, specific, and no nonsense. This is permanently on my shelf.