1) Any instrument that is played by striking or hitting.
2) A section in a band or orchestra, in which the players strike the instrument to play it.
3) Not a drummer.

Usually considered as the people in the band who can't play an instrument or read music. This group is the one that in the definition (band) usually loses their virginity first if they aren't a slob.

a group in the band played by the people without musical talent who usually just sit there and talk to each other the whole class. they are the assholes who get the conductor mad all the time. annoys the hell out of the trumpets who sit right in front of them.

A family of instruments that either use their hands, or something else to play.

There are four types of Percussion instruments:

Mallets: Usually the well known Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel/Bells. The Chimes/Tubular Bells could also be in this category.

Drums: Snare Drum, Base Drum, Toms, Bongos, Congas, Gongs, Drum Kit, Brake Drum, and many more that I don't know.

Auxiliary: Triangle, Shaker, Maracas, Slap Stick, Temple Blocks, Wood Blocks, Claves, Vibraslap, Crash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Chains, Sleigh Bells, and many, many more.

Then there is the Timpani, which is in it's own category.

Despite what other people say about us, we are just as important as other instruments. We can read notes, both Treble and Base Clef. For Marimba, we can read both at the same time in a Grand Staff. Percussion is the unique section that keeps the beat most of the time. If we were the bad people who ignore and annoy the conductor, I don't think we'd exist. Some conductors are Percussionist themselves.

We do not always share the same instruments.

We do not just randomly hit stuff.

Timpani is the only instrument we have to worry about pitch.

Our Instruments have a certain spot where we have to hit. We call this the sweet spot.

Usually the section that gets a complement from other band directors, always talking, and never know where they are in the music.

A group of different instruments, usually in band, that make up background/non central noises within the piece.

A person you makes sounds to correspond to the percussion in recordings like Fever Ray Take It to the Streets

The fine art of bludgeoning an electronic device in order to encourage it to work properly. Vigorous usage of this technique often renders said device permanently nonfunctional.

A way of surviving after marching band season is over.