Wikipedia:WikiProject Percussion/Percussion instrument article toolkit

Article skeleton
WikiProject Percussion/Percussion instrument article skeleton contains a skeleton which uses the infobox and footer templates and provides the standard appendix and footer section headings.

For more detail, HS classifications, images etc, see the individual resources below.

Categories
Each percussion instrument article should be in at least one of the subcategories (direct or indirect) of each of these container categories, and often more than one. Note however that owing to the complex nature of the category tree, this doesn't always mean it ends up in four categories.
 * Category:Percussion instruments by means of sound production. Normally corresponds to Hornbostel-Sachs designation, see that article for details.
 * Category:Percussion instruments by playing technique. How is it held and played?
 * Category:Percussion instruments by tradition. What is its background?
 * Category:Percussion instruments by usage. How is it used now?

Articles on individual percussion instruments should not be in Category:Percussion instruments, see WP:DIFFUSE, although they will often be put there by well-meaning editors. Just patiently clean them up!

Templates

 * Template:WikiProject Percussion goes at the top of the article talk page. Add for a stub, or simply  if unsure of the quality rating to use, see WikiProject Percussion/Assessment. Try to get the article to the state where  at least is appropriate.

This template informs other editors of our interest, and also links the page to the project alert system, so we get an automatic heads-up of pending moves and deletions for example.

should be used on the talk pages of relevant redirects and disambiguation pages, and on relevant category talk pages (where it defaults to class=NA).


 * Template:Percussion creates a footer which gives quick navigation to other percussion articles, and should be on most if not all percussion articles. Place after the last section or the article (which will be External links if there are any) and before the categories. It's that simple.


 * Template:Infobox instrument is a sidebar which should be used in all instrument articles, and gives information about the instrument in a concise format.

Parameters of the infobox template, with some important ones bolded: name = normally the article name, minus any disambiguation names = other names, lower case, separated by commas image = the filename if we have an image image_capt = normally no need for this background = percussion (this sets the background colour) classification = Percussion (this appears as text) hornbostel_sachs = the numerical code, as precise as we can make it, see Hornbostel-Sachs hornbostel_sachs_desc = the corresponding description inventors = link to any known significant innovators who developed the instrument developed = time or period in which the instrument was developed range = even for pitched percussion, rarely useful, glockenspiels for example have many different ranges, but occasionally can be specified related = link to similar instruments musicians = link to any known significant players and composers builders = noted builders not already listed as inventors articles = any particularly relevant see alsos not already covered

Real life example (source below, with what it generates at the right):

Hornbostel-Sachs

 * http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/cimcim/uymhs03.pdf for an up to date listing, in PDF format.
 * http://www.wesleyan.edu/vim/svh.html for a more concise and faster loading listing with helpful comments, all on one HTML page.
 * http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/texth/Hornbostel-Sachs.html for the base of an inverted tree of HTML pages.
 * Our article at Hornbostel-Sachs is also useful, but incomplete and in need of a major update.

Images

 * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Percussion_instruments and its subcategories is the place to start, and/or search on the instrument name at Commons.
 * http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_KIT,_objecten_Functionele_categorie_-_membranofonen is a good collection of world music drum images

Uploading your own photos of instruments (your own instruments, your friends' instruments, whatever) to Commons is easy and highly recommended. See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard and follow the instructions. You need to be logged in to Commons to upload images, but if you have a unified login then simply logging in to English Wikipedia will log you in to Commons too.

Simply using any of the many tempting photos to be found on the web is of course a complete no-no, see Image use policy. Clearing them with the copyright owners is possible but can be arduous, and if you set just one foot ever so slightly wrong in the process, the image will be deleted sooner or later. Or possibly even if you don't. So check commons first, usage of its images is relatively trouble-free. That's what it's there for!