ratchet

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ratchet (Ger. Ratsche). Rattle. Percussion instr. of indefinite pitch. A cogwheel is either revolved by means of a handle against one or several tongues of wood or metal, or twirled so that the tongues strike the cogs. Is used by Strauss in Till Eulenspiegel, Ravel in his orch. of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Walton in his Façade ballet suite No.1. But of course any instr. producing a rattling noise, such as pebbles shaken in a dried gourd, is a rattle.

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