Whatever their form, rattles are sounded by shaking and therefore are also known as shaken idiophones. Distinction is made between vessel rattles, usually containing hard objects that strike against the container; suspension rattles, comprising stick and strung rattles; and frame rattles, a group that includes pendant and sliding rattles (the cog rattle, despite its name, is a scraped idiophone).
Among the oldest instruments of mankind, rattles were originally apotropaic amulets, dancers' rhythm markers,...