A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excluding zoomusicological instruments and the human voice, the percussion family is believed to include the oldest musical instruments. In spite of being a very common term to designate instruments, and to relate them to their players, the percussionists, percussion is not a systematic classificatory category of instruments, as described by the scientific field of organology. It is shown below that percussion instruments may belong to the organological classes of idiophone, membranophone, aerophone and chordophone.

तालवाद्य या आघात वाद्य संगीत में ऐसा वाद्य यन्त्र जिस से ध्वनी उसपर हाथ या अन्य किसी उपकरण से प्रहार द्बारा या रगड़कर उत्पन्न हो। इसके उदाहरण तबला, डमरु, झांझ और मृदंग हैं। झांझ जैसे तालवाद्यों में दो एक-समान भाग होते हैं जिन्हें आपस में टकराकर संगीत बनाया जाता है। इतिहासकार मानते हैं कि मानव स्वर के बाद तालवाद्य ही सबसे पहले आविष्कृत संगीत वाद्य थे।