A rattle is a type of percussion instrument which produces a sound when shaken. Rattles are described in the Hornbostel–Sachs system as Shaken Idiophones or Rattles (112.1).[1]
SHAKEN IDIOPHONES are rattles (not to be confused with clappers). The material is important, but more important is the arrangement of the sounding parts that strike together when the implement is shaken.
Though there are many different sorts of rattles, some music scores indicate simply a rattle (or the corresponding terms French claquette, hochet; Ger. Rassel, Schnarre; It. nacchere).[3]
^Erich M. von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, "Classification of Musical Instruments," Translated from the original German by Anthony Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann, The Galpin Society Journal XIV (1961), 15-16, https://www.jstor.org/stable/842168.
^Sachs, Curt (1940). The History of Musical Instruments, p.456. W. W. Nortan & Company, Inc. ISBN0-393-02068-1