{{Short description|Percussion instrument}} {{redirect|Thunder machine|the fictional vehicle|Thunder Machine (G.I. Joe)}} {{Infobox instrument | name = Thunder sheet | names =Thunder machine; machine à tonnerre <small>(fr)</small>; Donnerblech, Donnermaschine <small>(de)</small><ref>{{Cite Grove |last1=Blades |first1=James |last2=Holland |first2=James |author-link1 = James Blades|author-link2 = James Holland (percussionist)|title=Thunder machine|name-list-style=amp}}</ref> | image = Macchina del tuono.jpg | image_capt = A thunder sheet at the Teatro della Pergola | background = percussion | classification = Percussion | hornbostel_sachs = 111.221+112.1 | hornbostel_sachs_desc = Individual percussion plaques, or the player makes a shaking motion | inventors = | developed = | range = | related = | musicians = | builders = | articles = }} [[File:THUNDER MACHINE ON SOUTH WALL OF STAGE HOUSE, SECOND CATWALK. - Auditorium Building, 430 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Cook County, IL HABS ILL,16-CHIG,39-44.tif|thumb|The thunder machine in the Auditorium Theatre.]] [[File:Terry Bozzio drums.jpg|thumb|Sabian thunder sheet at the rear of Terry Bozzio's very large drum kit.]]
A '''thunder sheet''' is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet. It is also known as a '''thunder machine''', though this can also refer to a large drum used for a similar sound effect.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/3573-thunder_machine|title=Thunder machine|publisher=OnMusic Dictionary|access-date=22 December 2014}}</ref>
Thunder sheets are available from some cymbal makers including Paiste and Sabian, or can easily be made out of any scrap metal sheet. The thinner and larger the sheet, the louder the sound. The thunder sheet needs to be "warmed up" before sounding. The player(s) will need to start slowly shaking the sheet a few seconds before quickly shaking the sheet.
==Usage== Dramatist John Dennis devised the thunder sheet as a new method of producing theatrical thunder for his tragedy ''Appius and Virginia'' (1709) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Nigel Rees|last=Rees|first=Nigel|title=Why Do We Say ...?|year=1987|isbn=0-7137-1944-3}}</ref> His invention was co-opted by another play at the same theater, and he complained how they dared to "steal my thunder", notwithstanding that the theater still had possession and legal ownership of the equipment that Dennis had constructed.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dent|first=Susie|date=2020-06-04|title=The surprising history of 'stealing someone's thunder'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/cyr71mzy77yo|access-date=2026-04-26|work=BBC}}</ref>
Notable orchestral works in which the instrument has been used include the following:
*Richard Strauss: ''Eine Alpensinfonie'' and the opera ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'' *Giuseppe Verdi: ''Otello'' *Richard Wagner: ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Wagner |page=404 |title=Der Ring des Nibelungen |quote=The thunder machine is used only in Das Rheingold, but Wagner's score does not specifically include it by name. Instead, the score states that, when Donner strikes the hammer in Das Rheingold, "Ein starker Blitz entfährt der Wolke; ein ... }}</ref> and Parsifal. *Mozart: ''The Magic Flute''<ref>{{cite book |first=Howard E. |last=Smither |title=A History of the Oratorio: The oratorio in the nineteenth |date=2000 |page=537 |quote=The orchestra, with threatening, theatrical effects of brass and thunder (a thunder machine is required), powerfully and dramatically sounds out the Gregorian "Dies irae". }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jessica |last=Waldoff |title=Assistant Professor of Music College of the Holy Cross - Recognition in Mozart's Operas |date=2006 |page=45 |quote=... in C minor (complete with thunder machine) is transformed into the music of Sarastro's stately proclamation in E-flat major. }}</ref> *Ignacy Jan Paderewski: Symphony in B minor "Polonia" (1903–08) *Alan Hovhaness: "Invocation to Vahakn No. 3" *Engelbert Humperdinck: ''Hänsel und Gretel''
The American rock band The Grateful Dead, for example, were also notable for using thunder machines.<ref>{{cite book |first=Rock |last=Scully |title=Living with the Dead: Twenty Years on the Bus with Garcia |date=2001 |page=33 |quote=The Thunder Machine is huge, like something you'd put in a children's playground. It's also a musical instrument.You can get inside it and bang on the different panels with wooden mallets and hammers. It's like a huge steel drum, so big that ... }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=John M. |last1=Rocco |first2=Brian |last2=Rocco |title=Dead reckonings: the life and times of the Grateful Dead |date=1999 |page=55 |quote=That has Kesey a little nervous, because in just a few weeks the Thunder Machine is going on its first tour. }}</ref>
==Theatre== Prior to the invention of the thunder sheet, alternative machines had been employed in the theatre, such as rolling a ball down a trough striking wooden cleats.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Production of Later Nineteenth Century American Drama |first=Garrett Hasty |last=Leverton |date=1936 |quote=The most modern thunder machine is a long, narrow trough with a cannon ball rolling in it. Wooden cleats impede the ball along "Hopkins, op. cit., p. 301. 21 Logan, op. cit., p. 628. the way, and it may be rolled very fast for STAGE AND OFF ... }}</ref> Such a machine was called a "thunder run", and variations are often still used today, as well as the thunder sheet.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Supercool Ltd |date=2025-05-13 |title=The Thunder Run |url=https://bristololdvic.org.uk/archive/thunder-run |access-date=2025-05-13 |work=Bristol Old Vic |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * {{anl|Bell plate}} * {{anl|Gong}} * {{anl|Wobble board}} * {{anl|Castle thunder (sound effect)|Castle thunder}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *"[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27913 Thunder machine, thunder sheet]", ''OxfordIndex.oup.com''.
{{Shaken idiophones}}
Category:Percussion idiophones Category:Shaken idiophones or rattles Category:Hand percussion Category:Musical instruments played with soft mallets Category:Orchestral percussion instruments Category:Unpitched percussion instruments