Various instruments from around the world, each with its special characteristics, became studied and employed with increasing frequency. These included China's rich variety of drums and gongs, Indian drums, African drums, Japanese drums, Indonesian "gamelan" music, Caribbean steel drums (made from discarded oil drums), and the Mexican marimba.
反觀其他各地，除了中國有豐富的鑼鼓，印度鼓、非洲鼓、日本的太鼓、印尼的「甘美朗」、中美洲用汽油桶做成的鋼鼓，以及墨西哥的「馬林巴」等，也都各有獨特色彩，廣被學習利用。