This article is about the musical instrument

Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...

. See woodblock

Woodblock

Woodblock may refer to:* The wood block, a percussion instrument* A woodblock or woodcut is used in woodblock printing, a method of printing in which an image is carved into the surface of a piece of wood, which is then inked, and the image is stamped onto a page* Woodblock graffiti is a type of...

 for other meanings of the term.

A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 and used as a percussion instrument

Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...

. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound.

East Asian musics use a variety of wood blocks ranging from small hand-held instruments to enormous (often immovable) temple blocks which may be sounded by swinging a large log against them. Log drums made from hollowed logs, and slit drums made from bamboo, are used in Africa and the Pacific Islands.

The muyu  is a rounded woodblock carved in the shape of a fish and struck with a wooden stick. It is made in various sizes and is often used in Buddhist chanting, in China as well as in other Asian nations including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Also in China, a small, rectangular, high-pitched wood block called bangzi

Bangzi

Jaguar/Sandbox/3 is a township-level division situated in Tangshan, Hebei, China....

(梆子) is used. In Vietnam, a slit drum called song lang is widely used.

The orchestral wood-block instrument of the West is generally made from teak or another hardwood. The dimensions of this instrument vary considerably, although it is always a rectangular block of wood with one or sometimes two longitudinal cavities. It is played by striking it with a stick.