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It seems like temple blocks are commonly sold, bought, and played in sets of five as pictured here:

Image of temple blocks

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My old high school had a set like this, but we never needed more than two blocks for any given piece. Why is the set of five so common? Are there many pieces that call for five blocks? Do percussionists just want more options so they can use the "best" two blocks?

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Temple Blocks originate from East Asia, where traditional music is often based around pentatonic scales/tunings. Modern-day instruments have inherited this, and so are frequently tuned accordingly.

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  • That does make sense. I would think that if we still have the 5-block set then it's because there is some practical reason to still use 5 blocks. But temple blocks seem to be treated as unpitched percussion (even though they clearly have a pitch) and are stuck in one key anyway. I'd be interested in any reasons why this setup is still in use.
    – Edward
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 0:45
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If your percussion part says to use two temple blocks but you have five available, you can experiment to find the best two of those five. Your choices may well change with the piece, or what other percussion is in use.

You get to choose whether there's a big, dramatic pitch difference or a smaller, more subtle difference.

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