What is required to start an object vibrating?

A shaker vibrates to make sound when the contents inside the shaker are shaking. However, the contents inside the shaker can make a high pitched sound when alot of force is used for shaking the shaker. On the other hand a low pitched sound is produced from the shaker when only little force is used for shaking the instrument. reasoning for why a shaker would change in volume depends on how much you shake the shaker and the amount of speed you use to shake it.