Instrument Classification

INSTRUMENT CLASSIFICATION

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Musical instruments

Western orchestral

Winds

Strings

Classification criteria

4.1

4.2

In

Bowed

Woodwinds

4.1.1

4.2.1

Hornbostel-Sachs

Plucked

Brasswinds

4.1.2

4.2.2

Idiophones

Struck

Mixed

3.1

4.1.3

4.2.3

Membranophones

3.2

Percussion

4.3

Chordophones

3.3

Pitched

4.3.1

Aerophones

3.4

Unpitched

Electrophones

4.3.2

3.5

1. Musical instruments

A musical instrument is a device for producing a musical sound.Musical instruments are almost universal components of human culture, however, the origin of them can be only conjecture.

Some scholars have speculated that the first instruments were derived from such utilitarian objects as cooking pots (drums) and hunting bows (musical bows). Others have argued that instruments of music might well have preceded pots and bows; while in the myths of cultures throughout the world the origin of music has frequently been attributed to the gods, especially in areas where music seems to have been regarded as an essential component of the ritual believed necessary for spiritual survival.

2. Classification criteria

In the study of musical instruments, organology, there are many different methods of classifying them. Most methods are specific to a particular cultural group and were developed to serve the requirements of that culture and its musical needs.

Throughout history, various methods of musical instrument classification have been used. The most commonly used classification in the west divides instruments into string, wind and percussion, althoug other ones have been devised, and other cultures use varying methods.

Hornbostel-Sachs instrument classification system was created by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs. Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments.

3. Hornbostel-Sachs

The Sachs-Hornbostel system (or H-S System) is a comprehensive, global method of classifying acoustic musical instruments. It was developed in 1914 by two European musicologists, despite their own fears that such a systematic system was nearly impossible. The H-S system divides all musical instruments into five categories: idiophones, membranophones, chordophones, aerophones, and electrophones.

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3.1. Idiophones

A vibrating solid material is used to produce sound. Examples of solid materials used in such instruments are stone, wood, and metal. Idiophones are differentiated according to the method used to make it vibrate:

1. Concussion: a pair of similar instruments are struck together or struck against each other to create sounds.

2. Friction: instruments that produce sound when rubbed.

3. Percussion: musical instruments that produce sound by striking or using a striker

4. Plucked: these are musical instruments that need to be plucked to create sound.

5. Shaken: musical instruments that need to be shaken to create sound.

3.2. Membranophones

Membranophones are musical instruments that use vibrating stretched membranes or skin to produce sound. Membranophones are classified according to the shape of the instrument:

1. Drums: these are rounded at the bottom and may be tunable or non-tunable. The vibrating membrane is either laced, nailed, or glued to the body and the player uses his hands, a beater, or both.

2. Tubular Drums: are further classified into shapes; tubular drums may either be tunable and non-tunable. They may be played by using both the hands or a striker.

3. Friction Drums: instead of striking, the stretched membrane vibrates when there is friction across the membrane. These are non-tunable and the player uses a cord or stick to create sound.

3.3. Chordophones

Chordophones produce sound by means of a stretched vibrating string. When a string vibrates, the resonator picks up that vibration and amplifies it giving it a more appealing sound. There are five basic types based on the strings' relationship with the resonator

1. Musical bows: may or may not have resonators; the strings are attached and stretched over a wooden bow.

2. Harps: the strings aren't parallel to the soundboard; harps are plucked or strummed.

3. Lyres: the strings run through a crossbar holding it away from the resonator. Lyres may either be bowed or plucked.

4. Lutes: these instruments have necks; the strings are stretched across a resonator and travel up the neck.

3.4. Aerophones

Aerophones produce sound by vibrating a column of air. These are commonly known as wind instruments and there are four basic types.

1. Brasswinds: made of metal, particularly brass, these instruments create sound through the vibration of a player's lips on the mouthpiece. The air that passes through the player's lips goes to the air column of the instrument.

2. Woodwinds: they were originally made only of wood but now other materials are used. These instruments can be reed, double-reed, or bevelled.

3. Free-reed: Refers to wind instruments that have a freely vibrating reed and the pitch depends on the size of the reed.

3.5. Electrophones

Electrophones are musical instruments that produce sound electronically or produce its initial sound traditionally and then are electronically amplified. Some examples of instruments that produce sound electronically are electronic organs, theremins, and synthesizers.

4. Western orchestral

Strings

Percussion

Winds

The string family comprises instruments from which sound is produced by the vibration of one or more strings.

Instruments that players hit, shake, scrape or crash against each other, beat with sticks, batons, rods or hammers.

Sound is produced by a column of air passing down the inside of a tube which contains a resonator.

4.1. Strings

4.1.1. Bowed

doublebass

violoncello

viola

Violin

4.1. Strings

4.1.2. Plucked

HARP

GUITAR

4.1. Strings

4.1.3. Struck

PIANO

4.2. Winds

4.2.1. Woodwinds

flute

bassoon

oboe

clarinet

4.2. Winds

4.2.2. Brasswinds

trombone

trumpet

tuba

french horn

4.2. Winds

4.2.3. Mixed

accordion

organ

4.3. Percussion

4.3.2. Pitched

KETTLE DRUMS

marimba

4.3. Percussion

4.3.3. Unpitched