Introduction
• Every music instrument has its own unique
timbre and range of timbral possibilities.
• Individual instruments may be used to
produce tones in several different ways (e.g.
plucked violin vs. bowed violin or a struck
tambourine vs. shaken tambourine).
• Watch a violin or tambourine demonstration
Introduction: continued
• Music instrument classification systems have
been in existence for thousands of years and
derive from China and India (dating back to more
than 3000 years).
• Elaborate classification systems have been
preserved in many oral/aural traditions
• The best known is the Western instrument
classification system which employs three main
categories: strings, wind (woodwinds and brass)
and percussion
Introduction: continued
• A more flexible and globally inclusive
classification is the Hornbostel-Sachs (-Mahillon)
system (first published in 1914).
• What makes a sound audible (= what produces
the sound) together with what is the form of an
instrument, make basic criteria for classification
in the Hornbostel-Sachs system.
• This system also uses the prefix of the word to
indicate how the sound is produced. What does
‘prefix’ mean?
Categories
• These are the following four main categories (a later category was
added). The prefixes are highlighted in ‘bold’:
• chordophone -sound is activated by the vibration of a
string/s
• aerophone - sound is activated by the vibration
created by the passing of air through a
resonator
• membranophone - sound is activated by the vibration of a
membrane stretched across a frame
resonator
• idiophone - sound is activated by the vibration of the
body of the instrument of itself
• electrophone - sound is activated by electronic means
CHORDOPHONES
• The sound is activated by the vibration of a string or strings
over a resonating chamber.
• Methods of sound activation may vary: strings can be
plucked, bowed, rubbed, striked using fingertips, plectra,
bows, mallets or by mechanical means.
• Various subcategories which include:
- Bowl lute instruments (e.g. lute, mandolin),
- Box lute instruments (e.g. guitar, violin,),
- Mechanical box lute instruments’ (e.g. piano)
- Harp instruments (e.g. harp, musical bow),
- Zither instruments ([Link], koto)
CHORDOPHONES
• Some examples of chordophones are: guitar, harp,
violin, lute, mandolin, piano, Japanese koto, North
Indian sitar, West African kora, berimbau and other
musical bow instruments.
• Listen to some examples:
Aerophones
• These are instruments in which sounds emerge from
vibrations created by the action of air passing
through a tube or some other kind of resonator.
• Various subcategories which include:
- flutes (e.g. flute, recorder, chivoti)
- single reed instruments (e.g. clarinet,
saxophone, some bagpipes)
- double reed instruments (e.g. oboe,
bassoon, some bagpipes)
AEROPHONES
• Some examples of areophones are: flutes,
recorders, clarinets, bassoons, oboes,
trumpets, trombones, pipe organs,
harmoniums, accordions, panpipes,
saxophones, Irish (or other) tin whistle,
Japanese shakuhachi, Kudu horn and the
Middle Eastern nay to name a few.
• Listen to some examples provided by your
teacher:
Membranophone
• These are instruments in which the vibration of a
membrane (natural or synthetic) stretched
(tightly) across a frame resonator produces the
sound.
• Sounds can be produced by using hands, sticks,
mallets, pedals, and the mouth.
• Some membranophones are predominantly
melodic instruments (e.g. Brazilian ‘guica’).
• Various drums are classified as mebranophones
such as the snare drum, bass drum, timpani,
some tambourines, djembe, tabla, mridangam
Membranophone
• Listen to some examples provided:
Idiophone
• These are instruments in which the vibration of
the body of the instrument itself (rather than a
string, air tube, or membrane) produces the
sound.
• They are referred to as a self-sounder.
• Includes just about all percussion instruments
other than drums such as gongs, shakers,
triangles, cymbals, spoons, xylophones,
metallophones, mbiras, and steel drums to name
a few.
Idiophone
• Vibrating material and resonating chamber
are one and the same (though an external
resonator may be added to increase the
instrument’s volume).
• Idiophones can be played using a wide range
of techniques.
• Listen to examples provided:
Electrophones
• These are the newest and by far the fastest-growing
category of instruments.
• Electrophones can be classified into 2 subcategories:
1. Pure electrophones: electronics are used to
generate the sound and to amplify and enhance it
(e.g. synthesizers, digital samplers)
2. Hybrid electrophones: modified versions of
‘conventional’ instruments that make use of
electronic methods of sound amplification and
processing (e.g. electric guitars, e-basses, e-drums,
some e-keyboard instruments)
Electrophones
• Listen to example provided:
Sources:
Musical instrument presentation by Pekka Toivanen in Mpumalanga 2011
with additional information by Wayne Purchase