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Musical instrument classification |
At various times, and different cultures, various schemes of
classification have been used.
The most common system in use in the west today is of Greek
origin and divides instruments according to how the sound is produced: string,
wind and percussion instruments. The scheme was later expanded by Martin Agricola, who distinguished plucked strings, from bowed strings. Deeper
subdivisions distinguish wind instruments into brass and woodwinds.
There are, however, problems with this system. Some
non-western instruments do not fit very neatly into it. There are also problems
with classifying keyboard instruments. For example, the piano has strings, but
they are struck by hammers, so it is not clear whether it should be classified
as a string instrument, or a percussion instrument. For this reason, keyboard
instruments are often regarded as inhabiting a category of their own. It might
be said that with these extra categories, the classical system of classification
focuses more on the technique required to play them.
In 1914 Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs published an
extensive new scheme for classication. The original Sachs-Hornbostel system
classified instruments into four main groups. Later was added a fifth category
(electrophones). Within each category are many subgroups. The system has been
criticised and revised over the years, but remains widely used by
ethnomusicologists and organologists.
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Aerophones, which produce
sound by vibrating columns of air, such as the pipe organ or oboe. Aerophones
are grouped according to what causes the
air to begin vibrating.
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Whistles, the air is blown
at a sharp edge in the instrument (as in recorders
as well as police whistles). The pipes of an organ have a sharp edge like a
whistle, but the air is blown with something other than a mouth or nose,
usually a bellows of some sort.
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Blowhole instruments, the
air is blown across the sharp edge at the blowhole. When the instrument is
tube-shaped, the blowhole can be in the end ("end-blown", as in panpipes), or in the side of the instrument
("side-blown", as in a fife).
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Reed instruments, the
vibration of a reed or reeds begins the air vibration. In single reed
(saxophone, for example) and double
reed (oboe) instruments, the one or
two reeds are part of the mouthpiece. In free-reed instruments (such
as bagpipes,
harmonica and accordion), the
single or double reeds are mounted somewhere inside the instrument and there
can be many of them - sometimes a different reed for every pitch.
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Cup mouthpiece
instruments, the player buzzes the lips against the mouthpiece, causing a
sympathetic vibration in the air inside the instrument (bugle, conch shell).
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Free aerophones cause
vibrations in the air around them rather than inside them (bull-roarers, toy spinning tops).
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Chordophones, which produce
sound by vibrating strings, such as the piano or cello. The main groups of
chordophones are classified according to the relationship between the strings
and the resonator (the resonator or soundbox, vibrates sympathetically with
the original vibrations, amplifying and altering the original sound). Subcategories depend on how the string is
played (plucked or bowed for example), and types of resonators.
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Zithers, the strings are
stretched across, over, or inside a resonator, or between two resonators.
The resonator can be a hollow tube, a gourd, a board, a hollow box, or even
a pit in the ground. Some have fingerboards with or without frets; some have
a keyboard with a complex mechanism; many are simply a multitude of strings
strung from one end of the resonator to the other. The strings can be struck
(as in a piano or hammered dulcimer), plucked (harpsichord
or Appalachian dulcimer) or rubbed (hurdy-gurdy).
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Lutes, the strings stretch
across the resonator and up a neck. They may be plucked (guitar, banjo) or bowed (violin, fiddle)
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Lyres, the strings leave
the resonator at right angles to an edge and run to a cross bar that is held
away from the resonator.
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Harps, the strings leave
the resonator at a slant (smaller than a right angle) up to a neck connected
to the resonator.
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Bows. In a musical box the
string or strings are stretched from one end of a wooden bow to the other.
Some have resonators, but many don't. They can be plucked or bowed (with a
second, smaller bow).
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Idiophones, when the
vibration of the instrument itself that is the main source of the musical
sound. Idiophones are classified according
to what you do to them to make them vibrate. Metal idiophones are frequently
called metallophones. And if they are made of a sheet of metal,
lamellaphones.
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Percussion idiophones are
hit with sticks, beaters, or clappers (bells, steel drums, xylophone).
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Shaken idiophones are
shaken (maracas, eggs, jingle bells).
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Concussion idiophones are
played by clashing two of them together (castanets, claves, spoons).
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Friction idiophones are
made to vibrate by rubbing them (as when you make a wine glass ring by
rubbing its rim).
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Scraped idiophones are
played by scraping a stick across a set of notches or corrugations on the
instrument (guiro, washboard).
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Stamping idiophones are
stamped on the ground, floor, or hard surface (tap
shoes are in this category).
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Stamped idiophone. If the
main sound is coming from the surface that is being stamped on.
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Plucked idiophones have a
thin tongue of metal or bamboo that vibrates when plucked (jew's
harp, thumb piano).
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Membranophones, which the
sound begins with the vibration of a stretched membrane across a resonator,
such as drums or
kazoos. Membranophones are usually
classified according to the basic shape of the resonating body of
the instrument.
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Tubular drums are divided
into cylindrical, conical, barrel, long,
waisted (hourglass-shaped), goblet (with a stem at the base), and footed (with feet around the edge of the bottom).
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Kettledrums or vessel
drums have rounded bottoms.
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Frame drums, when the
membrane is stretched over a frame, usually making a wide, shallow
instrument (tamborine)
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Friction drums come in a
variety of shapes. Instead of beating on the membrane, the player runs a
stick through a hole in the membrane.
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Mirlitons. These are the
only membranophones that are not drums. The membrane is made to vibrate by
blowing air across it (kazoos).
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Electrophones, their sound
is both produced and amplified by electronic circuits (electric
organ, synthesizer, theremin, a record).
Western instruments are also often classified by their musical range,
although some instruments fall into more than one category (for example, the
cello may be considered either tenor or bass, depending on how its music fits
into the ensemble):
- Soprano instruments: flute, recorder, violin, trumpet
- Alto instruments: oboe, alto flute, viola, French horn
- Tenor instruments: clarinet, English horn, trombone
- Bass instruments: bassoon, double bass, bass clarinet, tuba
Many names of instruments actually designate a family with different voices;
for example: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone...
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