Musical instrument

A musical instrument is a device created or

adapted to make musical sounds. In principle,
any object that produces sound can be
considered a musical instrument—it is through
purpose that the object becomes a musical
instrument. A person who plays a musical
instrument is known as an instrumentalist.
The history of musical instruments dates to the
beginnings of human culture. Early musical
instruments may have been used for rituals, such
as a horn to signal success on the hunt, or a
drum in a religious ceremony. Cultures
eventually developed composition and
Anne Vallayer-Coster, Attributes of Music, 1770.
performance of melodies for entertainment.
This still life painting depicts a variety of French
Musical instruments evolved in step with
Baroque musical instruments, such as a natural
changing applications and technologies.
horn, transverse flute, musette, pardessus de viole,
and lute.
The date and origin of the first device considered
a musical instrument is disputed. The oldest
object that some scholars refer to as a musical instrument, a simple flute, dates back as far as
67,000 years. Some consensus dates early flutes to about 37,000 years ago. However, most
historians believe that determining a specific time of musical instrument invention is
impossible, as many early musical instruments were made from animal skins, bone, wood, and
other non-durable materials.

Musical instruments developed independently in many populated regions of the world.

However, contact among civilizations caused rapid spread and adaptation of most instruments
in places far from their origin. By the post-classical era, instruments from Mesopotamia were in
maritime Southeast Asia, and Europeans played instruments originating from North Africa.
Development in the Americas occurred at a slower pace, but cultures of North, Central, and
South America shared musical instruments.

By 1400, musical instrument development slowed in many areas and was dominated by the
Occident. During the Classical and Romantic periods of music, lasting from roughly 1750 to
1900, many new musical instruments were developed. While the evolution of traditional
musical instruments slowed beginning in the 20th century, the proliferation of electricity led to
the invention of new electric instruments, such as electric guitars, synthesizers and the
theremin.

Musical instrument classification is a discipline in its own right, and many systems of
classification have been used over the years. Instruments can be classified by their effective
range, material composition, size, role, etc. However, the most common academic method,
Hornbostel–Sachs, uses the means by which they produce sound. The academic study of
musical instruments is called organology.
Contents
Definition and basic operation
Archaeology
History
Prehistoric
Antiquity
Post-classical era/Middle Ages
Modern
Western Classical
Renaissance
Baroque
Classical and Romantic
Twentieth century to present
Classification
Ancient systems
Hornbostel–Sachs
Schaeffner
Range
Construction
User interfaces
Instrumentalist
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
External links

Definition and basic operation

A musical instrument is used to make musical sounds. Once humans moved from making
sounds with their bodies — for example, by clapping—to using objects to create music from
sounds, musical instruments were born.[1] Primitive instruments were probably designed to
emulate natural sounds, and their purpose was ritual rather than entertainment.[2] The concept
of melody and the artistic pursuit of musical composition were probably unknown to early
players of musical instruments. A person sounding a bone flute to signal the start of a hunt does
so without thought of the modern notion of "making music".[2]

Musical instruments are constructed in a broad array of styles and shapes, using many different
materials. Early musical instruments were made from "found objects" such as shells and plant
parts.[2] As instruments evolved, so did the selection and quality of materials. Virtually every
material in nature has been used by at least one culture to make musical instruments.[2] One
plays a musical instrument by interacting with it in some way — for example, by plucking the
strings on a string instrument, striking the surface of a drum, or blowing into an animal horn.[2]

Archaeology
Researchers have discovered archaeological evidence of musical instruments in many parts of
the world. Some artifacts have been dated to 67,000 years old, while critics often dispute the
findings. Consensus solidifying about artifacts dated back to around 37,000 years old and later.
Artifacts made from durable materials, or constructed using durable methods, have been found
to survive. As such, the specimens found cannot be irrefutably placed as the earliest musical
instruments.[3]

In July 1995, Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Turk discovered

a bone carving in the northwest region of Slovenia. The
carving, named the Divje Babe Flute, features four holes
that Canadian musicologist Bob Fink determined could
have been used to play four notes of a diatonic scale.
Researchers estimate the flute's age at between 43,400 and
67,000 years old, making it the oldest known musical
instrument and the only musical instrument associated
with Neanderthal culture.[4] However, some archaeologists
and ethnomusicologists dispute the flute's status as a
musical instrument.[5] German archaeologists have found
mammoth bone and swan bone flutes dating back to
30,000 to 37,000 years old in the Swabian Alps. The flutes
were made in the Upper Paleolithic age, and are more
commonly accepted as being the oldest known musical
instruments.[6] Bamileke slit drum drummers in
Cameroon's West Province.
Archaeological evidence of musical instruments was
discovered in excavations at the Royal Cemetery in the
Sumerian city of Ur. These instruments, one of the first ensembles of instruments yet
discovered, include nine lyres ( the Lyres of Ur), two harps, a silver double flute, a sistra and
cymbals. A set of reed-sounded silver pipes discovered in Ur was the likely predecessor of
modern bagpipes.[7] The cylindrical pipes feature three side-holes that allowed players to
produce whole tone scales.[8] These excavations, carried out by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s,
uncovered non-degradable fragments of instruments and the voids left by the degraded
segments that, together, have been used to reconstruct them.[9] The graves these instruments
were buried in have been carbon dated to between 2600 and 2500 BC, providing evidence that
these instruments were used in Sumeria by this time.[10]

Archaeologists in the Jiahu site of central Henan province of China have found flutes made of
bones that date back 7,000 to 9,000 years,[11] representing some of the "earliest complete,
playable, tightly-dated, multinote musical instruments" ever found.[11][12]

History
Scholars agree that there are no completely reliable methods
of determining the exact chronology of musical instruments
across cultures. Comparing and organizing instruments
based on their complexity is misleading, since
advancements in musical instruments have sometimes
reduced complexity. For example, construction of early slit
drums involved felling and hollowing out large trees; later
slit drums were made by opening bamboo stalks, a much
simpler task.[13]

German musicologist Curt Sachs, one of the most prominent

musicologists[14] and musical ethnologists[15] in modern
times, argues that it is misleading to arrange the
development of musical instruments by workmanship, since
cultures advance at different rates and have access to
different raw materials. For example, contemporary
anthropologists comparing musical instruments from two
cultures that existed at the same time but differed in
organization, culture, and handicraft cannot determine Found in Slovenia, the Divje Babe
which instruments are more "primitive".[16] Ordering Flute is sometimes considered the
instruments by geography is also not reliable, as it cannot world's oldest known musical
always be determined when and how cultures contacted one instrument
another and shared knowledge. Sachs proposed that a
geographical chronology until approximately 1400 is
preferable, however, due to its limited subjectivity.[17] Beyond 1400, one can follow the overall
development of musical instruments over time.[17]

The science of marking the order of musical instrument development relies on archaeological
artifacts, artistic depictions, and literary references. Since data in one research path can be
inconclusive, all three paths provide a better historical picture.[3]

Prehistoric
Until the 19th century AD, European-written music histories
began with mythological accounts mingled with scripture of
how musical instruments were invented. Such accounts
included Jubal, descendant of Cain and "father of all such as
handle the harp and the organ" (Genesis 4:21) Pan, inventor
of the pan pipes, and Mercury, who is said to have made a
dried tortoise shell into the first lyre. Modern histories have
replaced such mythology with anthropological speculation,
occasionally informed by archeological evidence. Scholars
agree that there was no definitive "invention" of the musical
instrument since the term "musical instrument" is
Two Aztec slit drums (teponaztli).
subjective and hard to define.[18] The characteristic "H" slits can be
seen on the top of the drum in the
Among the first devices external to the human body that are foreground.
considered instruments are rattles, stampers, and various
drums.[19] These instruments evolved due to the human
motor impulse to add sound to emotional movements such as dancing.[20] Eventually, some
cultures assigned ritual functions to their musical instruments, using them for hunting and
various ceremonies.[21] Those cultures developed more
complex percussion instruments and other instruments
such as ribbon reeds, flutes, and trumpets. Some of these
labels carry far different connotations from those used in
modern day; early flutes and trumpets are so-labeled for
their basic operation and function rather than resemblance
to modern instruments.[22] Among early cultures for whom
drums developed ritual, even sacred importance are the
Chukchi people of the Russian Far East, the indigenous
people of Melanesia, and many cultures of Africa. In fact,
drums were pervasive throughout every African culture.[23]
One East African tribe, the Wahinda, believed it was so holy
that seeing a drum would be fatal to any person other than
the sultan.[24]

Humans eventually developed the concept of using musical

instruments to produce melody, which was previously Guitar (molo)
common only in singing. Similar to the process of
reduplication in language, instrument players first
developed repetition and then arrangement. An early form of melody was produced by
pounding two stamping tubes of slightly different sizes—one tube would produce a "clear"
sound and the other would answer with a "darker" sound. Such instrument pairs also included
bullroarers, slit drums, shell trumpets, and skin drums. Cultures who used these instrument
pairs associated them with gender; the "father" was the bigger or more energetic instrument,
while the "mother" was the smaller or duller instrument. Musical instruments existed in this
form for thousands of years before patterns of three or more tones would evolve in the form of
the earliest xylophone.[25] Xylophones originated in the mainland and archipelago of Southeast
Asia, eventually spreading to Africa, the Americas, and Europe.[26] Along with xylophones,
which ranged from simple sets of three "leg bars" to carefully tuned sets of parallel bars, various
cultures developed instruments such as the ground harp, ground zither, musical bow, and jaw
harp.[27] Recent research into usage wear and acoustics of stone artefacts has revealed a
possible new class of prehistoric musical instrument, known as lithophones.[28][29]

Antiquity
Images of musical instruments begin to appear in Mesopotamian artifacts in 2800 BC or earlier.
Beginning around 2000 BC, Sumerian and Babylonian cultures began delineating two distinct
classes of musical instruments due to division of labor and the evolving class system. Popular
instruments, simple and playable by anyone, evolved differently from professional instruments
whose development focused on effectiveness and skill.[30] Despite this development, very few
musical instruments have been recovered in Mesopotamia. Scholars must rely on artifacts and
cuneiform texts written in Sumerian or Akkadian to reconstruct the early history of musical
instruments in Mesopotamia. Even the process of assigning names to these instruments is
challenging since there is no clear distinction among various instruments and the words used to
describe them.[31]
Although Sumerian and Babylonian artists mainly depicted ceremonial instruments, historians
have distinguished six idiophones used in early Mesopotamia: concussion clubs, clappers,
sistra, bells, cymbals, and rattles.[32] Sistra are depicted prominently in a great relief of
Amenhotep III,[33] and are of particular interest because similar designs have been found in far-
reaching places such as Tbilisi, Georgia and among the Native American Yaqui tribe.[34] The
people of Mesopotamia preferred stringed instruments, as evidenced by their proliferation in
Mesopotamian figurines, plaques, and seals. Innumerable varieties of harps are depicted, as
well as lyres and lutes, the forerunner of modern stringed instruments such as the violin.[35]

Musical instruments used by the Egyptian culture before

2700 BC bore striking similarity to those of Mesopotamia,
leading historians to conclude that the civilizations must
have been in contact with one another. Sachs notes that
Egypt did not possess any instruments that the Sumerian
culture did not also possess.[36] However, by 2700 BC the
cultural contacts seem to have dissipated; the lyre, a
prominent ceremonial instrument in Sumer, did not appear
in Egypt for another 800 years.[36] Clappers and concussion
sticks appear on Egyptian vases as early as 3000 BC. The
civilization also made use of sistra, vertical flutes, double Ancient Egyptian tomb painting
clarinets, arched and angular harps, and various drums.[37] depicting lute players, 18th Dynasty
(c. 1350 BC)
Little history is available in the period between 2700 BC and
1500 BC, as Egypt (and indeed, Babylon) entered a long
violent period of war and destruction. This period saw the Kassites destroy the Babylonian
empire in Mesopotamia and the Hyksos destroy the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. When the
Pharaohs of Egypt conquered Southwest Asia in around 1500 BC, the cultural ties to
Mesopotamia were renewed and Egypt's musical instruments also reflected heavy influence
from Asiatic cultures.[36] Under their new cultural influences, the people of the New Kingdom
began using oboes, trumpets, lyres, lutes, castanets, and cymbals.[38]

Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt, professional musicians did not exist in Israel between 2000
and 1000 BC. While the history of musical instruments in Mesopotamia and Egypt relies on
artistic representations, the culture in Israel produced few such representations. Scholars must
therefore rely on information gleaned from the Bible and the Talmud.[39] The Hebrew texts
mention two prominent instruments associated with Jubal: the ugab (pipes) and kinnor
(lyre).[40] Other instruments of the period included the tof (frame drum), pa'amon (small bells
or jingles), shofar, and the trumpet-like hasosra.[41]

The introduction of a monarchy in Israel during the 11th century BC produced the first
professional musicians and with them a drastic increase in the number and variety of musical
instruments.[42] However, identifying and classifying the instruments remains a challenge due
to the lack of artistic interpretations. For example, stringed instruments of uncertain design
called nevals and asors existed, but neither archaeology nor etymology can clearly define
them.[43] In her book A Survey of Musical Instruments, American musicologist Sibyl Marcuse
proposes that the nevel must be similar to vertical harp due to its relation to nabla, the
Phoenician term for "harp".[44]
In Greece, Rome, and Etruria, the use and development of musical instruments stood in stark
contrast to those cultures' achievements in architecture and sculpture. The instruments of the
time were simple and virtually all of them were imported from other cultures.[45] Lyres were the
principal instrument, as musicians used them to honor the gods.[46] Greeks played a variety of
wind instruments they classified as aulos (reeds) or syrinx (flutes); Greek writing from that
time reflects a serious study of reed production and playing technique.[8] Romans played reed
instruments named tibia, featuring side-holes that could be opened or closed, allowing for
greater flexibility in playing modes.[47] Other instruments in common use in the region
included vertical harps derived from those of the Orient, lutes of Egyptian design, various pipes
and organs, and clappers, which were played primarily by women.[48]

Evidence of musical instruments in use by early civilizations of India is almost completely

lacking, making it impossible to reliably attribute instruments to the Munda and Dravidian
language-speaking cultures that first settled the area. Rather, the history of musical instruments
in the area begins with the Indus Valley Civilization that emerged around 3000 BC. Various
rattles and whistles found among excavated artifacts are the only physical evidence of musical
instruments.[49] A clay statuette indicates the use of drums, and examination of the Indus script
has also revealed representations of vertical arched harps identical in design to those depicted
in Sumerian artifacts. This discovery is among many indications that the Indus Valley and
Sumerian cultures maintained cultural contact. Subsequent developments in musical
instruments in India occurred with the Rigveda, or hymns. These songs used various drums,
shell trumpets, harps, and flutes.[50] Other prominent instruments in use during the early
centuries AD were the snake charmer's double clarinet, bagpipes, barrel drums, cross flutes, and
short lutes. In all, India had no unique musical instruments until the post-classical era.[51]

Musical instruments such as zithers appeared in Chinese

writings around 12th century BC and earlier.[52] Early
Chinese philosophers such as Confucius (551–479 BC),
Mencius (372–289 BC), and Laozi shaped the development
of musical instruments in China, adopting an attitude
toward music similar to that of the Greeks. The Chinese
believed that music was an essential part of character and
community, and developed a unique system of classifying
their musical instruments according to their material
makeup.[53] The monumental Bianzhong of
Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century
Idiophones were extremely important in Chinese music, BCE, from Hubei
hence the majority of early instruments were idiophones.
Poetry of the Shang dynasty mentions bells, chimes, drums,
and globular flutes carved from bone, the latter of which has been excavated and preserved by
archaeologists.[54] The Zhou dynasty saw percussion instruments such as clappers, troughs,
wooden fish, and yǔ (wooden tiger). Wind instruments such as flute, pan-pipes, pitch-pipes,
and mouth organs also appeared in this time period.[55] The xiao (an end-blown flute) and
various other instruments that spread through many cultures, came into use in China during
and after the Han dynasty.[56]

Although civilizations in Central America attained a relatively high level of sophistication by the
eleventh century AD, they lagged behind other civilizations in the development of musical
instruments. For example, they had no stringed instruments; all of their instruments were
idiophones, drums, and wind instruments such as flutes and trumpets. Of these, only the flute
was capable of producing a melody.[57] In contrast, pre-Columbian South American civilizations
in areas such as modern-day Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile were less advanced
culturally but more advanced musically. South American cultures of the time used pan-pipes as
well as varieties of flutes, idiophones, drums, and shell or wood trumpets.[58]

An instrument that can be attested to the Iron Age Celts is

the carnyx which is dated to ~300 BC, the elongated
trumpet-like instrument which had the end of the bell
crafted from bronze into the shape of a screaming animal
head which was held high above their heads, when blown
into, the carnyx would emit a deep, harsh sound, the head
also had a tongue which clicked when vibrated, the intention
of the instrument was to use it on the battleground to
Carnyx discovered in Tintignac
intimidate their opponents.[59][60]

Post-classical era/Middle Ages

During the period of time loosely referred to as the post-classical era and Europe in particular
as the Middle Ages, China developed a tradition of integrating musical influence from other
regions. The first record of this type of influence is in 384 AD, when China established an
orchestra in its imperial court after a conquest in Turkestan. Influences from Middle East,
Persia, India, Mongolia, and other countries followed. In fact, Chinese tradition attributes many
musical instruments from this period to those regions and countries.[61] Cymbals gained
popularity, along with more advanced trumpets, clarinets, pianos, oboes, flutes, drums, and
lutes.[62] Some of the first bowed zithers appeared in China in the 9th or 10th century,
influenced by Mongolian culture.[63]

India experienced similar development to China in the post-classical era; however, stringed
instruments developed differently as they accommodated different styles of music. While
stringed instruments of China were designed to produce precise tones capable of matching the
tones of chimes, stringed instruments of India were considerably more flexible. This flexibility
suited the slides and tremolos of Hindu music. Rhythm was of paramount importance in Indian
music of the time, as evidenced by the frequent depiction of drums in reliefs dating to the post-
classical era. The emphasis on rhythm is an aspect native to Indian music.[64] Historians divide
the development of musical instruments in medieval India between pre-Islamic and Islamic
periods due to the different influence each period provided.[65]

In pre-Islamic times, idiophones such as handbells, cymbals, and peculiar instruments

resembling gongs came into wide use in Hindu music. The gong-like instrument was a bronze
disk that was struck with a hammer instead of a mallet. Tubular drums, stick zithers (veena),
short fiddles, double and triple flutes, coiled trumpets, and curved India horns emerged in this
time period.[66] Islamic influences brought new types of drum, perfectly circular or octagonal as
opposed to the irregular pre-Islamic drums.[67] Persian influence brought oboes and sitars,
although Persian sitars had three strings and Indian version had from four to seven.[68] The
Islamic culture also introduced double-clarinet instruments as the Alboka (from Arab, al-buq or
"horn") nowadays only alive in Basque Country. It must be played using the technique of the
circular breathing.
Southeast Asian musical innovations include those during a period of Indian influence that
ended around 920 AD.[69] Balinese and Javanese music
made use of xylophones and metallophones, bronze versions
of the former.[70] The most prominent and important
musical instrument of Southeast Asia was the gong. While
the gong likely originated in the geographical area between
Tibet and Burma, it was part of every category of human
activity in maritime Southeast Asia including Java.[71]

The areas of Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula

The Alboka has a double-reed that
experiences rapid growth and sharing of musical
vibrates when blown on the small
instruments once they were united by Islamic culture in the tube. The tubes regulates the melody
seventh century.[72] Frame drums and cylindrical drums of and the big horn amplifies the sound.
various depths were immensely important in all genres of
music.[73] Conical oboes were involved in the music that
accompanied wedding and circumcision ceremonies.
Persian miniatures provide information on the development
of kettle drums in Mesopotamia that spread as far as
Java.[74] Various lutes, zithers, dulcimers, and harps spread
as far as Madagascar to the south and modern-day Sulawesi
to the east.[75]

Despite the influences of Greece and Rome, most musical

instruments in Europe during the Middles Ages came from An Indonesian metallophone
Asia. The lyre is the only musical instrument that may have
been invented in Europe until this period.[76] Stringed
instruments were prominent in Middle Age Europe. The central and northern regions used
mainly lutes, stringed instruments with necks, while the southern region used lyres, which
featured a two-armed body and a crossbar.[76] Various harps served Central and Northern
Europe as far north as Ireland, where the harp eventually became a national symbol.[77] Lyres
propagated through the same areas, as far east as Estonia.[78]

European music between 800 and 1100 became more sophisticated, more frequently requiring
instruments capable of polyphony. The 9th-century Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh
mentioned in his lexicographical discussion of music instruments that, in the Byzantine Empire,
typical instruments included the urghun (organ), shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre),
salandj (probably a bagpipe) and the lyra.[79] The Byzantine lyra, a bowed string instrument, is
an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin.[80]

The monochord served as a precise measure of the notes of a musical scale, allowing more
accurate musical arrangements.[81] Mechanical hurdy-gurdies allowed single musicians to play
more complicated arrangements than a fiddle would; both were prominent folk instruments in
the Middle Ages.[82][83] Southern Europeans played short and long lutes whose pegs extended
to the sides, unlike the rear-facing pegs of Central and Northern European instruments.[84]
Idiophones such as bells and clappers served various practical purposes, such as warning of the
approach of a leper.[85]

The ninth century revealed the first bagpipes, which spread throughout Europe and had many
uses from folk instruments to military instruments.[86] The construction of pneumatic organs
evolved in Europe starting in fifth-century Spain, spreading to England in about 700.[87] The
resulting instruments varied in size and use from portable organs worn around the neck to large
pipe organs.[88] Literary accounts of organs being played in English Benedictine abbeys toward
the end of the tenth century are the first references to organs being connected to churches.[89]
Reed players of the Middle Ages were limited to oboes; no evidence of clarinets exists during
this period.[90]

Modern

Western Classical

Renaissance

Musical instrument development was dominated by the Occident from 1400 on, indeed, the
most profound changes occurred during the Renaissance period.[18] Instruments took on other
purposes than accompanying singing or dance, and performers used them as solo instruments.
Keyboards and lutes developed as polyphonic instruments, and composers arranged
increasingly complex pieces using more advanced tablature. Composers also began designing
pieces of music for specific instruments.[18] In the latter half of the sixteenth century,
orchestration came into common practice as a method of writing music for a variety of
instruments. Composers now specified orchestration where individual performers once applied
their own discretion.[91] The polyphonic style dominated popular music, and the instrument
makers responded accordingly.[92]

Beginning in about 1400, the rate of development of musical

instruments increased in earnest as compositions demanded
more dynamic sounds. People also began writing books about
creating, playing, and cataloging musical instruments; the first
such book was Sebastian Virdung's 1511 treatise Musica
getuscht und ausgezogen ('Music Germanized and
Abstracted').[91] Virdung's work is noted as being particularly
thorough for including descriptions of "irregular" instruments The Duet, by Dutch painter
such as hunters' horns and cow bells, though Virdung is critical Cornelis Saftleven, c. 1635. It
of the same. Other books followed, including Arnolt Schlick's shows a violinist and a cittern
Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten ('Mirror of Organ player.
Makers and Organ Players') the following year, a treatise on
organ building and organ playing.[93] Of the instructional
books and references published in the Renaissance era, one is noted for its detailed description
and depiction of all wind and stringed instruments, including their relative sizes. This book, the
Syntagma musicum by Michael Praetorius, is now considered an authoritative reference of
sixteenth-century musical instruments.[94]

In the sixteenth century, musical instrument builders gave most instruments – such as the
violin – the "classical shapes" they retain today. An emphasis on aesthetic beauty also
developed; listeners were as pleased with the physical appearance of an instrument as they were
with its sound. Therefore, builders paid special attention to materials and workmanship, and
instruments became collectibles in homes and museums.[95] It was during this period that
makers began constructing instruments of the same type in various sizes to meet the demand of
consorts, or ensembles playing works written for these groups of instruments.[96]
Instrument builders developed other features that endure today. For example, while organs
with multiple keyboards and pedals already existed, the first organs with solo stops emerged in
the early fifteenth century. These stops were meant to produce a mixture of timbres, a
development needed for the complexity of music of the time.[97] Trumpets evolved into their
modern form to improve portability, and players used mutes to properly blend into chamber
music.[98]

Baroque

Beginning in the seventeenth century, composers began

writing works to a higher emotional degree. They felt that
polyphony better suited the emotional style they were
aiming for and began writing musical parts for instruments
that would complement the singing human voice.[92] As a
result, many instruments that were incapable of larger
ranges and dynamics, and therefore were seen as
unemotional, fell out of favor. One such instrument was the
shawm.[99] Bowed instruments such as the violin, viola,
baryton, and various lutes dominated popular music.[100] Baroque mounted Jacob Stainer
Beginning in around 1750, however, the lute disappeared violin from 1658
from musical compositions in favor of the rising popularity
of the guitar.[101] As the prevalence of string orchestras rose,
wind instruments such as the flute, oboe, and bassoon were readmitted to counteract the
monotony of hearing only strings.[102]

In the mid-seventeenth century, what was known as a hunter's horn underwent a

transformation into an "art instrument" consisting of a lengthened tube, a narrower bore, a
wider bell, and a much wider range. The details of this transformation are unclear, but the
modern horn or, more colloquially, French horn, had emerged by 1725.[103] The slide trumpet
appeared, a variation that includes a long-throated mouthpiece that slid in and out, allowing the
player infinite adjustments in pitch. This variation on the trumpet was unpopular due to the
difficulty involved in playing it.[104] Organs underwent tonal changes in the Baroque period, as
manufacturers such as Abraham Jordan of London made the stops more expressive and added
devices such as expressive pedals. Sachs viewed this trend as a "degeneration" of the general
organ sound.[105]

Classical and Romantic

During the Classical and Romantic periods of music, lasting from roughly 1750 to 1900, many
musical instruments capable of producing new timbres and higher volume were developed and
introduced into popular music. The design changes that broadened the quality of timbres
allowed instruments to produce a wider variety of expression. Large orchestras rose in
popularity and, in parallel, the composers determined to produce entire orchestral scores that
made use of the expressive abilities of modern instruments. Since instruments were involved in
collaborations of a much larger scale, their designs had to evolve to accommodate the demands
of the orchestra.[106]
Some instruments also had to become louder to fill larger halls and be heard over sizable
orchestras. Flutes and bowed instruments underwent many modifications and design changes—
most of them unsuccessful—in efforts to increase volume. Other instruments were changed just
so they could play their parts in the scores. Trumpets traditionally had a "defective" range—they
were incapable of producing certain notes with precision.[107] New instruments such as the
clarinet, saxophone, and tuba became fixtures in orchestras. Instruments such as the clarinet
also grew into entire "families" of instruments capable of different ranges: small clarinets,
normal clarinets, bass clarinets, and so on.[106]

Accompanying the changes to timbre and volume was a shift in the typical pitch used to tune
instruments. Instruments meant to play together, as in an orchestra, must be tuned to the same
standard lest they produce audibly different sounds while
playing the same notes. Beginning in 1762, the average concert
pitch began rising from a low of 377 vibrations to a high of 457
in 1880 Vienna.[108] Different regions, countries, and even
instrument manufacturers preferred different standards,
making orchestral collaboration a challenge. Despite even the
efforts of two organized international summits attended by
noted composers like Hector Berlioz, no standard could be
agreed upon.[109]

Twentieth century to present

The evolution of traditional musical instruments slowed

beginning in the 20th century.[110] Instruments such as the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plays
violin, flute, french horn, and harp are largely the same as the keyboard while his father,
those manufactured throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth Leopold Mozart, plays violin.
centuries. Gradual iterations do emerge; for example, the "New
Violin Family" began in 1964 to provide differently sized
violins to expand the range of available sounds.[111] The
slowdown in development was a practical response to the
concurrent slowdown in orchestra and venue size.[112] Despite
this trend in traditional instruments, the development of new
musical instruments exploded in the twentieth century, and the
variety of instruments developed overshadows any prior
period.[110]

The proliferation of electricity in the 20th century led to a new

category of musical instruments: electronic instruments, or
electrophones.[113] The vast majority produced in the first half
of the 20th century were what Sachs called "electromechanical
instruments"; they have mechanical parts that produce sound
vibrations picked up and amplified by electrical components. A “young boy playing the violin”
Examples include Hammond organs and electric guitars.[113] from Glengarry County, Ontario
Sachs also defined a subcategory of "radioelectric instruments" taken [between 1895 and 1910]
such as the theremin, which produces music through the from the Bartle Brothers fonds at
player's hand movements around two antennas.[114] the Archives of Ontario.
The latter half of the 20th century saw the evolution of synthesizers, which produce sound using
circuits and microchips. In the late 1960s, Bob Moog and other
inventors developed the first commercial synthesizers, such as
the Moog synthesizer.[115] Whereas once they had filled rooms,
synthesizers can now be embedded in any electronic device,[115]
and are ubiquitous in modern music.[116] Samplers, introduced
around 1980, allow users to sample and reuse existing sounds,
and were important to the development of hip hop.[117] 1982
saw the introduction of MIDI, a standardized means of
synchronizing electronic instruments.[118] The modern Early Fender brand electric
proliferation of computers and microchips has created an guitars
industry of electronic musical instruments. [119]

Classification
There are many different methods of classifying musical
instruments. Various methods examine aspects such as the
physical properties of the instrument (material, color, shape,
etc.), the use for the instrument, the means by which music is
produced with the instrument, the range of the instrument,
and the instrument's place in an orchestra or other ensemble. A 1975 Moog Modular 55
Most methods are specific to a geographic area or cultural synthesizer
group and were developed to serve the unique classification
requirements of the group.[120] The problem with these
specialized classification schemes is that they tend to break down once they are applied outside
of their original area. For example, a system based on instrument use would fail if a culture
invented a new use for the same instrument. Scholars recognize Hornbostel–Sachs as the only
system that applies to any culture and, more importantly, provides the only possible
classification for each instrument.[121][122] The most common classifications are strings, brass,
woodwind, and percussion.

Ancient systems
An ancient Hindu system named the Natya Shastra, written by the sage Bharata Muni and
dating from between 200 BC and 200 AD, divides instruments into four main classification
groups: instruments where the sound is produced by vibrating strings; percussion instruments
with skin heads; instruments where the sound is produced by vibrating columns of air; and
"solid", or non-skin, percussion instruments.[121] This system was similar to some degree in
12th-century Europe by Johannes de Muris, who used the terms tensibilia (stringed
instruments), inflatibilia (wind instruments), and percussibilia (all percussion
instruments).[123] In 1880, Victor-Charles Mahillon adapted the Natya Shastra and assigned
Greek labels to the four classifications: chordophones (stringed instruments),
membranophones (skin-head percussion instruments), aerophones (wind instruments), and
autophones (non-skin percussion instruments).[121]

Hornbostel–Sachs
Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs adopted Mahillon's scheme and published an extensive
new scheme for classification in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. Hornbostel and Sachs used
most of Mahillon's system, but replaced the term autophone with idiophone.[121]

The original Hornbostel–Sachs system classified instruments into four main groups:

Idiophones, which produce sound by vibrating the primary body of the instrument itself; they
are sorted into concussion, percussion, shaken, scraped, split, and plucked idiophones,
such as claves, xylophone, guiro, slit drum, mbira, and rattle.[124]
Membranophones, which produce sound by a vibrating a stretched membrane; they may be
drums (further sorted by the shape of the shell), which are struck by hand, with a stick, or
rubbed, but kazoos and other instruments that use a stretched membrane for the primary
sound (not simply to modify sound produced in another way) are also considered
membranophones.[125]
Chordophones, which produce sound by vibrating one or more strings; they are sorted
according to the relationship between the string(s) and the sounding board or chamber. For
example, if the strings are laid out parallel to the sounding board and there is no neck, the
instrument is a zither whether it is plucked like an autoharp or struck with hammers like a
piano. If the instrument has strings parallel to the sounding board or chamber and the
strings extend past the board with a neck, then the instrument is a lute, whether the sound
chamber is constructed of wood like a guitar or uses a membrane like a banjo.[126]
Aerophones, which produce a sound with a vibrating column of air; they are sorted into free
aerophones such as a bullroarer or whip, which move freely through the air; reedless
aerophones such as flutes and recorders, which cause the air to pass over a sharp edge;
reed instruments, which use a vibrating reed (this category may be further divided into two
classifications: single-reeded and double-reeded instruments. Examples of the former are
clarinets and saxophones, while the latter includes oboes and bassoons); and lip-vibrated
aerophones such as trumpets, trombones and tubas, for which the lips themselves function
as vibrating reeds.[127]

Sachs later added a fifth category, electrophones, such as theremins, which produce sound by
electronic means.[113] Within each category are many subgroups. The system has been criticised
and revised over the years, but remains widely used by ethnomusicologists and
organologists.[123][128]

Schaeffner
Andre Schaeffner, a curator at the Musée de l'Homme, disagreed with the Hornbostel–Sachs
system and developed his own system in 1932. Schaeffner believed that the pure physics of a
musical instrument, rather than its specific construction or playing method, should always
determine its classification. (Hornbostel–Sachs, for example, divides aerophones on the basis of
sound production, but membranophones on the basis of the shape of the instrument). His
system divided instruments into two categories: instruments with solid, vibrating bodies and
instruments containing vibrating air.[129]

Range
Musical instruments are also often classified by their musical range in comparison with other
instruments in the same family. This exercise is useful when placing instruments in context of
an orchestra or other ensemble.

These terms are named after singing voice classifications:

Soprano instruments: flute, violin, soprano saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, oboe, piccolo
Alto instruments: alto saxophone, french horn, alto flute, english horn, alto clarinet, viola,
alto horn
Tenor instruments: trombone, tenoroon, tenor saxophone, tenor violin, guitar, tenor drum
Baritone instruments: bassoon, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, cello, baritone horn,
euphonium
Bass instruments: double bass, bass guitar, contrabassoon, bass saxophone, tuba, bass
drum

Some instruments fall into more than one category. For example, the cello may be considered
tenor, baritone or bass, depending on how its music fits into the ensemble. The trombone and
French horn may be alto, tenor, baritone, or bass depending on the range it is played in. Many
instruments have their range as part of their name: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone,
baritone horn, alto flute, bass guitar, etc. Additional adjectives describe instruments above the
soprano range or below the bass, for example the sopranino saxophone and contrabass clarinet.
When used in the name of an instrument, these terms are relative, describing the instrument's
range in comparison to other instruments of its family and not in comparison to the human
voice range or instruments of other families. For example, a bass flute's range is from C3 to
F♯6, while a bass clarinet plays about one octave lower.

Construction
The materials used in making musical instruments vary
greatly by culture and application. Many of the materials
have special significance owing to their source or rarity.
Some cultures worked substances from the human body into
their instruments. In ancient Mexico, for example, the
material drums were made from might contain actual
human body parts obtained from sacrificial offerings. In
African kalimba made from a food
New Guinea, drum makers would mix human blood into the
can
adhesive used to attach the membrane.[130] Mulberry trees
are held in high regard in China owing to their mythological
significance—instrument makers would hence use them to make zithers. The Yakuts believe that
making drums from trees struck by lightning gives them a special connection to nature.[131]

Musical instrument construction is a specialized trade that requires years of training, practice,
and sometimes an apprenticeship. Most makers of musical instruments specialize in one genre
of instruments; for example, a luthier makes only stringed instruments. Some make only one
type of instrument such as a piano. Whatever the instrument constructed, the instrument maker
must consider materials, construction technique, and decoration, creating a balanced
instrument that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.[132] Some builders are focused on
a more artistic approach and develop experimental musical instruments, often meant for
individual playing styles developed by the builder themself.
User interfaces
Regardless of how the sound is produced, many musical
instruments have a keyboard as the user interface. Keyboard
instruments are any instruments that are played with a
musical keyboard, which is a row of small keys that can be
pressed. Every key generates one or more sounds; most
keyboard instruments have extra means (pedals for a piano,
stops and a pedal keyboard for an organ) to manipulate
these sounds. They may produce sound by wind being Two five string Finnish kanteles.
Shape of the upper kantele is more
fanned (organ) or pumped (accordion),[134][135] vibrating
traditional, while the one for kantele
strings either hammered (piano) or plucked below is slightly modernised
(harpsichord), [136][137] by electronic means
(synthesizer),[138] or in some other way. Sometimes,
instruments that do not usually have a keyboard, such as the
glockenspiel, are fitted with one.[139] Though they have no
moving parts and are struck by mallets held in the player's
hands, they have the same physical arrangement of keys and
produce soundwaves in a similar manner. The theremin, an
electrophone, is played without physical contact by the
player. The theremin senses the proximity of the player's
hands, which triggers changes in its sound. More recently, a
MIDI controller keyboard used with a digital audio
workstation may have a musical keyboard and a bank of The five-manual, 522-stop detached
sliders, knobs, and buttons that change many sound console at the United States Naval
parameters of a synthesizer. Academy Chapel crafted by R. A.
Colby, Inc.[133]

Instrumentalist
A person who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist or instrumental
musician.[140][141][142] Many instrumentalists are known for playing specific musical
instruments such as guitarist (guitar), pianist (piano), bassist (bass), and drummer (drum).
These different types of instrumentalists can perform together in a music group.[143] A person
who is able to play a number of instruments is called a multi-instrumentalist.[144] According to
David Baskerville in the book Music Business Handbook and Career Guide, the working hours
of a full-time instrumentalist may average only three hours a day, but most musicians spent at
least 40 hours a week.[145]

See also
List of musical instruments
Folk instrument
Experimental musical instrument
Recording studio as an instrument
Music instrument technology
Orchestra
Notes
1. Montagu 2007, p. 1
2. Rault 2000, p. 9
3. Blades 1992, p. 34
4. Slovenian Academy of Sciences 1997, pp. 203–205
5. Chase & Nowell 1998, p. 549
6. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2004
7. Collinson 1975, p. 10
8. Campbell, Greated & Myers 2004, p. 82
9. de Schauensee 2002, pp. 1–16
10. Moorey 1977, pp. 24–40
11. "Brookhaven Lab Expert Helps Date Flute Thought to be Oldest Playable Musical
Instrument" (http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/1999/bnlpr092299.html). Brookhaven
National Laboratory. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210210214041/https://www.b
nl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/1999/bnlpr092299.html) from the original on 10 February 2021.
Retrieved 10 February 2011.
12. "Jiahu (ca. 7000–5700 B.C.)" (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jiah/hd_jiah.htm). The
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100809083316/http://
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jiah/hd_jiah.htm) from the original on 9 August 2010.
Retrieved 10 February 2011.
13. Sachs 1940, p. 60
14. Brown 2008
15. Baines 1993, p. 37
16. Sachs 1940, p. 61
17. Sachs 1940, p. 63
18. Sachs 1940, p. 297
19. Blades 1992, p. 36
20. Sachs 1940, p. 26
21. Rault 2000, p. 34
22. Sachs 1940, pp. 34–52
23. Blades 1992, p. 51
24. Sachs 1940, p. 35
25. Sachs 1940, pp. 52–53
26. Marcuse 1975, pp. 24–28
27. Sachs 1940, pp. 53–59
28. Caldwell, Duncan (2013). "A Possible New Class of Prehistoric Musical Instruments from
New England: Portable Cylindrical Lithophones" (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/a
merican-antiquity/article/abs/possible-new-class-of-prehistoric-musical-instruments-from-ne
w-england-portable-cylindrical-lithophones/6A6FBD649CF86DA2AC9DA2EE51917D99#).
American Antiquity. 78 (3): 520–535. doi:10.7183/0002-7316.78.3.520 (https://doi.org/10.71
83%2F0002-7316.78.3.520). S2CID 53959315 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:53
959315).
29. "(PDF) Flint Tools as Portable Sound-Producing Objects in the Upper Palaeolithic Context:
An Experimental Study" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251594803). Archived (ht
tps://web.archive.org/web/20210417033519/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/25159
4803_Flint_Tools_as_Portable_Sound-Producing_Objects_in_the_Upper_Palaeolithic_Cont
ext_An_Experimental_Study) from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
 ext_An_Experimental_Study) from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
30. Sachs 1940, p. 67
31. Sachs 1940, pp. 68–69
32. Sachs 1940, p. 69
33. Remnant 1989, p. 168
34. Sachs 1940, p. 70
35. Sachs 1940, p. 82
36. Sachs 1940, p. 86
37. Rault 2000, p. 71
38. Sachs 1940, pp. 98–104
39. Sachs 1940, p. 105
40. Sachs 1940, p. 106
41. Sachs 1940, pp. 108–113
42. Sachs 1940, p. 114
43. Sachs 1940, p. 116
44. Marcuse 1975, p. 385
45. Sachs 1940, p. 128
46. Sachs 1940, p. 129
47. Campbell, Greated & Myers 2004, p. 83
48. Sachs 1940, p. 149
49. Sachs 1940, p. 151
50. Sachs 1940, p. 152
51. Sachs 1940, p. 161
52. Sachs 1940, p. 185
53. Sachs 1940, pp. 162–164
54. Sachs 1940, p. 166
55. Sachs 1940, p. 178
56. Sachs 1940, p. 189
57. Sachs 1940, p. 192
58. Sachs 1940, pp. 196–201
59. "Deskford carnyx" (https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-an
d-archaeology/deskford-carnyx/). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210119182349/ht
tps://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/deskfo
rd-carnyx/) from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
60. "Carnyx - Caledonians, Picts and Romans - Scotland's History" (http://www.sath.org.uk/edsc
ot/www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/caledonianspictsromans/carnyx/index.ht
ml). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201130084604/http://www.sath.org.uk/edscot/
www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/caledonianspictsromans/carnyx/index.html)
from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
61. Sachs 1940, p. 207
62. Sachs 1940, p. 218
63. Sachs 1940, p. 216
64. Sachs 1940, p. 221
65. Sachs 1940, p. 222
66. Sachs 1940, pp. 222–228
67. Sachs 1940, p. 229
68. Sachs 1940, p. 231
 68. Sachs 1940, p. 231
69. Sachs 1940, p. 236
70. Sachs 1940, pp. 238–239
71. Sachs 1940, p. 240
72. Sachs 1940, p. 246
73. Sachs 1940, p. 249
74. Sachs 1940, p. 250
75. Sachs 1940, pp. 251–254
76. Sachs 1940, p. 260
77. Sachs 1940, p. 263
78. Sachs 1940, p. 265
79. Kartomi 1990, p. 124
80. Grillet 1901, p. 29
81. Sachs 1940, p. 269
82. Sachs 1940, p. 271
83. Sachs 1940, p. 274
84. Sachs 1940, p. 273
85. Sachs 1940, p. 278
86. Sachs 1940, p. 281
87. Sachs 1940, p. 284
88. Sachs 1940, p. 286
89. Bicknell 1999, p. 13
90. Sachs 1940, p. 288
91. Sachs 1940, p. 298
92. Sachs 1940, p. 351
93. Sachs 1940, p. 299
94. Sachs 1940, p. 301
95. Sachs 1940, p. 302
96. Sachs 1940, p. 303
97. Sachs 1940, p. 307
98. Sachs 1940, p. 328
99. Sachs 1940, p. 352
100. Sachs 1940, pp. 353–357
101. Sachs 1940, p. 374
102. Sachs 1940, p. 380
103. Sachs 1940, p. 384
104. Sachs 1940, p. 385
105. Sachs 1940, p. 386
106. Sachs 1940, p. 388
107. Sachs 1940, p. 389
108. Sachs 1940, p. 390
109. Sachs 1940, p. 391
110. Remnant 1989, p. 183
111. Remnant 1989, p. 70
112. Sachs 1940, p. 445
112. Sachs 1940, p. 445
113. Sachs 1940, p. 447
114. Sachs 1940, p. 448
115. Pinch & Trocco 2004, p. 7
116. "The 14 most important synths in electronic music history – and the musicians who use
them" (http://www.factmag.com/2016/09/15/14-most-important-synths/). FACT Magazine:
Music News, New Music. 15 September 2016. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20191
102120103/https://www.factmag.com/2016/09/15/14-most-important-synths/) from the
original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
117. McNamee, David (28 September 2009). "Hey, what's that sound: Sampler" (https://www.the
guardian.com/music/2009/sep/28/whats-that-sound-sampler). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-
3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
40304190836/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/sep/28/whats-that-sound-sampler)
from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
118. Bateman, Tom (28 November 2012). "How MIDI changed the world of music" (https://www.b
bc.com/news/technology-20425376). BBC News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
90427220431/https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20425376) from the original on 27
April 2019. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
119. Manning 2004, pp. 268–270
120. Montagu 2007, p. 210
121. Montagu 2007, p. 211
122. Kartomi 1990, p. 176
123. Rault 2000, p. 190
124. Marcuse 1975, p. 3
125. Marcuse 1975, p. 117
126. Marcuse 1975, p. 177
127. Marcuse 1975, p. 549
128. Campbell, Greated & Myers 2004, p. 39
129. Kartomi 1990, pp. 174–175
130. Rault 2000, p. 184
131. Rault 2000, p. 185
132. Rault 2000, p. 195
133. Organ built by M. P. Moller, 1940. USNA Music Department (http://www.usna.edu/Music/Acc
essable/organ.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20081106213802/http://www.usn
a.edu/Music/Accessable/organ.html) 6 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine. United
States Naval Academy. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
134. Bicknell, Stephen (1999). "The organ case". In Thistlethwaite, Nicholas & Webber, Geoffrey
(Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Organ, pp. 55–81. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-57584-2
135. Howard, Rob (2003) An A to Z of the Accordion and related instruments Stockport:
Robaccord Publications ISBN 0-9546711-0-4
136. Fine, Larry. The Piano Book, 4th ed. Massachusetts: Brookside Press, 2001. ISBN 1-
929145-01-2
137. Ripin (Ed) et al. Early Keyboard Instruments. New Grove Musical Instruments Series, 1989,
PAPERMAC
138. Paradiso, JA. "Electronic music: new ways to play". Spectrum IEEE, 34(2):18–33, Dec
1997.
139. "Glockenspiel: Construction" (http://vsl.co.at/en/70/3196/3204/3208/5760.vsl). Vienna
Symphonic Library. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100430144752/http://vsl.co.at/
en/70/3196/3204/3208/5760.vsl) from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 17 August
 en/70/3196/3204/3208/5760.vsl) from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 17 August
2009.
140. "Definition of instrumentalist" (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/instrumentalist).
Dictionary.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210113100747/https://www.diction
ary.com/browse/instrumentalist) from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January
2021.
141. "Instrumental Musician" (https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-pro
files/instrumental-musician/). Government of Alberta. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20210118114048/https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/occupation-profiles/in
strumental-musician/) from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
142. "Become an Instrumental Musician" (https://alison.com/occupation/instrumental-musician).
Alison. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210417023314/https://alison.com/occupatio
n/instrumental-musician) from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
143. Serna, Desi (2013). Guitar Theory For Dummies: Book + Online Video & Audio Instruction (
https://books.google.com/books?id=5XMGAQAAQBAJ&q=instrumentalist&pg=PA271).
John Wiley & Sons. p. 271. ISBN 9781118646939.
144. "Definition of Multi-Instrumentalist" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multi-instru
mentalist). Dictionary.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210113165351/https://w
ww.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/multi-instrumentalist) from the original on 13 January
2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
145. Baskerville, David (2006). Music Business Handbook and Career Guide (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=LZxhW5ELHzoC&q=instrumentalist&pg=PA469). SAGE Publishing.
pp. 469–471. ISBN 9781412904384.

References
Baines, Anthony (1993), Brass Instruments: Their History and Development, Dover
Publications, ISBN 978-0-486-27574-1
Bicknell, Stephen (1999), The History of the English Organ, Cambridge University Press,
ISBN 978-0-521-65409-8
Blades, James (1992), Percussion Instruments and Their History (https://archive.org/details/
percussioninstru00jame), Bold Strummer Ltd, ISBN 978-0-933224-61-2
Brown, Howard Mayer (2008), Sachs, Curt (http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/ar
ticle/grove/music/24256), Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, retrieved 5 June 2008
Campbell, Murray; Greated, Clive A.; Myers, Arnold (2004), Musical Instruments: History,
Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music (https://archive.org/details/m
usicalinstrumen00dona), Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-816504-0
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (30 December 2004), Archeologists discover ice age
dwellers' flute (https://web.archive.org/web/20100813200036/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/20
04/12/30/flute-prehistoric041230.html), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, archived from
the original (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2004/12/30/flute-prehistoric041230.html) on 13
August 2010, retrieved 7 February 2009
Chase, Philip G.; Nowell, April (August–October 1998), "Taphonomy of a Suggested Middle
Paleolithic Bone Flute from Slovenia", Current Anthropology, 39 (4): 549,
doi:10.1086/204771 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F204771), S2CID 144800210 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:144800210)
Collinson, Francis M. (1975), The Bagpipe, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7100-7913-8
de Schauensee, Maude (2002), Two Lyres from Ur, University of Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology, ISBN 978-0-924171-88-8
Grillet, Laurent (1901), Les ancetres du violon v.1, Paris
 Kartomi, Margaret J. (1990), On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments,
University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-42548-1
Manning, Peter (2004), Electronic and Computer Music, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-
0-19-517085-6
Marcuse, Sibyl (1975), A Survey of Musical Instruments (https://archive.org/details/surveyof
musicali00marc), Harper & Row, ISBN 978-0-06-012776-3
Montagu, Jeremy (2007), Origins and Development of Musical Instruments, The Scarecrow
Press, ISBN 978-0-8108-5657-8
Moorey, P.R.S. (1977), "What Do We Know About the People Buried in the Royal
Cemetery?", Expedition, 20 (1): 24–40
Pinch, Revor; Trocco, Frank (2004), Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog
Synthesizer (https://archive.org/details/analogdaysinvent00trev), Harvard University Press,
ISBN 978-0-674-01617-0
Rault, Lucie (2000), Musical Instruments: A Worldwide Survey of Traditional Music-making,
Thames & Hudson Ltd, ISBN 978-0-500-51035-3
Remnant, Mary (1989), Musical Instruments: An Illustrated History from Antiquity to the
Present (https://archive.org/details/musicalinstrumen0000remn_h0w6), Batsford, ISBN 978-
0-7134-5169-6
Sachs, Curt (1940), The History of Musical Instruments, Dover Publications, ISBN 978-0-
486-45265-4
Slovenian Academy of Sciences (11 April 1997), "Early Music", Science, 276 (5310): 203–
205, doi:10.1126/science.276.5310.203g (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.276.5310.203
g), S2CID 220083771 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:220083771)

Further reading
Wade-Matthews, Max (2003). Musical Instruments: Illustrated Encyclopedia (https://archive.
org/details/musicillustrated00wade). Lorenz. ISBN 978-0-7548-1182-4.
Music Library Association (1974). Committee on Musical Instrument Collections. A Survey
of Musical Instrument Collections in the United States and Canada, conducted by a
committee of the Music Library Association, William Lichtenwanger, chairman & compiler,
ed. and produced by James W. Pruitt. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Music Library Association. xi,
p. 137, ISBN 0-914954-00-8
West, M.L. (May 1994). "The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts".
Music & Letters. 75 (2): 161–179. doi:10.1093/ml/75.2.161 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fml%
2F75.2.161).

External links
"Musical Instruments" (http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/m/musical-instruments). Furniture.
Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 1 July 2008.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Musical_instrument&oldid=1064774690"

This page was last edited on 10 January 2022, at 04:15 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.