Rebec - The rebec was an instrument with

a round pear-shaped body much like an

Woodwind Instruments - Musical instruments which
early violin
were blown like trumpets or bagpipes. A subclass of this
are Brass instruments; made of brass and required
someone skilled in metalwork to make.

String Instruments - Musical instruments which were

Psaltery - The Psaltery was a
played with a bow or plucked
Medieval musical instrument which
Percussion Instruments - various forms of drums and was a cross between a harp and a
bells were used during the Medieval times lyre

Chittarone - a lute which could reach 6 feet

Types of String Musical Instruments tall
There were many types of string Musical Instruments
played during the Medieval times including the
instruments detailed in the following list:

Harp - The harp was a favorite instrument
of the troubadours and minstrels and was
about 30 inches in length
Lute - A plucked string instrument having a
pear-shaped body, a usually bent neck, and
a fretted fingerboard
String, Citole - Manipulated at the neck to
get different notes, and picked or
strummed with a plectrum (the citole's pick
was long, thick, straight and likely made of
ivory or wood)
Cittern - Similar to a modern guitar

Fiddle - There were a variety of Guitar - string instrument with five courses of
Medieval Fiddles which were played gut strings and moveable gut frets.
with a bow or plucked and usually held
under the chin or in the crook of the
arm. Easily portable and one of the
most popular street musical
instruments

Hurdy-gurdy - the hurdy-gurdy

was introduced to England
Guitarra Latina – (left) A plucked
during the 12th century - the
string instrument, it has single string
bow was replaced by strings
courses, and it is normally played with a
attached to a wheel which was pick.
cranked by a handle. Guitarra Sarracena – (right) A plucked
string instrument. It is a lute that has a
bulging belly and a headstock as sickle.
 Lyre – Similar to a lap harp

Organistrum - An early form of hurdy-

gurdy. Played by two individuals: one
turned the crank while the other pulled the
keys upward to change the musical pitch of
the melody strings.

Oud - A short-neck lute-type, pear-

shaped, fretless stringed instrument
usually with 11 strings grouped in six
courses, but some models have 5 or 7 courses, with 10
or 13 strings respectively.
Sinfonye – An early form of Hurdy-
Gurdy
Vielle - Popular string instrument with troubadours and
jongleurs
Mandolin and Mandore - A small
and beautifully shaped string
instrument resembling the lute

Dulcimer - The Dulcimer was played by

striking the strings with small hammers
Clavichord - an early stringed instrument like a piano
but with more delicate sound

Gittern - Similar to a modern guitar Harpsichord - a harp-shaped instrument of music set

horizontally on legs, like the grand piano

Viol - Viols were played with a bow and held

on the lap or between the legs
 Flageolet - A small fipple flute with four finger
holes and two thumb holes.

Bagpipe - The Bagpipe was an ancient

instrument, used by the poorest people
Spinet - The Spinet can be described as a keyed and was made using a goat or sheep skin
instrument of music resembling a harpsichord, but and a reed pipe
smaller
Crumhorn - The crumhorn (Curved
Horn) was introduced in the 1400's as a
Types of Woodwind Musical double reed musical instrument
Instruments
Flute - Similar to our modern flutes.
This type of Musical instruments
played by flute-minstrels of the
Middle Ages

Gemshorn - The gemshorn was

Trumpet - Long instrument made of
made of horn of an ox, chamois or
metal, often in four parts - often
similar
associated with fanfares and
pageants

Cornett - The cornett was an early

woodwind instrument taking the
form of a long tube with woodwind-
Pipe - The pipe was an extremely style fingerholes
basic instrument usually having
Lizard - The lizard was a descriptive term for an s-
only three melody holes
shaped horn

Shawm - The shawm was a reed

Ocarina - An egg-shaped woodwind
instrument with vent holes
instrument with a mouthpiece and
finger holes

Recorder - The recorder was also an extremely

basic instrument with melody holes
Sackbut - A medieval musical instrument resembling a
trombone

Hautboy - A slender double-reed woodwind

instrument with a conical bore and a double-
reed mouthpiece

Trombone- a long tube whose length can be varied by a

U-shaped slide

English Horn - Despite its name it is not a horn - Tuba - an ancient trumpet, the lowest
this instrument is more similar to an oboe brass woodwind instrument

Bladder Pipe - A double reed pipe

with a bladder controlling breath
Cor Anglais - Another name commonly
used for the Cor Anglais is the English
Horn

Clarinet -

Mouth Organ
Horns - Originally made of a horn (ox or
a ram)

Bombard - The Bombard can be

described as a large shawm

Oboe - evolved from the Shawm into the

hautboy and then the oboe Organ - A keyboard instrument of one or more pipe divisions
or other means for producing tones, each played with its own
keyboard, played either with the hands on a keyboard or with
the feet using pedals.

Pan Flute -
 Portative Organ - A small pipe
organ that consists of one rank of
flue pipes, sometimes arranged in
two rows, to be played while
strapped to the performer at a right
angle. The performer manipulates
the bellows with one hand and
fingers the keys with the other. The
portative organ lacks a reservoir to
retain a supply of wind, thus it will
only produce sound while the
bellows are being operated.
Tabor Pipe - A wind instrument designed to be
played by one hand, leaving the other hand free to
play another percussive instrument.
Zampogna - Double chantered pipes. All
chanters and drones are fixed into a single
round stock that the bag is attached to. Each
chanter is tuned differently, according to the
tradition it represents.
Types of Percussion Musical
Instruments
The Drum - Drums were made
initially from a hollow tree trunk,
clay or metal and covered by skins of
water animals - also called tambours
Cymbals - Thin round concave metal
plates
Triangle - The triangle was a musical
instrument introduced during the 14th
century
Tambourine - This musical instrument was
traditionally used by a woman
Tabor - a small drum used as an accompaniment to a
pipe or fife, both being played by the same person.
Bells - the use of Bells also dates
back to antiquity
Adufe - a traditional square
tambourine
Bumbulum - This instrument consists of an angular
frame, from which depends by a chain a rectangular
metal plate having twelve bent arms attached in two
rows of three on each side, one above the other. The
arms appear to terminate in small rectangular bells or
plates, the standard frame is shaken like a sistrum in
order to set the bells jangling.
Castanets - consists of a pair of concave
shells joined on one edge by a string. They
are held in the hand and used to produce
clicks for rhythmic accents or a ripping or
rattling sound consisting of a rapid series of
clicks.
Glockenspiel - composed of a set
of tuned keys arranged in the
fashion of the keyboard of a
piano. In this way, it is similar to
the xylophone, although the
xylophone's bars are made of
wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or
tubes, thus making it a metallophone. The glockenspiel,
additionally, is usually smaller and, because of both its
material and smaller size, higher in pitch
Xylophone - consists of
wooden bars struck by
mallets.