musical instrument classification

The cornett takes the form of a tube, typically about 60 cm. long, made of ivory or wood with woodwind-style fingerholes. Usually the cornett is octagonal in cross-section, and it is wrapped in leather or parchment, with the fingerholes penetrating this cover. The cornett is slightly curved, normally to the right, so that the player's left hand, playing the upper holes, and her right hand, playing the lower holes, can more comfortably reach their proper locations. At the top of the cornett there is a small mouthpiece of the kind used in brass instruments ...

See also:

Cornett, Cornett - Construction, Cornett - Music for the cornett, Cornett - Playing the cornett, Cornett - The cornett and authentic performance, Cornett - Nomenclature

Read more here: » Cornett: Encyclopedia II - Cornett - Construction

A chordophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. What most westerners would call string instruments are classified as chordophones, violins, guitars, lyres, harps, for example. However, the word also embraces instruments that many westerners would hesitate to call string instruments, such as the musical bow and the piano (which, although sometimes called a string instrument, is also called a ...

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The cornett or cornetto is an early wind instrument, dating from the Renaissance period. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused with the cornet. Cornett - Construction. The cornett takes the form of a tube, typically about 60 cm. long, made of ivory or wood with woodwind-style fingerholes. Usually the cornett is octagonal in cross-section, and it is wrapped in leather or parchment, with the fingerholes penetrating this cover. The cornett is slight ...

Including:

• Cornett - Construction
• Cornett - Music for the cornett
• Cornett - Playing the cornett
• Cornett - The cornett and authentic performance
• Cornett - Nomenclature

Read more here: » Cornett: Encyclopedia - Cornett

An aerophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding considerably to the sound. It is one of the four main classes (class 4) of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. Hornbostel-Sachs divides aerophones by the fact whether vibrating a ...

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A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube), in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. Wind instrument - Techniques for obtaining ranges of notes. adjusting the effective length of the vibratin ...

Including:

• Wind instrument - Techniques for obtaining ranges of notes
• Wind instrument - Types of wind instruments

Read more here: » Wind instrument: Encyclopedia - Wind instrument

A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion family , technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drumskin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound. Drums are among the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has been ...

Including:

• Drum - Examples
• Drum - Latin and Brazilian
• Drum - Indian
• Drum - Western
• Drum - Africa
• Drum - Middle East
• Drum - Asia

Read more here: » Drum: Encyclopedia - Drum

String instruments are usually categorized by the technique used to produce sound. In order for a string instrument to produce sound, its string or strings must vibrate. There are three common ways to initiate vibration. String instrument - Plucking. Instruments such as the guitar and kora and sitar are plucked, either by a finger or thumb, or by some other device such as a plectrum. String instrument - Bowing. Instruments like the cello and rebec are usually played by d ...

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String instrument, String instrument - Types of string insturuments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Types of string insturuments

String instruments are usually categorized by the technique used to produce sound. In order for a string instrument to produce sound, its string or strings must vibrate. There are three common ways to initiate vibration. String instrument - Plucking. Instruments such as the guitar, kora and sitar are plucked, either by a finger or thumb, or by some other device such as a plectrum. String instrument - Bowing. Instruments like the cello and rebec are usually played by draw ...

See also:

String instrument, String instrument - Types of string instruments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - String length or scale length, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Types of string instruments

Wind instruments fall into one of the following categories: Brass instruments Woodwind instruments Although brass instruments were originally made of brass and woodwind instruments have traditionally been made of wood, the material used to make the body of the instrument is not always a reliable guide to its family type. For example, the saxophone is typically made of brass but is classified as a woodwind instrument due to the fact that it has a reed. On the other hand, the cornett and serpent, although ma ...

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Wind instrument, Wind instrument - Techniques for obtaining ranges of notes, Wind instrument - Types of wind instruments

Read more here: » Wind instrument: Encyclopedia II - Wind instrument - Types of wind instruments

Some examples of drums from different origins. Drum - Latin and Brazilian. bongo drum conga drums surdo steel drum - not a membranophone, but referred to as a drum tan-tan timbales Drum - Indian. mirdanga dholak khol tabla Drum - Western. basler drum bass drum Lambeg drum octoban snare drum tabor tenor drum timpani (kettledrum< ...

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Drum, Drum - Examples, Drum - Latin and Brazilian, Drum - Indian, Drum - Western, Drum - Africa, Drum - Middle East, Drum - Asia

Read more here: » Drum: Encyclopedia II - Drum - Examples

Formally, Hornbostel-Sachs is based on the Dewey Decimal classification. It has four top level classifications, with several levels below those, adding up to over 300 basic categories in all. The top two levels of the scheme, with explanations, are shown below: 1. Idiophones - sound is primarily produced by the actual body of the instrument vibrating, rather than a string, membrane, or column of air. In essence, this group includes all percussion instruments apart from drums, as well as some other instruments. 11 ...

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Hornbostel-Sachs, Hornbostel-Sachs - The skeleton of the system, Hornbostel-Sachs - The system applied in practice, Hornbostel-Sachs - Suffixes and composite instruments, Hornbostel-Sachs - External link

Read more here: » Hornbostel-Sachs: Encyclopedia II - Hornbostel-Sachs - The skeleton of the system

In bowed instruments, the bow is normally placed perpendicularly to the string, at a point half way between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge. However, different bow placements can be selected to change timbre. Application of the bow close to the bridge (known as sul ponticello) produces an intense, sometimes harsh sound, which acoustically emphasizes the upper harmonics. Bowing above the fingerboard (sul tasto) produces a thin, "breathy" sound, emphasizing the fundamental frequency. Similar timbral distinctions are also possible with plucked string instruments by selecting an approp ...

See also:

String instrument, String instrument - Types of string instruments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - String length or scale length, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Contact points along the string

String instrument - Through resonance. A vibrating string on its own makes only a very quiet sound, so string instruments are usually constructed in such a way that this sound is amplified either by a hollow resonating chamber, a soundboard, or both. On the violin, for example, the taut strings pass over a bridge resting on a hollow box. The strings' vibrations are distributed via the brid ...

See also:

String instrument, String instrument - Types of string instruments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - String length or scale length, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Sound amplification

After the number described above, a number of suffixes may be appended. An 8 indicates that the instrument has a keyboard attached, while a 9 indicates the instrument is mechanically driven. In addition to these, there are a number of suffixes unique to each of the top-level groups indicating details not considered crucial to the fundamental nature of the instrument. In the membranophone class, for instance, suffixes can indicate whether the skin of a drum is glued, nailed or tied to its body; in the chordophone class, suffixes can indicate whether ...

See also:

Hornbostel-Sachs, Hornbostel-Sachs - The skeleton of the system, Hornbostel-Sachs - The system applied in practice, Hornbostel-Sachs - Suffixes and composite instruments, Hornbostel-Sachs - External link

Read more here: » Hornbostel-Sachs: Encyclopedia II - Hornbostel-Sachs - Suffixes and composite instruments

In bowed instruments, the bow is normally placed perpendicularly to the string, at a point half way between the end of the fingerboard and the bridge. However, different bow placements can be selected to change timbre. Application of the bow close to the bridge (known as sul ponticello) produces an intense, sometimes harsh sound, which acoustically emphasizes the upper harmonics. Bowing above the fingerboard (sul tasto) produces a thin, "breathy" sound, emphasizing the fundamental frequency. Similar timbral distinctions are also possible with plucked string instruments by selecting an approp ...

See also:

String instrument, String instrument - Types of string insturuments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Contact points along the string

The cornett is generally agreed to be a difficult instrument to play. It embodies a design that survives in no modern instrument; that is, the main tube has only the length of a typical woodwind, but the mouthpiece is of the brass type, relying on the player's lips to form the musical sound. Most modern brass instruments are considerably longer than the cornett, which permits the tube resonances to ...

See also:

Cornett, Cornett - Construction, Cornett - Music for the cornett, Cornett - Playing the cornett, Cornett - The cornett and authentic performance, Cornett - Nomenclature

Read more here: » Cornett: Encyclopedia II - Cornett - Playing the cornett

Historically, the cornett was frequently used in consort with sackbutts (2 cornetts, 3 sackbutts), often to double a church choir. This was particularly popular in Venetian churches such as the Basilica San Marco, where extensive instrumental accompaniment was encouraged, particularly in use with antiphonal choirs. Giovanni Bassano was an example of a virtuoso early player of the cornett, and Giovanni Gabrieli wrote much of his resplendent polychoral music with him in mind. Heinrich Schütz also used the instrument extensively, especially in his earlier work; he had studied in Venice with Ga ...

See also:

Cornett, Cornett - Construction, Cornett - Music for the cornett, Cornett - Playing the cornett, Cornett - The cornett and authentic performance, Cornett - Nomenclature

Read more here: » Cornett: Encyclopedia II - Cornett - Music for the cornett

A vibrating string on its own makes only a very quiet sound, so string instruments are usually constructed in such a way that this sound is amplified either by a hollow resonating chamber, a soundboard, or both. On the violin, for example, the taut strings pass over a bridge resting on a hollow box. The strings' vibrations are distributed via the bridge to all surfaces of the instrument, and thus amplified. Achieving effective and beautiful resonance is something of an art, and the makers of string instruments often seek very high quality woods to this end, particularly spruce (chosen for its combination o ...

See also:

String instrument, String instrument - Types of string insturuments, String instrument - Plucking, String instrument - Bowing, String instrument - Striking, String instrument - Other methods, String instrument - Contact points along the string, String instrument - Production of multiple notes, String instrument - Sound amplification, String instrument - Through resonance, String instrument - Electric amplification

Read more here: » String instrument: Encyclopedia II - String instrument - Through resonance

Beyond these top two groups are several further levels of classification, so that the xylophone, for example, is in the group labelled 111.212 (periods are usually added after every third digit to make long numbers easier to read). A long classification number does not necessarily indicate the instrument is a complicated one. The bugle for instance, has the classification number 423.121.22, even though it is generally regarded as a relatively simple instrument (it is basically a bent conical tube which you blow down like a trumpet, but it do ...

See also:

Hornbostel-Sachs, Hornbostel-Sachs - The skeleton of the system, Hornbostel-Sachs - The system applied in practice, Hornbostel-Sachs - Suffixes and composite instruments, Hornbostel-Sachs - External link

Read more here: » Hornbostel-Sachs: Encyclopedia II - Hornbostel-Sachs - The system applied in practice