Musical Instruments

A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making music. In principle anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument. The expression, however, is reserved generally for items that have a specific musical purpose. The academic study of musical instruments is called organology.

Some examples of instruments are - trumpet, bassoon, trombone, flute, clarinet, piccolo, saxophone, violin, viola, violoncello, piano, guitar, lute, koto (musical instrument), sitar, bagpipe, drum, xylophone, pipe organ, theremin, synthesizer, aeolian harp, etc.

History

Evidence of musical instruments is found in prehistoric archaeological sites and in ancient sources, such as Egyptian inscriptions, the Bible and the Hindu Vedas. The human body, generating both vocal and percussive sounds, may have been the first instrument. Percussion instruments such as stones and hollow logs are also likely candidates. Nine-thousand-year-old bone flutes have been found in Chinese archaeological sites.

Classification

There are numerous schemes for Musical instrument classification. One of the oldest and most widely taught in schools is the Strings, Percussion, and Wind classification scheme which organizes instruments based on how they initially produce sound (e.g. an electric guitar is still considered a string instrument even though there is further sound modification after the initial production of the sound by way of a string). Another commonly used classification scheme is the Hornbostel-Sachs system that also organizes instruments by how the sound is initially produced. There are many other classification systems.