Explore Different Types of Musical Instruments

Music is the most beautiful form of art that is communicated through variety of musical instruments producing sounds, rhythms, and tones. The oldest musical instrument dates back to the rich heritage and after that many varieties have been introduced with each delivering its unique sound and quality

These instruments are divided into many categories depending on different types of classification. A significant classification is based on the mechanism used for producing sound under which instruments are divided into five basic categories.

Explore here some of the most significant types of musical instruments:

String Instruments

String instruments produce sound through the mechanism of a vibrating string. Strings are composed of metal, synthetic, or natural materials and are of varied thickness, weight, length, and tension. The composition, dimension, and the weight of the strings play an integral role in the quality of sound produced. When the strings are thick and heavy, vibration is slow resulting in lower pitch whereas faster vibration results in higher pitch. Some of the most common types of string instruments are guitar, piano, violin, cello, viola, double bass, mandolin, harp, and santoor.

Wind Instruments

Wind instruments are those instruments in which sound is made by the vibration of air in a pipe or a tube. The key factor influencing the pitch of sound produced is the frequency of air vibration that greatly depends on the size of the air chamber or the tube. Larger the size of the air chamber deeper will be the sound produced. Some instruments like flute have holes in the tube to change the pitch of the sound. Covering and uncovering these holes change the path of the air which directly affects the air chamber size that changes the frequency and eventually the pitch. Some of the most popular wind instruments are flute, clarinet, bassoon, English horn, saxophone, bagpipe, and harmonica.

Brass Instruments

Brass instruments produce a unique nature and texture of sound. They work on the principle of air vibration and sound frequency. The pitch produced is directly related to the size of the air chamber that depends on the size and the length of the tube, pipe, or the instrument. The larger the size of the chamber, lower is the pitch of the sound. These instruments have holes or valves that are used to control the path of air. Pressing a valve changes the path of air that affects the sound wave by changing the length of the pipe. This way by shortening and lengthening the size of the pipe the sound pitch is altered as desired. Some common brass instruments are trumpet, bugle, conch, and french horn.

Percussion Instruments

Percussion instruments produce sound waves by being hit or shaken by any kind of striking object. The vibration and the wave produced depend on the type of surface and the type of material used to strike the instrument surface. Apart from this the thickness and size of the material also influences the sound quality and the vibration. Furthermore different sounds are produced by striking different areas of the instrument's surface. Some significant instruments under this category are drum, xylophone, cymbal, marimba, triangle, bells, tambourine, and wood block.

Electronic Instruments

Electronic instruments are the new generation of musical instruments that are introduced in the recent years. These produce sound using advanced technology and electronic medium. Most of these instruments like the piano keyboards, octopads, samplers, and synthesizers are designed to produce exciting music in a user-friendly way.

For more information, read Musical Instruments.

Bowed Strings - Producer of Melodious Instruments

Strings were initially played in Italy in the mid 16th century. The most famous application of these instruments was the orchestra, which is centered on melodies and music pieces that are based on stringed instruments with maple bodies and wooden bows.The length of string determines the pitch, and they are inversely proportional to each other.

String Music Basics: What Counts as a Stringed Instrument

A stringed instrument produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the scheme of musical instrument classification these are called "chordophones." The most famous and common string instruments in the string family are guitar, viola, violin, cello, double bass, banjo, mandolin, and harp. String instruments can be divided into three groups; these are Lutes, Harps, and Zithers. Lutes' strings are supported by a neck; harps' strings are contained within a frame, and zithers' strings are mounted on a body.

All string instruments create sound from one or more vibrating strings, which transmit their vibration to the air transferred to the air as the instrument's body amplifies and deepens that vibration. They various types of string instruments are categorized by the method used to make the strings tremble. The three most common and famous techniques are plucking, bowing and striking. The length of string from nut to bridge of bowed or plucked instruments determines the distance of different notes on the instruments. For example, while low range double bass needs a length of 42 inches, a violin scale is only about 13 inches. In both cases, the sound of the string is amplified by the sounding board, but the initial and final sounds are different, and the degree of amplification is different as well.

How Stringed Instruments Work

Technically, when the sound is "amplified," energy amplification is not really happening, as all the energy still comes from the vibrating string to produce sound. In reality, the sounding board of the instrument provides a bigger surface area to generate sound waves compared to that of the strings, and the same amount of energy is simply communicated across a larger surface. As this larger vibrating surface moves more air, it allows for a louder sound to be created. While this process seems very simple, it is actually difficult to achieve perfectly precise control over the exact sound that will result.

To help ensure a consistent and pleasing tone, most string instruments use very high quality wood such as spruce, which is very light, strong and flexible; maple is often used as well because of its hardness. Spruce is particularly popular for many instruments, ranging from the violin to the piano. Keyboard instruments follow similar rules, since the key set is usually attached to a string instrument hidden within the instrument housing; for example, pianos are string instruments that use a hammer to strike strings, producing vibration and tone. Clavichord, another string keyboard instrument, strikes the strings by "tangents," while harpsichords pluck strings using a small device called a plectra.

Sometimes with these keyboard instruments, the strings are plucked or bowed by hand indirectly, by means of a complex mechanism, but in most cases string instruments are managed by hand, and are small enough to be held by the musician. Examples include: the plucked autoharp, the bowed nickel harp, and the hurdy, which is played by cranking a rosined wheel.

Stringed instruments' immense range in construction, design, and resulting sounds give us an incredibly broad number of options to create emotions. Both the listener and the player can enjoy their depth and variation, and appreciate the skill and precision that are required to transform these complex vibrations into harmonies and rhythms that can create a feeling of tension or serenity out of thin air.