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75-492: Hornbostel and Sachs based their ideas on a system devised in the late 19th century by Victor-Charles Mahillon , the curator of musical instruments at Brussels Conservatory . Mahillon divided instruments into four broad categories according to the nature of the sound-producing material: an air column; string; membrane; and body of the instrument. From this basis, Hornbostel and Sachs expanded Mahillon's system to make it possible to classify any instrument from any culture. Formally,

150-413: A "normal" plucking point, producing a canonical harpsichord sound; the other has a plucking point close to the bridge, producing a reedier "nasal" sound rich in upper harmonics. A single string at a certain tension and length only produces one note. To produce multiple notes, string instruments use one of two methods. One is to add enough strings to cover the required range of different notes (e.g., as with

225-550: A cave painting in the Trois Frères cave in France depicts what some believe is a musical bow , a hunting bow used as a single-stringed musical instrument. From the musical bow, families of stringed instruments developed; since each string played a single note, adding strings added new notes, creating bow harps , harps and lyres . In turn, this led to being able to play dyads and chords . Another innovation occurred when

300-431: A challenge to instrument builders, as compared with instruments that are only plucked (e.g., guitar), because on bowed instruments, the musician must be able to play one string at a time if they wish. As such, a bowed instrument must have a curved bridge that makes the "outer" strings lower in height than the "inner" strings. With such a curved bridge, the player can select one string at a time to play. On guitars and lutes ,

375-411: A clock or bell. Electric string instruments, such as the electric guitar , can also be played without touching the strings by using audio feedback . When an electric guitar is plugged into a loud, powerful guitar amplifier with a loudspeaker and a high level of distortion is intentionally used, the guitar produces sustained high-pitched sounds. By changing the proximity of the guitar to the speaker,

450-485: A family of instrument makers and music publishers, son of Charles Mahillon (1813-1887), and brother of Joseph-Jean Mahillon (1848-1923, Adolphe Désiré Mahillon (1851-1906) and Ferdinand-Charles-Eugène Mahillon (1855-1948). His uncle Barthelemi and his son Fernand-Charles-Henri had the same profession. Partly self-taught, Mahillon studied Musical Acoustics and Organology and started working at his father's factory of musical instruments in 1865. In 1869, he started

525-517: A frame or hoop. The lamellae are tied to a board or cut out from a board like the teeth of a comb. Idiophones which are rubbed, for example the nail violin , a bowed instrument with solid pieces of metal or wood rather than strings. Sets of Friction idiophones (134) Blown idiophones are idiophones set in vibration by the movement of air, for example the Aeolsklavier , an instrument consisting of several pieces of wood which vibrate when air

600-713: A group in his own classification system, which is closer to Mahillon than Sachs–Hornbostel. For example, in Galpin's 1937 book A Textbook of European Musical Instruments , he lists electrophones with three second-level divisions for sound generation ("by oscillation", "electro-magnetic", and "electro-static"), as well as third-level and fourth-level categories based on the control method. Sachs himself proposed subcategories 51, 52, and 53, on pages 447–467 of his 1940 book The History of Musical Instruments . Present-day ethnomusicologists, such as Margaret Kartomi and Ellingson (PhD dissertation, 1979, p. 544), suggest that, in keeping with

675-517: A half a pear shape using three strings. Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern , a four-stringed precursor to the guitar, and basic lutes . These instruments typically used catgut (animal intestine) and other materials, including silk, for their strings. String instrument design was refined during the Renaissance and into

750-498: A heavier metal winding produces a lower pitch than a string of equal length without a metal winding. This can be seen on a 2016-era set of gut strings for double bass. The higher-pitched G string is often made of synthetic material, or sometimes animal intestine, with no metal wrapping. To enable the low E string to produce a much lower pitch with a string of the same length, it is wrapped with many wrappings of thin metal wire. This adds to its mass without making it too stiff. The frequency

825-484: A key part of orchestras – cellos, violas, and upright basses, for example, were now standard instruments for chamber ensembles and smaller orchestras. At the same time, the 19th-century guitar became more typically associated with six-string models, rather than traditional five-string versions. Major changes to string instruments in the 20th century primarily involved innovations in electronic instrument amplification and electronic music – electric violins were available by

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900-511: A key that plucks the string. Other musical instruments generate sound by striking the string. With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy , the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the orchestra in Western classical music ( violin , viola , cello and double bass ) and

975-656: A lamella or pair of lamellae which periodically interrupt the airflow and cause the air to be set in motion. The player's vibrating lips set the air in motion. The fifth top-level group, the electrophones category, was added by Sachs in 1940, to describe instruments involving electricity. Sachs broke down his 5th category into 3 subcategories: 51=electrically actuated acoustic instruments; 52=electrically amplified acoustic instruments; 53= instruments which make sound primarily by way of electrically driven oscillators, such as theremins or synthesizers , which he called radioelectric instruments. Francis William Galpin provided such

1050-531: A large number of historically interesting European wind instruments, he collected many ethnologically interesting specimens from around the world and prepared a three volume catalog of these (in French). His various articles that appeared in the Encyclopædia Britannica, ninth edition , are still of interest. In 1885 he provided instruments to Alfred James Hipkins for use in a series of concerts at

1125-540: A lute-like instrument came from Mesopotamia prior to 3000 BC. A cylinder seal from c.  3100 BC or earlier (now in the possession of the British Museum) shows what is thought to be a woman playing a stick lute. From the surviving images, theorists have categorized the Mesopotamian lutes, showing that they developed into a long variety and a short. The line of long lutes may have developed into

1200-489: A number of other instruments (e.g., viols and gambas used in early music from the Baroque music era and fiddles used in many types of folk music ). All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called " pizzicato ". A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar , including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even " tapping " on

1275-401: A performance. The frequency is inversely proportional to the length: A string twice as long produces a tone of half the frequency (one octave lower). Pitch can be adjusted by varying the tension of the string. A string with less tension (looser) results in a lower pitch, while a string with greater tension (tighter) results in a higher pitch. Pushing a pedal on a pedal steel guitar raises

1350-401: A performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some string instruments, like guitars , by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum (pick) , and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow , like violins . In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord , the musician presses

1425-465: A sharp edge, or a sharp edge is moved through the air. In either case, according to more recent views, a periodic displacement of air occurs to the alternate flanks of the edge. Examples are the swordblade or the whip. The air-stream is interrupted periodically. The sound is caused by a single compression and release of air. Examples include the botija , the gharha , the ghatam , and the udu . Mixed sets of free aerophones (414) The vibrating air

1500-415: A vibrating membrane. Instruments in which the membrane is vibrated by an unbroken column of wind, without a chamber Instruments in which the membrane is placed in a box, tube or other container Chordophones primarily produce their sounds by means of the vibration of a string or strings that are stretched between fixed points. This group includes all instruments generally called string instruments in

1575-403: A violin scale is only about 13 inches (33 cm). On the shorter scale of the violin, the left hand may easily reach a range of slightly more than two octaves without shifting position , while on the bass' longer scale, a single octave or a ninth is reachable in lower positions. In bowed instruments, the bow is normally placed perpendicularly to the string, at a point halfway between the end of

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1650-487: Is a method of playing on instruments such as the veena , banjo , ukulele , guitar, harp, lute , mandolin , oud , and sitar , using either a finger, thumb, or quills (now plastic plectra) to pluck the strings. Instruments normally played by bowing (see below) may also be plucked, a technique referred to by the Italian term pizzicato . Bowing (Italian: arco ) is a method used in some string instruments, including

1725-417: Is blown onto them by a set of bellows . The piano chanteur features plaques. Mixed sets of blown idiophones (143) Membranophones primarily produce their sounds by means of the vibration of a tightly stretched membrane. This group includes all drums and kazoos . Struck drums are instruments which have a struck membrane. This includes most types of drums, such as the timpani , or kettle drum , and

1800-405: Is contained within the instrument. This group includes most of the instruments called wind instruments in the west, such as the flute or French horn , as well as many other kinds of instruments such as conch shells . The player makes a ribbon-shaped flow of air with their lips (421.1), or their breath is directed through a duct against an edge (421.2). The player's breath is directed against

1875-406: Is equipped for this kind of percussion. The player themself does not go through the movement of striking; percussion results indirectly through some other movement by the player. Plucked idiophones, or lamellaphones , are idiophones set in vibration by being plucked; examples include the jaw harp or mbira . This group is sub-divided in the following two categories: The lamellae vibrate within

1950-402: Is impractical. Instruments with a fingerboard are then played by adjusting the length of the vibrating portion of the strings. The following observations all apply to a string that is infinitely flexible (a theoretical assumption, because in practical applications, strings are not infinitely flexible) strung between two fixed supports. Real strings have finite curvature at the bridge and nut, and

2025-457: Is inversely proportional to the square root of the linear density: Given two strings of equal length and tension, the string with higher mass per unit length produces the lower pitch. The length of the string from nut to bridge on bowed or plucked instruments ultimately determines the distance between different notes on the instrument. For example, a double bass with its low range needs a scale length of around 42 inches (110 cm), whilst

2100-409: Is mainly used on electric instruments because these have a pickup that amplifies only the local string vibration. It is possible on acoustic instruments as well, but less effective. For instance, a player might press on the seventh fret on a guitar and pluck it at the head side to make a tone resonate at the opposing side. On electric instruments, this technique generates multitone sounds reminiscent of

2175-523: Is one of the five main divisions of instruments in the Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification . Hornbostel–Sachs divides chordophones into two main groups: instruments without a resonator as an integral part of the instrument (which have the classification number 31, also known as 'simple'); and instruments with such a resonator (which have the classification number 32, also known as 'composite'). Most western instruments fall into

2250-687: Is one of the oldest string instruments. Ancestors of the modern bowed string instruments are the rebab of the Islamic Empires, the Persian kamanche and the Byzantine lira . Other bowed instruments are the rebec , hardingfele , nyckelharpa , kokyū , erhu , igil , sarangi , morin khuur , and K'ni . The hurdy-gurdy is bowed by a wheel. Rarely, the guitar has been played with a bow (rather than plucked) for unique effects. The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments

2325-406: Is to strike the string. The piano and hammered dulcimer use this method of sound production. Even though the piano strikes the strings, the use of felt hammers means that the sound that is produced can nevertheless be mellow and rounded, in contrast to the sharp attack produced when a very hard hammer strikes the strings. Violin family string instrument players are occasionally instructed to strike

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2400-506: The Baroque period (1600–1750) of musical history. Violins and guitars became more consistent in design and were roughly similar to acoustic guitars of the 2000s. The violins of the Renaissance featured intricate woodwork and stringing, while more elaborate bass instruments such as the bandora were produced alongside quill-plucked citterns , and Spanish body guitars. In the 19th century, string instruments were made more widely available through mass production, with wood string instruments

2475-724: The International Inventions Exhibition in London. In 1890 he collaborated with Brian Greene to develop much of the more in-depth classifications of idiophones . His classification of instruments was later adopted by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs , and is still in use today. This article about a Belgian musician is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chordophone Plucked In musical instrument classification , string instruments , or chordophones , are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when

2550-418: The koto , and musical bows . The string bearer is bar-shaped. The string bearer is a vaulted surface. The string bearer is composed of canes tied together in the manner of a raft. The string bearer is a board. The strings are stretched across the mouth of a trough. The strings are stretched across an open frame. Acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments which have a resonator as an integral part of

2625-455: The piano , which has sets of 88 strings to enable the performer to play 88 different notes). The other is to provide a way to stop the strings along their length to shorten the part that vibrates, which is the method used in guitar and violin family instruments to produce different notes from the same string. The piano and harp represent the first method, where each note on the instrument has its own string or course of multiple strings tuned to

2700-428: The saxophone and trumpet . The development of guitar amplifiers, which contained a power amplifier and a loudspeaker in a wooden cabinet , let jazz guitarists play solos and be heard over a big band. The development of the electric guitar provided guitarists with an instrument that was built to connect to guitar amplifiers. Electric guitars have magnetic pickups , volume control knobs and an output jack. In

2775-497: The snare drum . Instruments in which the membrane is struck directly, such as through bare hands, beaters or keyboards. Instruments which are shaken, the membrane being vibrated by objects inside the drum ( rattle drums ). Instruments with a string attached to the membrane, so that when the string is plucked, the membrane vibrates (plucked drums). Some commentators believe that instruments in this class ought instead to be regarded as chordophones (see below). Instruments in which

2850-469: The tamburs and pandura . The line of short lutes was further developed to the east of Mesopotamia, in Bactria , Gandhara , and Northwest India, and shown in sculpture from the 2nd century BC through the 4th or 5th centuries AD. During the medieval era , instrument development varied in different regions of the world. Middle Eastern rebecs represented breakthroughs in terms of shape and strings, with

2925-688: The violin , viola , cello , and the double bass (of the violin family ), and the old viol family. The bow consists of a stick with a "ribbon" of parallel horse tail hairs stretched between its ends. The hair is coated with rosin so it can grip the string; moving the hair across a string causes a stick-slip phenomenon , making the string vibrate , and prompting the instrument to emit sound. Darker grades of rosin grip well in cool, dry climates, but may be too sticky in warmer, more humid weather. Violin and viola players generally use harder, lighter-colored rosin than players of lower-pitched instruments, who tend to favor darker, softer rosin. The ravanahatha

3000-420: The xylophone , the marimba , the glockenspiel , and the glass harmonica . These idiophones are set in vibration by being struck, for example cymbals or xylophones . The player executes the movement of striking; whether by mechanical intermediate devices, beaters, keyboards, or by pulling ropes, etc. It is definitive that the player can apply clear, exact, individual strokes, and that the instrument itself

3075-493: The 1920s and were an important part of emerging jazz music trends in the United States. The acoustic guitar was widely used in blues and jazz , but as an acoustic instrument, it was not loud enough to be a solo instrument, so these genres mostly used it as an accompaniment rhythm section instrument. In big bands of the 1920s, the acoustic guitar played backing chords, but it was not loud enough to play solos like

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3150-465: The 1960s and 1970s, such as fuzz pedals , flangers , and phasers , enabling performers to create unique new sounds during the psychedelic rock era. Breakthroughs in electric guitar and bass technologies and playing styles enabled major breakthroughs in pop and rock music in the 1960s and 1970s. The distinctive sound of the amplified electric guitar was the centerpiece of new genres of music such as blues rock and jazz-rock fusion . The sonic power of

3225-408: The 1960s, larger, more powerful guitar amplifiers were developed, called "stacks". These powerful amplifiers enabled guitarists to perform in rock bands that played in large venues such as stadiums and outdoor music festivals (e.g., Woodstock Music Festival ). Along with the development of guitar amplifiers, a large range of electronic effects units , many in small stompbox pedals, were introduced in

3300-507: The Hornbostel–Sachs classification, idiophones are first categorized according to the method used to play the instrument. The result is four main categories: struck idiophones (11), plucked idiophones (12), friction idiophones (13) and blown idiophones (14). These groups are subsequently divided through various criteria. In many cases these sub-categories are split in singular specimens and sets of instruments. The class of idiophones includes

3375-552: The Hornbostel–Sachs is modeled on the Dewey Decimal Classification for libraries. It has five top-level classifications, with several levels below those, adding up to over 300 basic categories in all. Idiophones primarily produce their sounds by means of 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 , and some other instruments. In

3450-406: The action and strings of the piano were taken out of its box, it could still be played. This is not true of the violin , because the string passes over a bridge located on the resonator box, so removing the resonator would mean the strings had no tension. Curt Sachs also broke chordophones into four basic subcategories, "zithers, lutes, lyres and harps." Dating to around c.  13,000 BC ,

3525-459: The air inside it. The vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow, in order to have better sound projection. Some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. In musicology , string instruments are known as chordophones. It

3600-478: The bare fingers or a plectrum, bowed or (in the Aeolian harp, for instance) sounded by wind. The confusing plenitude of stringed instruments can be reduced to four fundamental type: zithers, lutes, lyres, and harps. In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with

3675-437: The bow harp was straightened out and a bridge used to lift the strings off the stick-neck , creating the lute. This picture of musical bow to harp bow is theory and has been contested. In 1965 Franz Jahnel wrote his criticism stating that the early ancestors of plucked instruments are not currently known. He felt that the harp bow was a long cry from the sophistication of the civilizations of western Asia in 4000 BC that took

3750-487: The bridge can be flat, because the strings are played by plucking them with the fingers, fingernails or a pick; by moving the fingers or pick to different positions, the player can play different strings. On bowed instruments, the need to play strings individually with the bow also limits the number of strings to about six or seven; with more strings, it would be impossible to select individual strings to bow. (Bowed strings can also play two bowed notes on two different strings at

3825-421: The bridge, because of its motion, is not exactly nodes of vibration. Hence the following statements about proportionality are approximations. Pitch can be adjusted by varying the length of the string. A longer string results in a lower pitch, while a shorter string results in a higher pitch. A concert harp has pedals that cause a hard object to make contact with a string to shorten its vibrating length during

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3900-735: The chordophones category, etc. Victor-Charles Mahillon Victor-Charles Mahillon (March 10, 1841 in Brussels – June 17, 1924 in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat , France) was a Belgian musician, instrument builder and writer on musical topics. He was the founder and first curator of the Musée instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique, known today as the Musical Instrument Museum . He built, collected, and described more than 1500 musical instruments . Born in

3975-441: The difference is perhaps more subtle. In keyboard instruments, the contact point along the string (whether this be hammer, tangent, or plectrum) is a choice made by the instrument designer. Builders use a combination of experience and acoustic theory to establish the right set of contact points. In harpsichords, often there are two sets of strings of equal length. These "choirs" usually differ in their plucking points. One choir has

4050-468: The dynamic and timbre (tone colour) range of orchestras, bands, and solo performances. String instruments can be divided into three groups: It is also possible to divide the instruments into categories focused on how the instrument is played. All string instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings , transferred to the air by the body of the instrument (or by a pickup in electronically amplified instruments). They are usually categorised by

4125-498: 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 purer tone with less overtone strength, emphasizing the fundamental , also known as flautando , since it sounds less reedy and more flute-like. Bowed instruments pose

4200-554: The fingerboard and using feedback from a loud, distorted guitar amplifier to produce a sustained sound. Some string instruments are mainly plucked, such as the harp and the electric bass . Other examples include the sitar , rebab , banjo , mandolin , ukulele , and bouzouki . In the Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification , used in organology , string instruments are called chordophones. According to Sachs , Chordophones are instruments with strings. The strings may be struck with sticks, plucked with

4275-401: The guitar, bass, violin, etc.) can be played using a magnetic field. An E-Bow is a small hand-held battery-powered device that magnetically excites the strings of an electric string instrument to provide a sustained, singing tone reminiscent of a held bowed violin note. Third bridge is a plucking method where the player frets a string and strikes the side opposite the bridge. The technique

4350-419: The guitarist can produce sounds that cannot be produced with standard plucking and picking techniques. This technique was popularized by Jimi Hendrix and others in the 1960s. It was widely used in psychedelic rock and heavy metal music . There are three ways to change the pitch of a vibrating string . String instruments are tuned by varying a string's tension because adjusting length or mass per unit length

4425-408: The instrument, and solid-body electric chordophones. This includes most western string instruments, including lute -type instruments such as violins and guitars , and harps . The plane of the strings runs parallel with the resonator's surface. The plane of the strings lies perpendicular to the resonator's surface. The plane of the strings lies at right angles to the sound-table; a line joining

4500-478: The loudly amplified, highly distorted electric guitar was the key element of the early heavy metal music , with the distorted guitar being used in lead guitar roles, and with power chords as a rhythm guitar . The ongoing use of electronic amplification and effects units in string instruments, ranging from traditional instruments like the violin to the new electric guitar, added variety to contemporary classical music performances, and enabled experimentation in

4575-405: The lower ends of the strings would be perpendicular to the neck. These have notched bridges. Aerophones primarily produce their sounds by means of vibrating air. The instrument itself does not vibrate, and there are no vibrating strings or membranes. Instruments in which the vibrating air is not contained within the instrument, for example, acme sirens or the bullroarer . The air-stream meets

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4650-451: The membrane vibrates as a result of friction. These are drums which are rubbed, rather than being struck. Instruments in which the membrane is vibrated from a stick that is rubbed or used to rub the membrane Instruments in which a cord, attached to the membrane, is rubbed. Instruments in which the membrane is rubbed by hand This group includes kazoos , instruments which do not produce sound of their own, but modify other sounds by way of

4725-569: The musical journal L'Echo musical , which ran until 1886. He was the first curator of the instrument collection at the Brussels Royal Music Conservatory from 1879 and contributed many of his own instruments to the collection. He had a deep interest in the acoustical science but especially that pertaining to wind instruments. While his work in acoustics was advanced for the time, and has some historical interest, it has been largely supplanted. In addition to gathering

4800-402: The pitch of certain strings by increasing tension on them (stretching) through a mechanical linkage; release of the pedal returns the pitch to the original. Knee levers on the instrument can lower a pitch by releasing (and restoring) tension in the same way. A homemade washtub bass made out of a length of rope, a broomstick and a washtub can produce different pitches by increasing the tension on

4875-451: The player presses keys on to trigger a mechanism that sounds the strings, instead of directly manipulating the strings. These include the piano , the clavichord , and the harpsichord. With these keyboard instruments , strings are occasionally plucked or bowed by hand. Modern composers such as Henry Cowell wrote music that requires that the player reach inside the piano and pluck the strings directly, "bow" them with bow hair wrapped around

4950-491: The primitive technology and created "technically and artistically well-made harps, lyres, citharas, and lutes." Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur , which include artifacts over three thousand years old. The development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen

5025-427: The rope (producing a higher pitch) or reducing the tension (producing a lower pitch). The frequency is proportional to the square root of the tension: The pitch of a string can also be varied by changing the linear density (mass per unit length) of the string. In practical applications, such as with double bass strings or bass piano strings, extra weight is added to strings by winding them with metal. A string with

5100-531: The same time, a technique called a double stop .) Indeed, on the orchestral string section instruments, four strings are the norm, with the exception of five strings used on some double basses . In contrast, with stringed keyboard instruments, 88 courses are used on a piano , and even though these strings are arranged on a flat bridge, the mechanism can play any of the notes individually. Similar timbral distinctions are also possible with plucked string instruments by selecting an appropriate plucking point, although

5175-399: The second group, but the piano and harpsichord fall into the first. Hornbostel and Sachs' criterion for determining which sub-group an instrument falls into is that if the resonator can be removed without destroying the instrument, then it is classified as 31. The idea that the piano's casing, which acts as a resonator, could be removed without destroying the instrument, may seem odd, but if

5250-427: The spirit of the original Hornbostel–Sachs classification scheme, of categorization by what first produces the initial sound in the instrument, that only subcategory 53 should remain in the electrophones category. Thus it has been more recently proposed that, for example, the pipe organ (even if it uses electric key action to control solenoid valves) remain in the aerophones category, and that the electric guitar remain in

5325-533: The string tension. Lyres with wooden bodies and strings used for plucking or playing with a bow represent key instruments that point towards later harps and violin-type instruments; moreover, Indian instruments from 500 BC have been discovered with anything from 7 to 21 strings. In Vietnam, a 2,000 year old, singularly stringed instrument made of deer antler was also discovered. Musicologists have put forth examples of that 4th-century BC technology, looking at engraved images that have survived. The earliest image showing

5400-449: The string with the stick of the bow, a technique called col legno . This yields a percussive sound along with the pitch of the note. A well-known use of col legno for orchestral strings is Gustav Holst 's "Mars" movement from The Planets suite. The aeolian harp employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air. Some instruments that have strings have an attached keyboard that

5475-419: The strings, or play them by rolling the bell of a brass instrument such as a trombone on the array of strings. However, these are relatively rarely used special techniques. Other keyed string instruments, small enough for a strolling musician to play, include the plucked autoharp , the bowed nyckelharpa , and the hurdy-gurdy, which is played by cranking a rosined wheel. Steel-stringed instruments (such as

5550-404: The technique used to make the strings vibrate (or by the primary technique, in the case of instruments where more than one may apply). The three most common techniques are plucking, bowing, and striking. An important difference between bowing and plucking is that in the former the phenomenon is periodic so that the overtones are kept in a strictly harmonic relationship to the fundamental. Plucking

5625-432: The west, as well as many (but not all) keyboard instruments , such as pianos and harpsichords . Instruments which are in essence simply a string or strings and a string bearer. These instruments may have a resonator box, but removing it should not render the instrument unplayable, though it may result in quite a different sound being produced. They include the piano therefore, as well as other kinds of zithers such as

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