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TYPES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Instruments are often divided by the way in which they generate the initial source of sound:


Instruments that generate sound from matter in its solid-state

  • Voice , that is, the human voice, is an instrument in its own right. A Singer generates sounds when airflow from the lungs sets the Vocal Cords into Oscillation . The fundamental frequency is controlled by the tension of the vocal cords and the Tone Quality by the formation of the vocal tract; a wide range of sounds can be created.






  • Lamellophone s create a sound by the plucking of lamellas made from different materials (metal, raphia etc.). These Instruments are tunable, so they do not belong to the Idiophone s. An example is the Mbira .



Instruments that generate sound from matter in its gaseous state




Instruments that generate sound from matter in its liquid state

  • Water Instrument s generate pressure waves by oscillation, turbulence, or similar disturbance in water. Water instruments are like woodwind instruments in some ways, except that the operative fluid (liquid) is for the most part incompressible fluid, as compared with wind (air) which is highly compressible. Water instruments are called Hydraulophone s and work best underwater, but are often designed so that they can be heard in a surrounding air medium even though they are typically water-filled or operate in-part underwater.



Instruments that generate sound from matter in its plasma state

  • Plasma Instrument s generate pressure waves by oscillation of matter in a high-energy state such as plasma. Examples include the Ionophone , the predecessor of the modern loudspeaker, and the plasmaphone , an acoustic instrument that generates sound in response to direct manipulation of plasma by a musician's fingers.



Quintephones (instruments that generate sound informatically)

Instruments generate sound either acoustically (from matter in its solid, liquid, gaseous, or higher-energy state), or informatically, from matter in its state of Quintessence (Quintessence, also known as Idea, was the fifth-classical element of Plato and Aristotle). {Link without Title}

Instruments that generate sound from quintessence (Idea) use some form of computation, algorithm, or calculative process, whether by analog circuits (as in the Theremin), by digital circuits (as in modern software synthesizers), by mechanical computing (as in the use of the phonograph disk as a sampling instrument), or by optical means (as in instruments like the Optigan ).


  • ''' Mechanical Computation, Synthesis, Or Sampling Instruments

    • Instruments like the Turntable generate sound mechanically, although they record specific samples. Other similar instruments have been built that use mechanical computing rather than electronic computing in order to achieve sound synthesis, storage and recall of sound samples, and mechanical manipulation of sound samples.




User-interfaces for musical instruments

Regardless of how the sound in an instrument is produced, many musical instruments have a keyboard as the user-interface.

  • Keyboard Instrument s are any instruments that are played with a Musical Keyboard . Every key generates one or more sounds; most keyboard instruments have extra means ( Pedal s for a piano, Stops for an organ) to manipulate these sounds. They may produce sound by wind being fanned ( Organ ) or pumped ( Accordion ), vibrating strings either hammered ( Piano ) or plucked ( Harpsichord ), by electronic means ( Synthesizer ) or in some other way. Sometimes, instruments that do not usually have a keyboard, such as the '' Glockenspiel '', are fitted with one. Though they have no moving parts and are struck by mallets held in the player's hands, they possess the same physical arrangement of keys and produce soundwaves in a similar manner.



Musical instrument classification

Many Alternate Divisions And Further Subdivisions Of Instruments exist. To learn about specific instruments, consult the List Of Musical Instruments or List Of Archaic Musical Instruments .


HISTORY

The solid and gas classes of instruments are mentioned in ancient sources, such as Egyptian inscriptions, the Bible and the many thousand year old Hindu Vedas, and probably predate recorded history. The human body, generating both vocal and percussive sounds, may have been the first instrument. Percussion instruments such as stones and hollow logs are another likely candidate. For instance, nine-thousand-year-old bone flutes or recorders have been found in Chinese archeological sites.

Instruments that make sound from matter in its liquid or plasma state, as well as instruments that make sound informatically, e.g. optical, mechanical, or electrical (analog or digital) computing are somewhat newer.


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