Classification of Musical Instruments

Musical Instruments may be classified or grouped in several ways. From your syllabus
perspective, we will have to know mainly three.

Indian Classification of Musical Instruments:

Use of musical instruments were observant since the early period or Aadi Kaal. The proof of
this can be found in the paintings at Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta Caves, ruins of Mohenjo-
daro, Vedas, Upanishad's etc. Damaru and Veena are known to be the favourite instruments
of Shankar Bhagwan and Goddess Saraswati. During these times all the melodic instruments
were referred to as veena. The human voice too was considered a type of veena called “gatra
veena” meaning bodily veena or “daivi veena” meaning God gifted veena.

The pulse of nature is reflected in every movement of human beings. Human beings often
express their feelings with body movements. After getting control over their body actions,
humans started an articulated use of body gestures for expressing specific emotions such as
joy, distress, grievance, etc. The rhythmic body movements such as clapping of hands, foot
stomping, etc. made man to think of making percussion instruments. In the primary stage,
man started making rudimentary percussion instruments, such as child's rattle. A burrow in
the ground covered with skin made the elementary 'Dundubhi'. In the due process of
advancement, man started making percussion instruments with wood, bamboo, animal
skins, and metal. In the Natya Shastra of Bharat Muni, the musical instruments are classified
in four groups:

01. Tantu Vadya or String instruments: In the earlier stage, the strings were made up with
weeds, animal skins, hair, etc. After the technique of making metal strings was invented, it
made great advancement. Ancient mythology states that string instruments were formed
by the bow of Shiva. One can interpret it as when the ancient man got to know the sound of
bow string while releasing the arrow out of it, the idea of making a musical instrument might
have struck in his head and then he made such bow shaped string instrument. The frequency
depends upon the length of the string and also on the distance of the string from the sound
bridge. After a lot of experimentation, man started making the ancient Veena, i.e. lute. The
instruments such as taanpura, veena, sitar, sarod, sarangi, Esraj, dilruba are string
instruments. These tantu vadya or string instruments are further divided into 4 categories:
a. Tat Vadya or Nakhaj Vadya: Plucked string instruments such as taanpura, swar-
mandal, etc, stroked string instruments such as sitar, sarod, etc and hammered string
instruments such as santoor belong to this category.
b. Vitat Vadya: This class appears to be quite old, yet these instruments did not occupy
a place in classical music until the last few centuries. The entire class of instruments
has a certain stigma attached to it. Even today only the estern violin is free of this
stigma. Some of the instruments of this category are sarangi, saringda, violin ,esraj,
dilruba, chikara, mayuri veena and pena.

02. Sushir Wadya or Wind Instruments: 'Sushir' means a hole, so the instruments having
holes from which air is blown for sound production are called 'Sudhir Wadya'. These
instruments have an air column made up with bamboo, wood or metal, to which there are
holes for producing notes. The blown instruments are further divided into two categories:
 a. Simple blown instruments such as flute, shankh, tutaari, etc.
b. Blown instruments with reeds such as shehnai, naadaswaram, harmonium etc.

03. Awanadhha Wadya or Percussion instruments made with animal skin: 'Awanadhha'
means 'to cover over or conceal', so these instruments have a sound box with covering of
skin. The 'Bhoomi Dundudhi' is the most ancient instrument of such kind. According to the
making and playing technique, the percussion instruments are divided such as the following:
a. The ones played with stroke of fingers such as khanjira, duff, dimdi, etc.
b. The ones played with stroke of a stick such as dhol, sambal, nagada, etc.
c. The ones played with the palms of both the hands, such as pakhawaj, mridangam,
etc.
d. The ones played with a thread attached at the middle portion with holding at centre
point, such as damroo, etc.
e. The ones played with palms as well as fingers, such as tabla, dholki, dholak, etc.

04. Ghan Wadya or Solid instruments or Cymbals (A-tonal instruments) made by hard surfaces
such as metal, wood, etc: 'Ghana' means solid, so these instruments are solid in state, not
hollow in shape. These instruments are made with a variety of materials such as stone,
bones, horns, wood, metals, etc. These instruments are further classified in 3 groups. They
are as follows:
a. Played with contact, such as chipli and taal.
b. Played with a stick or hammer, such as jal-tarang, kaashtha tarang and ghanta.
c. Played with rotation or free movement, such as ghunghroo, ghantika, tattle, kabas,
etc.
Though they have attractive tonal quality, these solid instruments are basically a-tonal, i.e.
they cannot produce various note on the same instruments, so they are used for maintaining
the tempo or rhythm. So, one can find the use of solid instruments in other genres such as
folk, film music, applied music rather than in classical music.

In modern era with the advent of some new instruments in India, two new categories are
added to these traditionally accepted four categories -
Key board instruments - such as organ, piano, which are basically European Instruments
which will be dealt with later on.
Electronic instruments - we have many electronic musical instruments, including electronic
taanpura, electronic tabla and so on.

European Culture Classification:

Traditionally, the European Culture classifies instruments according to orchestral instrument
families.
01. Woodwind Instrument: Most of these were originally made from wood (sometimes brass
or other metals); all produce sound by blowing, some of them by vibrating a reed. These
include flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon etc.**

02. Brasswind or Brass Instrument: Originally made from brass; also produce sound by
blowing. These include Bugle, Trombone, Trumpet, French Horn.**
03. Percussion Instrument: These instruments are made from a variety of materials and
involve some physical impact (Percussion) to produce sound. These include Xylophone,
Triangle, Tambourine, Maracas, Chimes, Snare Drum, Marimba, Djembe, etc.

04. String Instrument: These instruments have strings. They could again be classified into
plucked or bowed. The plucked string instrument family includes harp, acoustic guitar, banjo,
electric guitar, bass electric guitar, bass acoustic guitar. The bowed string instrument
category includes violin, viola, cello, double bass.

05. Keyboard Instrument: These instruments are a mixture of the above categories.
Following are some of the examples of keyboard instruments:
a. Piano: It is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound
by striking steel strings with felt hammers. The hammers immediately rebound
allowing the strings to continue vibrating at their resonant frequency. These
vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies them. You
can call it a hammered string instrument.
b. Harpsichord: It is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces
sound by plucking a string when each key is pressed. You may call it a variety of the
plucked string instrument.
c. Pipe Organ: It is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air
(called wind) through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe
produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has
a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have
multiple ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch and loudness that the player can
employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
d. Accordion: It a musical instrument played by stretching and squeezing with the hands
to work a central bellows that blows air over metal reeds, the melody and chords
being sounded by buttons or keys. It may also be called a wind instrument.

**Both the Woodwind Instruments and the Brasswind Instruments together are called
Horns.**

Ethnographic Classification:
Orchestral classification does not cover wide variety of instruments and playing styles, which
are found in various ethnic groups worldwide. Early in the 20th century, Erich Moritz von
Hornbostel and Curt Sachs derived a system to classify all musical instruments. The
Hornbostel – Sachs system is based on how an instrument vibrates to produce sound. This is
the most widely accepted system of musical instrument classification today. This system
identifies five categories of instruments which are:

01. Aerophones: Produces its sound by the vibration of air. The two main families that are
Aerophones are woodwind instruments, which use air and reed to vibrate and brass
instruments, which use air and the player’s lips to vibrate. Some keyboard instruments who
use air as the source of vibrations can also be considered as aerophones. Examples of
aerophones are Saxophone, Flute etc. Examples of Indian Aerophones or Sushir Wadya are
mentioned above. Let us not forget the harmonium. Some unusual aerophones which you
may have not heard of are the didgeridoo from Australia, the pan flute from Peru, the bag
pipe from the British Isles, the shakuhachi flute from Japan, shofar from Israel.

02. Chordophones: A chordophone is a musical instrument that makes sound by way of a

vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. To make the sound pluck bow or
strike the strings. This is done by a pick, bow or the musicians hand. Examples of
Chordophones are guitar and violin. Examples of Indian Chordophones are mentioned in the
Tat Vadya and Vitat Vadya above. Some unusual chordophones are the celtic harp from the
British Isles, koto from Japan, washtub bass from Jamaica

03. Electrophones: These are the newest category of instruments, which have been around
since the 20th century. These instruments produce an electronic sound. There are 2
categories
a. Electronic Instruments: Examples, synthesizer, electric piano etc.
b. Amplified Acoustical Instrument: Examples electric guitar, electric violin etc.

04. Membranophones: They belong to the percussion family. Membranophones produce

sound when a stretched skin (membrane) vibrates. Different materials can be used to make
Membranophones, including wood, metal, or ceramics. These instruments may have
definite or indefinite pitch. Examples are drum kit, congas, kettle drum Etc. Examples of
Indian Membranophones are mentioned in the Awanadhha Wadya above. Some unusual
membranophones are the cajón from Peru, damaru from Tibet etc.

05. Idiophones: Idiophones produce a sound by the vibration of the actual instrument itself.
These instruments can be struck, rubbed, shaken or plucked. They also belong to the
percussion family. Examples are cow bell, kouxian, which is a general Chinese term for any
variety of jaw harp. Examples of Indian Idiophones are mentioned in the Ghan Wadya above.