Classification of Musical Instruments (Eng)

Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony
Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann

Author(s): Erich M. von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs
Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 14 (Mar., 1961), pp. 3-29
Published by: Galpin Society
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ERICH M. VON HORNBOSTEL AND CURT SACHS
Classification of Music
Instruments
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL GERMAN*
BY ANTHONY BAINES AND KLAUS P. WACHSMANN
TRANSLATORS' PREFACE
The revival of a learned treatise about half a century after its

an unusual event, and there must be cogent reasons for t
In the present case the reasons are not hard to state. No othe
fication is more frequently quoted, nor has any later system
plant it. On these grounds alone it would be difficult to wr
out-of-date.
Apart from the arguments of the system itself, the biti
curators and collectors, and on the waywardness of their c
relevant today as they were fifty years ago. Reed instrument
labelled as trumpets if the bell is flared-there is a dismal cas
our great museums at present-and the terminology is still at
as it was in the many instances of which Hornbostel and
while as for anthropologists, their publications do not inv
that all have read their Zeitschriftfiir Ethnologie.
It is true that criticisms have been made, and modification
and there; even the authors did not subsequently feel themse
to what they had first stated in 1914, when they also tried t
points over which need for revision was most likely to arise
these criticisms has been given in Jaap Kunst's Ethnomusicol
Hague, 1959). None of the critics, however, could persuade
lators that a return to the original text might involve the un
tion of some best-forgotten error. On the contrary, the
system's merits or demerits have convinced them that it is nece
to have easy access to the source itself. This is not meant t
Hornbostel-Sachs tables are in all circumstances easily app
think of some of the many varieties of stamping tubes, e
'stamping tubes' of the Shambala of East Africa, who 'make s
and wave them backwards and forwards while dancing, so
are caused to vibrate by atmospheric pressure' (Hornbostel
* Erich M. von Hornbostel und Curt Sachs, 'Systematik

mente. Ein Versuch', Zeitschriftjiir Ethnologie, Jahrg. 1914. H
1914.) The translators are grateful to Professor Georg Ecke
Zeitschrift, for his assent to the work's republication.
of the bamboo tubes which they strike against the ground or drum upon with
twigs; or of the stamping tubes of their next-door neighbours, the Pare, who
cover the end of the tube that hits the ground with a membrane. Are these
cases of Kontamination (see below, paragraph 14) of a basic type 'stamping
tube', or is the first a type of free aerophone (41 in the tables), the second a
plosive aerophone (413), the third a percussion idiophone (111.2), and the
fourth a membranophone (zI) of sorts?
The original text did not reach a large musical public since it appeared in the
comparative obscurity of an ethnological journal, while also, being written in
German, it did not become as widely known in the English-speaking world as
it might have done otherwise. Thus there is a clear case for now offering an
English translation. To do so at this moment will serve also as a fitting memorial
to Professor Curt Sachs, who died in 1959. Posterity can pay no higher tribute
to a scholar than to return to his and his collaborator's work and put it into the
hands of a wider public than knew it before. It is in this spirit that the English
translation is published.
The text paragraphs were not numbered in the original. Words in square
brackets are the authors' if German, and the translators' if otherwise. The trans-
lators' terminology in the tables takes due account of English terms used by
the authors in their various later publications--as Hornbostel in 'The Ethnology
of African Sound-Instruments', Africa, vol. VI (London, 1933), glossary,
pp. 303-II; and Sachs in The History of Musical Instruments (New York, 1940),
'Terminology', pp. 454-67. Many of their English terms have come into wide
use, and have been kept save in a few cases where a change (even in one case
to French) seemed to the translators unavoidable or greatly preferable. Most
of the more obscure instruments cited in the tables are described by Sachs in
his Real-Lexikon (Berlin, 1913). Footnotes are original unless stated.
Classification of Musical Instruments

REATISES on systems of classification are by and large of uncertain
value. The material to be classified, whatever it may be, came into
existence without any such system, and grows and changes without
reference to any conceptual scheme. The objects to be classified are
alive and dynamic, indifferent to sharp demarcation and set form, while
systems are static and depend upon sharply-drawn demarcations and
categories.
2. These considerations bring special difficulties to the classifier,
though also an attractive challenge: his aim must be to develop and
refine his concepts so that they better and better fit the reality of his
material, sharpen his perception, and enable him to place a specific
case in the scheme quickly and securely.
3. A systematic arrangement for musical instruments concerns firts
of all musicologists, ethnologists, and curators of ethnological collec-
4
tions and those of cultural history. Systematic arrangement and termin-
ology are urgently needed, however, not only for collections of
material, but also for their study and in its interpretation. He who refers
to a musical instrument by any name or description he pleases, being
unaware of the points which matter, will cause more confusion than if
he had left it altogether unnoticed. In common speech technical terms
are greatly muddled, as when the same instrument may be indis-
criminately called a lute, guitar, mandoline, or banjo. Nicknames and
popular etymology also mislead the uninitiated: the German Maul-
trommel is not a drum, nor the English Jew's (properly jaw's) harp a
harp, nor the Swedish mungiga a Geige [fiddle], nor the Flemish tromp
a trumpet; only the Russians are correct when they call this same instru-
ment, a plucked lamella, by the uncommitted term vargan (from
Greek 'opycvov, 'instrument'). Homonyms are no less dangerous than
synonyms: the word marimba, for instance, denotes in the Congo the
set of lamellae usually called sansa, but elsewhere it denotes a xylo-
phone. Ethnological literature teams with ambiguous or misleading
terms for instruments, and in museums, where the field-collector's
report has the last say, the most senseless terms may be perpetuated on
the labels. Correct description and nomenclature depend upon know-
ledge of the most essential criteria for the various types,-a condition
which, as a visit to a museum will show, is hardly ever met. One will
find, for instance, that oboes, even when still in the possession of the
double reed which unmistakably proclaims them for what they are,
are noted as flutes, or at best as clarinets; and should the oboe have a
brass bell one may be certain of the label 'trumpet'
4. A system of classification has theoretical advantages as well as
practical uses. Objects which otherwise appear to be quite unrelated
to each other may now become associated, revealing new genetic and
cultural links. Herein will always be found the leading test of the
validity of the criteria upon which the system is based.
5. The difficulties which an acceptable system of classification must
surmount are very great, since that which suits one era or nation may
be unsuitable as a foundation for the instrumental armoury of all
nations and all times. Thus the Ancient Chinese based their classifica-
tion on material, distinguishing between instruments made of stone,
metal, wood, gourd, bamboo, hide and silk; consequently, to them,
trumpets and gongs, stone harmonicas and marble flutes, shawms and
clappers, each belonged together.
6. Our own present-day practice does not amount to much more.
Sound-instruments are divided into three major categories: stringed
instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. This
5
cannot be defended even on the grounds that it satisfies day-to-day
requirements. A large number of instruments cannot be fitted into any
of the three groups without placing them in an unnatural position, like
the celesta, which, as a percussion instrument, is brought into close
proximity to drums and so on. As a remedy one introduces a fourth
group under the disconcerting heading 'miscellaneous'-in any
systematic grouping an admission of defeat. Moreover, the current
classification is not only inadequate, but also illogical. The first re-
quirement of a classificatory system is surely that the principle of
demarcation remains the same throughout for the main categories.
Our customary divisions, however, follow two different principles,
stringed instruments being distinguished by the nature of the vibrating
substance but wind and percussion by the mode of sound-excitation-
ignoring the fact that there are stringed instruments which are blown,
like the Aeolian harp, or struck, like the pianoforte. The customary
subdivisions are no better. Wind instruments are divided into wood-
wind and brass, thus giving a subordinate criterion of differentiation,
namely, material, an unjustifiable predominance and flagrantly dis-
regarding the fact that many 'brass' instruments are or were once
made of wood, like cornetts, serpents and bass horns, and that in any
case many 'woodwind instruments' are optionally or invariably made
of metal, as flutes, clarinets, saxophones, sarrusophones, tritonicons,
etc.
7. The objections which can be raised against the crudity of the

customary divisions are now familiar to organology [Instrumenten-
kunde], and in recent decades scholars have made more than one
attempt to attain something more satisfactory. Leaving aside classifica-
tions which have owed their structure to the peculiarities of this or
that collection, catalogues have latterly in general adopted a system
which Victor Mahillon has used since 1888 for his comprehensive
catalogue of the Museum of the Brussels Conservatoire.
8. Mahillon takes the nature of the vibrating body as his first prin-
ciple of division, and thus distinguishes between instruments [i] whose
material is sufficiently rigid and at the same time sufficiently elastic to
undergo periodic vibration, and named by him 'self-sounding instru-
ments' (instruments autophones*); [2] in which sound-waves are excited
through the agency of tightly-stretched membranes; [3] in which
strings vibrate; and lastly [4] in which a column of air vibrates. Thus
he distinguishes four categories: self-sounders, membrane instruments,
stringed, and wind instruments. Besides the uniformity of its principle
* For reasons which Sachs has explained in his Reallexikont der Musikinstru-
mnente (Berlin, 1913, p. I95a), we prefer the term idiophones.
6
of division, the system has the great advantage in that it is capable of
absorbing almost the whole range of ancient and modem, European
and extra-European instruments.
9. Mahillon's system of four classes deserves the highest praise; not
only does it meet the demands of logic, but also it provides those who
use it with a tool which is simple and proof against subjective pre-
ferences. Moreover, it is not so far removed from previously-used
divisions as to offend well-established custom.
Io. It has seemed to us, however, that the four-class system stands in
pressing need of development in fresh directions. Mahillon started on
the basis of the instruments of the modern orchestra, with which, as an
instrument manufacturer and musician, he was in closest contact, and
it was these which gave him the initial challenge to work out his
system. Then, as the collections of the Brussels museum grew under
his direction, he explored over years of relentless effort the limitless
field of European and exotic organology. Inevitably a newly-acquired
specimen would now and then fail to fit into the system, while certain
subdivisions which figure importantly among European instruments-
e.g. those of keyboard and mechanical instruments-assumed an un-
warrantably prominent place. Mahillon had indeed been led for the
sake of the European instruments, to juxtapose categories which did
not logically build a uniform concept. Thus he divided the wind
instruments into four branches, (i) reed instruments [instruments ta
anche], (2) mouth-hole [instruments a bouche], (3) polyphone instru-
ments with air reservoir, and (4) cup-mouthpiece instruments [instru-
ments a embouchure]. Consider too the drums, which he grouped as
frame drums, vessel drums, and double-skin drums; he consequently
divided the skin drums corresponding to our side- and kettle drums-
and likewise the autophones-into instruments of untuned pitch
(instruments bruyants) and those of tuned pitch (a intonation diterminees).
This is an awkward distinction, since a wide range of transitional
sounds occurs between pure noises and noise-free tones; indeed, save
for a few laboratory instruments, there are no sound-producers that
can truly be said to yield either pure noise or pure tones, the sounds of
all the usual musical instruments being more or less wrapped in noise.
Mahillon later seems to have sensed this when he contrasted noise-
instruments with those a intonation nettement or intentionellement
determine'e; but the criterion is subjective and as a rule incapable of
proof.
i 1. In general, Mahillon was right to subdivide the four main classes
into 'branches' differentiated by playing action. Yet for stringed instru-
ments it was a dubious procedure; a violin remains a violin whether
7
one bows it with a bow, plays it pizzicato with the fingers, or strikes it
col legno. Perhaps this seems a lopsided argument, since the violin is,
after all, designed to be bowed. But there are other instances. One
could cite instruments whose playing action has changed in the course
of time but whose form has remained unaltered. This was the case, for
example, with the ancient Celtic crowd, which can be proved to have
been plucked in the earliest times, but which came to be bowed in the
High Middle Ages: should the history of instruments therefore deal
with it half in a chapter on plucked stringed instruments and half in
one there
Then on bowed, although
is the psaltery, the
which instrument
is turned itself[Hackbrett]
into a dulcimer remains just the same.
when the player uses beaters; should one, in a collection, separate the
psalteries, otherwise indistinguishable from each other, into two
groups on the grounds that in one country of origin it was customary
to pluck it but in another to beat ite Should I place the clavichord and
the pianoforte side by side but house the harpsichord with the guitars
because its strings are plucked?
12. All these considerations have persuaded us to undertake afresh
the attempt to classify musical instruments. We were fortunate in
having at our disposal as a ready-made base the large and extensively
described collections of the Brussels museum out of which Mahillon's
system had grown. At the same time we are aware that with increasing
knowledge, especially of extra-European forms, new difficulties in the
way of a consistent classification will constantly arise. It would thus
seem impossible to plan a system today which would not require
future development and amendment.
13. Like Mahillon, we accept the physical characteristics of sound-
production as the most important principle of division; but even at this
point considerable difficulties are met since acoustic physics has so far
covered but the smallest fraction of the preliminary investigations.
Thus inadequate research has yet been undertaken on the sound-
production of the bull-roarer, the vibratory manner in north-west
American 'ribbon-reeds', the vibration events in bells, gongs, kettle-
drums, plucked drums, and wind instruments with free reeds and
fingerholes. To such difficulties must be added others arising from the
morphology of instruments. The problem of defining the term 'frame
drum' (tamburin) for example, is scarcely capable of satisfactory solu-
tion; undoubtedly the typical frame drum represents a concise concept
not to be disregarded in any classificatory system, but the transition
between this and the pronouncedly tubular drum occurs without a
break, often making it impossible to decide on the basis of shape
whether a specimen belongs to the one kind or to the other.
8
14. Other obstacles in the path of the classifier are instruments
showing adulterations between types [Kontaminationen]. The fact of
adulteration should be accounted for by placing such instruments in
two (or more) groups. In museums and catalogues these cases will be
arranged according to the dominant characteristic, but cross-references
to other characteristics should not be omitted. Thus, among instru-
ments of every class one may find rattling devices which belong to the
inventory of idiophones-a feature which cannot be taken into account
when placing the instrument in the classification. But where the adul-
teration has led to an enduring morphological entity-as when kettle-
drum and musical bow combine in a spike lute-it must have a place
of its own within the system.
15. We must refrain from arguing our subdivisions in detail.
Whosoever will check these critically, or test them in practice, will
doubtless repeat the lines of thought which are not set out here, with
minor variations of his own.
16. In classifications it is often customary to indicate the ranking
of divisions within the system by means of specific headings, as especi-
ally in zoology and botany with expressions like class, order, family,
genus, species, variant. In the study of instruments, Mahillon himself
felt this need and met it by introducing the terms classe, branche,
section, sous-section; on Gevaert's advice he refrained from using the
term 'family' on account of its widely-known use for instruments of
like design but of different sizes and pitches.
17. We consider it inadvisable to maintain consistent headings
throughout all rubrics for the following reasons. The number of sub-
divisions is too big to manage without bringing in a petty superfluity
of headings. Moreover, in any system one must leave room for further
division to meet special cases, with the result that the number of sub-
divisions could for ever increase. We have purposely not divided the
different main groups according to one uniform principle, but have let
the principle of division be dictated by the nature of the group con-
cerned, so that ranks of a given position within a group may not always
correspond between one group and another. Thus terms like 'species'
may refer in one case to a very general concept but in another to a
highly specialized one. We therefore propose that the general typo-
logical headings be restricted to the topmost main groups, though one
could, like Mahillon, speak of the four main groups as classes, of the
next divisions (with a two-unit symbol [zweiziffrig]) as sub-classes,
the next (three-unit) as orders, and the next (four-unit) as sub-orders.*
* Translators' note: It is not clear whether the authors here refer to Mahillon's
letter-symbols or to their own numerical coding described further on.
18. We have refrained from providing a subdivision containing no
known existing representative, save in cases where a composite type
may be assumed to have had a precursor in a simpler type now extinct.
Thus it can be assumed from analogy with numerous types that Man
rubbed a solid, smooth block of wood with the moist hand before he
ever carved a series of differently-pitched tongues by cutting notches
into the block, as in the friction block of New Ireland. Again, where
the wealth of forms is exceptionally vast, as with rattles, only the more
general aspects of their classification can be outlined in the scheme,
and these will certainly require further elaboration.
19. In general we have tried to base our subdivisions only on those
features which can be identified from the visible form of the instru-
ment, avoiding subjective preferences and leaving the instrument
itself unmeddled with. Here one has had to consider the needs not
only of museum curators but also of field workers and ethnologists.
We have carried the subdivisions as far as seemed important for the
observation of cultural history and detail, though the plan of the whole
classification makes possible its application to the material either sum-
marily or in great detail as desired; general treatises and smaller collec-
tions may not require to follow our classification to its last terms, while
specialist monographs and catalogues of large museums may well wish
to extend it in further detail.
20. The application of our findings in describing and cataloguing is
substantially facilitated by use of the Dewey numerical system.* If
those in charge of large collections who issue catalogues in the future
decide to accept our numerical arrangement, it will become possible
to find out at first glance whether a given type of instrument is repre-
sented in the collection.
21. The ingenuity of Dewey's idea lies in the exclusive use of
figures, replacing the more usual conglomeration of numbers, letters
and double letters by decimal fractions. These are so used that every
further subdivision is indicated by adding a new figure to the right-
hand end of the row; the zero before the decimal point being always
omitted. Thus it becomes possible not only to pursue specification to
whatever limits one desires and with never any trouble in the manipu-
lation of the numbers, but also directly to recognize from the position
of its last figure the ranking of a given term with the system.
It is also feasible in a row of numbers to divide off any set of figures
by points. Say, for example, that it is a bell chime [Glockenspiel] which
* Since the numerical arrangement for the Bibliographie Internationale of
Musical Instruments applies only to European instruments, and is anyhow as
inadequate as can be, we have planned our own numerical order independently.
IO0
is to be coded and placed in the system. In the context of the system we
are dealing with an idiophone, the class to which the initial code-figure
I is allotted. Since the instrument is struck it belongs to the first sub-
class, and so another I is added (struck idiophones=II). Further
addition of relevant code-figures produces the ranking III since it is
struck directly; and then, as a struck-upon [percussion] idiophone, it
earns a fourth figure, in this case 2 (1112=percussion idiophones).
Further specification leads to 11124 (percussion vessels), 111242 (bells),
1112422 (sets of bells), 11124222 (sets of hanging bells), and 111242222
(ditto with internal strikers)--obviously, everyone must decide for
himself how far to go in a given case. Instead of the unmanageable
number now arrived at, we write 111.242.222. The first cluster shows
that we are dealing with an idiophone that is struck directly, while the
second and third together imply that we are dealing with bells.
22. Common considerations among all instruments of a class-e.g.
with membranophones the method of fixing the skin, and with chordo-
phones the playing method-may be noted with the aid of figures
appended to the essential code-number by a hyphen: the pianoforte
would be entered as 314.122-4-8 and the harpsichord 314.122-6-8,
because 8 represents the keyboard, 4 the hammer playing-action, and
6 the plectrum playing-action, both instruments having the same main
number indicating board zithers with resonator box.
23. Any of the subordinate criteria of division may, if desired,
easily be elevated and treated as a higher rank in the classification, by
switching the positions of figures. Thus, for a bagpipe in which chanter
and drone are both of the clarinet type, the code-number would read
422.22-62, i.e. a set of clarinets with flexible air reservoir. But if, for
instance in a monograph on bagpipes, one wished to especially dis-
tinguish these [chanter and drone] features, one could write 422-62:22,
i.e. reed instrument with flexible air reservoir whose pipes are exclu-
sively clarinets.
24. Conversely, in order to bring closer together groups which are
separated in the system, it is possible to turn a main criterion of division
into a subordinate one without destroying the system: one simply
replaces the first relevant figure by a point (.) and then adds it after a
square bracket ] at the end of the number. Thus in the example of
bagpipes, it might be important to specify these instruments as always
polyorganic* but with components which are sometimes clarinets and
sometimes oboes; instead of 422-62:22=reed instrument [Schalmeien-
instrument], with flexible air reservoir, polyorganic, composed of
clarinets, it might be preferable to write 422-62 : . 2=set of reedpipes
* Polyorganic means composed of several single instrumental units.
II
[Schalmeienspiel] with flexible air reservoir=bagpipe, and then to
differentiate further by writing 422-62:. 2]1I=bagpipe of oboes, or
422--62 : .2]2=bagpipe of clarinets.*
25. Other specifications applying to a subordinate group are suffixed
to the code-figures of the latter, e.g. 422-62:. 2]212=a bagpipe of
clarinets with cylindrical bore and fingerholes.
26. These innumerable cases in which an instrument is composed of
parts which in themselves belong to different groups of the system
could be indicated by linking appropriate figures by a plus sign. One
then avoids repetition of a number common to both such parts, writing
this number once and following it with a point: a modem trombone
with slide and valve would then appear not as 423.22+423.23, but as
4232.2+3, and similarly bagpipes composed partly of clarinets and
partly of oboes as cited above, would become 422.62 : .2]I +2.
27. In certain circumstances it may be necessary not only to re-
arrange the rankings of the concepts and create new subdivisions, but
also to incorporate into the higher ranks of the classification some
criterion which has purposely not so far been used. There is nothing
to prevent this being done, and we should like to illustrate it by a final
example, at the same time showing how we envisage the development
of our system for special purposes. Let us imagine the case of a mono-
graph on the xylophone. The system divides struck idiophones
(I 11.2) by the shape of the struck bodies, thus: struck sticks (III.21),
struck plaques (111.22), struck tubes (111.23), and struck vessels
(111.24). Xylophones could fall into any of the first three, but the
shape of the sounding bodies is here of little relevance-the transition
from sticks to plaques being quitefluid-and so the fifth figure may be
removed, and, if desired, added as ]2 at the end. For the sixth figure
we insert 2, if the description is to concern only multi-tone instru-
ments, giving 1112. .2=sets of struck idiophones [Aufschlagspiele].
We must, however, exclude sounding bodies of metal, stone, glass,
etc., and must therefore create a subdivision according to material
which the system does not already provide, thus:
11I2. .21 =xylophone .. .. sounding bodies of wood
1112. .22=metallophone .. .. ,, ,, metal
* This use of the symbols - : ] is slightly different from that of the Classif
tion Bibliographique Decimale, but is nevertheless within its spirit. The
are: the hyphen is employed only in connection with the appended fig
listed in the tables [at the end of each of the four main sections]; subdivis
beyond these are preceded by a colon (thus 422-62=reed instrument
flexible air reservoir, but 422-6 : 2=422.2-6=oboe with air reservoir);
division answering to the omission of a figure is preceded by a square bra
12
1112. .23 =lithophone . .. ,, ,, stone
1112. .24=crystallophone .. .. ,, ,, glass.
28. Further stages in this classification of the xylophone would mak
use of morphological criteria significant from an ethnological point
of view:
Classification
1112. .21.1 Bedded xylophone The sounding bodies rest on an elastic
foundation
1112. .21.I Log xylophone The foundation consists of separate logs.
NE There is generally a shallow pit in the ground beneath
the sounding bodies Oceania, Indonesia, E. and W. Africa
1112. .21.12 Frame xylophone The bearers are joined by cross rods or
bars
1112. .21.121* Rail xylophone The frame hangs from the player's neck
on a sling and is kept clear of his body by a curved rail
S.E., E. and W. Africa
1112. .21.122* Table xylophone The frame is borne on a trestle
Senegambia
1112. .21.13 Sledge xylophone The sounding bodies lie across the
edges of two boards C. Africa
1112. .21.14 (Bedded) trough xylophone The soundin
across the edges of a trough- or box-shaped ves
III12. .21.2 Suspension xylophone The sounding bodi
cords without any other foundation
1112. .21.21 (Free) suspension xylophone Without cas
Cochin China
1112. .21.22 (Suspension) trough xylophone With tr
box Burma,Java
* To be further subdivided thus:
I Without resonators
2 With resonators
21 With resonators suspended singly
22 With resonators stuck into a common platform.
NE The resonators, in most cases gourds, often have holes sealed by a mem-
brane, showing adulteration with 242 (vessel kazoos). Possibly the method
of mounting the membranes (directly, or over a cone-shaped frame) will
demand another subdivision. One can, however, dispense with adding another
number since frame xylophones without resonators are unknown.
29. The systematic survey of musical instruments which now follows

in tabular form is meant equally to serve the purposes of identification.
Hence the descriptions of characteristics are here and there expanded to
include warnings against likely misunderstandings and confusion.
13
Explanations and examples are kept to a minimum; the former are not
intended as descriptions, nor the latter as notes on the history of cul-
tures. Also, visual study of specimens far outvalues pages of written
description. The expert will know what we are driving at, while the
layman will be able to find his bearings with the aid of a visit to a
museum.
Classification
I IDIOPHONES The substance of the instrument
solidity and elasticity, yields the sounds, wi
stretched membranes or strings
II Struck idiophones The instrument is made to vib
upon
III Idiophones struck directly The player himself
ment of striking; whether by mechanic
devices, beaters, keyboards, or by pulling
immaterial; it is definitive that the player c
defined individual strokes and that the instr
equipped for this kind of percussion
I II.I Concussion idiophones or clappers Two or m
sonorous parts are struck against each other
III. II Concussion sticks or stick clappers Annam
III.12 Concussion plaques or plaque clapp
111.13 Concussion troughs or trough clappers Burma
111I.4 Concussion vessels or vessel clappers Even a slight hollow in the
surface of a board counts as a vessel
111.141 Castanets Vessel clappers, either natural, or artificially hollowed
out
11.142 Cymbals Vessel clappers with everted rim

111.2 Percussion idiophones The instrument is struck either with a n
sonorous object (hand, stick, striker) or against a non-
sonorous object (human body, the ground)
111.21 Percussion sticks
111.211 (Individual) percussion sticks
Japan, Annam, Balkans; also the triangle
III.212 Sets of percussion sticks Several percussion sticks of differen
pitch are combined to form a single instrument
All xylophones, as long as their sounding components are not in
two different planes [nicht biplan]
111.22 Percussion plaques
111.221 (Individual) percussion plaques In the oriental Christian Churc
111.222 Sets of percussion plaques
Lithophone (China), and most metallophones
111.23 Percussion tubes
14
111.231 (Individual) percussion tubes Slit drum, tubular bell
II111.232 Sets of percussion tubes Tubaphon, tubular xylophone
III.24 Percussion vessels
111.241 Gongs The vibration is strongest near the vertex
III.241.I (Individual) gongs
S. and E. Asia; including the so-called metal drums, or rather
kettle-gongs
II111.241.2 Sets of gongs [gong chimes] S.E. Asia
111.242 Bells The vibration is weakest near the vertex
111.242.1 (Individual) Bells
11II.242.II Resting bells The cup is placed on the palm of the hand or
a cushion; its mouth faces upwards
China, Indo-China, Japan
II 1.242.12 Suspended bells The bell is suspended from the apex
111.242.121 Suspended bells struck from the outside. No striker
attached inside the bell, there being a separate beater
111.242.122 Clapper bells A striker (clapper) is attached inside the bel
111.242.2 Sets of bells [chimes] (subdivided as 111.242.1)
112 Indirectly struck idiophones The player himself does not go throu
the movement of striking; percussion results indirectly
through some other movement by the player. The inten-
tion of the instrument is to yield clusters of sounds or
noises, and not to let individual strokes be perceived
112.2 Shaken idiophones or rattles The player executes a shaking moti
112.11 Suspension rattles Perforated idiophones are mounted togethe
and shaken to strike against each other
112.111 Strung rattles Rattling objects are strung in rows on a cord
Necklaces with rows of shells
112.112 Stick rattles Rattling objects are strung on a bar (or ring)
Sistrum with rings
112.12 Frame rattles Rattling objects are attached to a carrier again
which they strike
112.121 Pendant rattles Rattling objects are hung from a frame
Dancing shield with rattling rings
112.122 Sliding rattles Non-sonorous objects slide to and fro in the slo
of the sonorous object so that the latter is made to vibrate;
or sonorous objects slide to and fro in the slots of a non-
sonorous object, to be set in vibration by the impacts
Anklung, sistrum with rods (recent)
z112.13 Vessel rattles Rattling objects enclosed in a vessel strike again
each other or against the walls of the vessel, or usually
against both. NB The Benue gourd rattles with handle, in
which the rattling objects, instead of being enclosed, are
knotted into a net slipped over the outer surface, count as
a variety of vessel rattle
15
Fruit shells with seeds, 'pellet bells' enclosing loose percussion
pellets
112.2 Scraped idiophones The player causes a scraping movement
directly or indirectly: a non-sonorous object moves along
the notched surface of a sonorous object, to be alternately
lifted off the teeth and flicked against them; or an elastic
sonorous object moves along the surface of a notched non-
sonorous object to cause a series of impacts. This group
must not be confused with that of friction idiophones
112.21 Scraped sticks A notched stick is scraped with a little stick
112.211 Scraped sticks without resonator
S. America. India (notched musical bow), Congo
112.212 Scraped sticks with resonator Usumbara, E. Asia (tiger)
II2.22 Scraped tubes S. India
112.23 Scraped vessels The corrugated s
S. America, Congo
112.24 Scraped wheels or cog rattles A
the handle, and a tongue fixed in
turn on the handle; when whirle
teeth of the wheel one after a
112.3 Split idiophones Instruments in the
nected at one end and touching a
forced apart by a little stick, to jin
China (huan t'u), Malacca, Per
12 Plucked idiophones Lamellae, i.e. elas
flexed and then released to return t
121 In the form of a frame The lamella
121.1 Clack idiophones (cricri) The lame
fruit shell, which serves as resonator Melanesia
121.2 Guimbardes (Jews' harps) The lamella is mounted in a rod- or
plaque-shaped frame and depends on the player's mouth
cavity for resonance
I21.21 Idioglot guimbardes The lamella is carved in the frame itself, its
base remaining joined to the frame
India, Indonesia, Melanesia
121.22 Heteroglot guimbardes A lamella is attached to a frame
I21.221 (Single) heteroglot guimbardes Europe, India, China
121.222 Sets of heteroglot guimbardes Several heteroglot guimbardes
of different pitches are combined to form a single instru-
ment Aura
122 In board- or comb-form The lamellae are tied to a board or cut out
from a board like the teeth of a comb
122.1 With laced-on lamellae
122.11 Without resonator All sansas on a plain board
122.12 With resonator All sansas with a box or bowl below the board
16
122.2 With cut-out lamellae (musical boxes) Pins on a cylinder pluck the
lamellae Europe
13 Friction Idiophones The ins
131 Friction sticks
131.1 (Individual) friction sticks Unknown
131.2 Sets of friction sticks
131.21 With direct friction The sticks themselves are rubbed
Nail fiddle, nail piano, Stockspiele
131.22 With indirect friction The sticks are connected with ot
are rubbed and, by transmitting their longitudinal
tion, stimulate transverse vibration in the former
Chladni's euphon
132 Friction plaques
132.1 (Individual) friction plaques Unknown
132.2 Sets of friction plaques [livika] New Ireland
133 Friction vessels
133.1 (Individual) friction vessels Brazil (tortoise shell)
133.2 Sets of friction vessels Verillon (glass harmonica)
14 Blown idiophones The instrument is made to vibrate by being blown
upon
141 Blown sticks
141.1 (Individual) blown sticks Unknown
141.2 Sets of blown sticks Aeolsklavier
142 Blown plaques
142.1 (Individual) blown plaques Unknown
142.2 Sets of blown plaques Piano chanteur
Suffixes for use with any division of this class (idiophones):

-8 with keyboard
-9 mechanically driven
2 MEMBRANOPHONES The sound is excited by tightly-s

membranes
21 Struck drums The membranes are struck
211 Drums struck directly The player himself executes the mo
striking; this includes striking by any intermediate de
such as beaters, keyboards, etc.; drums that are shake
excluded
211.1 Kettle drums (timpani) The body is bowl- or dish-shaped

21I.II (Separate) kettle drums European timpani
211.12 Sets of kettle drums W. Asian permanently joined pairs of kettle drums
2II.2 Tubular drums The body is tubular
17
211.21 Cylindrical drums The diameter is the same at the middle and
the ends; whether or not the ends taper or have projecting
disks, is immaterial
211.211 Single-skin cylindrical drums The drum has only one usable
membrane. In some African drums a second skin forms
part of the lacing device and is not used for beating, and
hence does not count as a membrane in the present sense
zlI.zlI.I Open cylindrical drums The end opposite from the membrane
is open Malacca
zII.zII.2 Closed cylindrical d
brane is closed West Indies
211.212 Double-skin cylindrical dru
membranes
2II.212.I (Individual) cylindrical d

211.212.2 Sets of cylindrical drums
211.22* Barrel-shaped drums The diame
at the ends; the body is curviline
Asia, Africa, Ancien
211.23 Double-conical drums The diame
at the ends; the body is rectilinea
India (mrdanga, banya
211.24* Hourglass-shaped drum The di
than at the ends Asia, Melanesia, E. Africa
211.25* Conical drums The diameters at the ends differ considerably;
minor departures from conicity, inevitably met, are dis-
regarded here India
211.26* Goblet-shaped drums The body
is either cup-shaped or cylind
borderline cases of this basic d
notably in Indonesia, do not af
long as a cylindrical form is no
211.3 Frame drums The depth of the
the membrane. NB The Europea
most shallow form, is a developm
drical drum and hence is not inc
211.31 Frame drums (without hand
211.311 Single-skin frame drums Tambourine
211.312 Double-skin frame drums N. Africa
211.32 Frame drum with handle A stick is attached to the fr
with its diameter
211.321 Single-skin frame drums with handle Eskimo
211.322 Double-skin frame drums with handle Tibet
212 Rattle drums (sub-divisions as for drums struck directly, 21I)
drum is shaken; percussion is by impact of pendant or
* To be sub-divided like 211.21.
18
enclosed pellets, or similar objects India, Tibet
22 Plucked drums A string is knotted below the centre of the membrane;
when the string is plucked, its vibrations are transmitted to
the membrane India (gopi yantra, anandalahari)
23 Friction drums The membrane is made to vibrate by friction
231 Friction drums with stick A stick in contact with the membrane is
either itself rubbed, or is employed to rub the membrane
231.1 With inserted stick The stick passes through a hole in the mem-
brane
231.11 Friction drums with fixed stick The stick cannot be moved; the
stick alone is subjected to friction by rubbing Africa
231.I2 Friction drums with semi-fixed stick The stick is movable to a
sufficient extent to rub the membrane when it is itself
rubbed by the hand Africa
231.13 Friction drums with free stick The stick ca
it is not itself rubbed, but is employed to rub
Venezuela
231.2 With tied stick The stick is tied to the mem

position Europe
232 Friction drum with c
rubbed
232.1 Stationary friction d
Europe, A
232.11 Single-skin stationar
232.12 Double-skin stationa
232.2 Friction drum with w
which rubs on a [resined
Waldteufel [cardboard
233 Hand friction drums T
24 Singing membranes (Kaz
speaking or singing int
a note of its own but m
Europe, W
241 Free kazoos The membran
passing through a
242 Tube- or vessel-kazoos T
Africa; while also, E. Asia
inmembrane, exhibit an adu
kazoo
Suffixes for use with any division of this class (membranophones):

-6 with membrane glued to drum
-7 with membrane nailed to drum
-8 with membrane laced to drum
-8i Cord-(ribbon-) bracing The cords are stretched from membrane to
19
membrane or arranged in the form of a net, without em-
ploying any of the devices described below
-811 Without special devices for stretching Everywhere
-812 With tension ligature Cross ribbons or cords are tied round the
middle of the lacing to increase its tension Ceylon
-813 With tension loops The cords are laced in a zigzag; every pair of
strings is caught together with a small ring or loop India
-814 With wedge-bracing Wedges are inserted between the wall of the
drum and the cords of the lacing; by adjusting the position
of the wedges it is possible to control the tension
India, Indonesia, Africa
-82 Cord-and-hide bracing The cords are laced at the lower end to a
non-sonorous piece of hide Africa
-83 Cord-and-board bracing The cords are laced to an auxiliary
at the lower end Sumatra
-84 Cord-and-flange bracing The co
flange carved from the solid Africa
-85 Cord-and-belt bracing The cords are laced at the lower end to a b
of different material India
-86 Cord-and-peg bracing The cords are
stuck into the wall of the drum Africa
NB -82 to -86 are sub-divided as -81 above
-9 With membrane lapped on A ring is slipped over the edge of the
membrane
-91 With membrane lapped on by ring of cord Africa
-92 With membrane lapped on by a hoop
-921 Without mechanism European drum
-922 With mechanism
-9221 Without pedal Machine timpani
-9222 With pedals Pedal timpani
3 CHORDOPHONES One or more strings are

fixed points
31 Simple chordophones or zithers The instrument consists solely of a
string bearer, or of a string bearer with a resonator which is
not integral and can be detached without destroying the
sound-producing apparatus
311 Bar zithers The string bearer is bar-shaped; it may be a board placed
edgewise
311.1 Musical bows The string bearer is flexible (and curved)
311.11 Idiochord musical bows The string is cut from the bark of the
cane, remaining attached at each end
311.111 Mono-idiochord musical bows The bow has one idiochord
string only New Guinea (Sepik R.), Togo
20
311.112 Poly-idiochord musical bows or harp-bows The bow has
several idiochord strings which pass over a toothed stick
or bridge W. Africa (Fan)
31I.I2 Heterochord musical bows The string is of s
the bearer
311.121 Mono-heterochord musical bows The bow has one hetero-
chord string only
311.121.1 Without resonator NB If a separate, unattached resonator is
used, the specimen belongs to 311.121.21. The human
mouth is not to be taken into account as a resonator
311.121.1I Without tuning noose Africa (ganza, samuius, to)

311.121.12 With tuning noose A fibre noose is passed round the string,
dividing it into two sections
South-equatorial Africa (n'kungo, uta)
311.12.1.2 With resonator
311.I121.21 With independent resonator Borneo (busoi)
311.121.22 With resonator attached
311.121.221 Without tuning noose S. Africa (hade, thomo)
311.121.222 With tuning noose S. Africa, Madagascar (gubo, hungo, bobre)
311.122 Poly-heterochord musical bows The bow has several hetero-
chord strings
311.122.1 Without tuning noose Oceania (kalove)
311.I22.2 With tuning noose Oceania (pagolo)
311.2 Stick zithers The string carrier is rigid
311.21 Musical bow cum stick The string bearer has one flexible, c
end. NB Stick zithers with both ends flexible and curve
like the Basuto bow, are counted as musical bows Ind
311.22 (True) stick zithers NB Round sticks which happen to be ho
by chance do not belong on this account to the tube zither
but are round-bar zithers; however, instruments in which
tubular cavity is employed as a true resonator, like th
modern Mexican harpa, are tube zithers
311.221 With one resonator gourd India (tuila), Celebes (sule
311.222 With several resonator gourds India (vina)
312 Tube zithers The string bearer is a vaulted surface
312.1 Whole-tube zithers The string carrier is a complete tube
312.11 Idiochord (true) tube zithers
Africa and Indonesia (gonra, togo, valiha)
312.I2 Heterochord (true) tube zithers
312.12I Without extra resonator S.E. Asia (alligator)
312.122 With extra resonator An internode length of bamboo is placed
inside a palm leaf tied in the shape of a bowl Timor
312.2 Half-tube zithers The strings are stretched along the convex surface
of a gutter
312.21 Idiochord half-tube zithers Flores
21
312.22 Heterochord half-tube zithers E. Asia (k'in, koto)
313 Raft zithers The string bearer is composed of canes tied together in
the manner of a raft
313.1 Idiochord raft zithers India, Upper Guinea, Central Congo
313.2 Heterochord raft zithers N. Nyasa region
314 Board zithers The string bearer is a board; the ground too is t
counted as such
314.1 True board zithers The plane of the strings is parallel with th
the string bearer
314.11 Without resonator Borneo
314.12 With resonator
314.121 With resonator bowl The reson
object, or an artificially carved
314.122 With resonator box (box zither
slats Zither, Hackbrett, pianoforte
314.2 Board zither variations The plane of the strings is at right
to the string bearer
314.21 Ground zithers The ground is the string bearer; there is on
string Malacca, Madagascar
314.22 Harp zithers A board serves as string beare
strings and a notched bridge Borneo
315 Trough zithers The strings are stretched across the mouth of a tro
Tanganyika
315.1 Without resonator
315.2 With resonator The trough has a gourd or a similar object attached
to it
316 Frame zithers The strings are stretched across an open frame
316.1 Without resonator Perhaps amongst medieval psalt
316.2 With resonator W. Africa, amongst the Kru (kan
32 Composite chordophones A string bearer and a resonator are or
cally united and cannot be separated without destroying th
instrument
321 Lutes The plane of the strings runs parallel with the sound-table
321.1 Bow lutes [pluriarc] Each string has its own flexible carrier
Africa (akam, kalangu, wambi)
321.2 Yoke lutes or lyres The strings are attached to a yoke which
in the same plane as the sound-table and consists of tw
arms and a cross-bar
321.21 Bowl lyres A natural or carved-out bowl serves as the resona

Lyra, E. African lyre
321.22 Box lyres A built-up wooden box serves as the resonator
Cithara, crwth
321.3 Handle lutes The string bearer is a plain handle. Subsidiary n

as e.g. in the Indian prasarini vina are disregarded, as a
also lutes with strings distributed over several necks, li
22
the harpolyre, and those like the Lyre-guitars, in which the
yoke is merely ornamental
321.31 Spike lutes The handle passes diametrically through the resonator
321.311 Spike bowllutes The resonator consists of a natural or carved-out
bowl Persia, India, Indonesia
321.312 Spike box lutes or spike guitars The reso
wood Egypt (rebab)
321.313 Spike tube lutes The handle p
walls of a tube China, Indochina
321.32 Necked lutes The handle is attached to or carved
tor, like a neck
321.321 Necked bowl lutes Mandoline, theorbo, balalaika
321.322 Necked box lutes or necked guitars NB Lutes whose body is
built up in the shape of a bowl are classified as bowllutes
Violin, viol, guitar
322 Harps The plane of the strings lies at right angles to the sound-table
a line joining the lower ends of the strings would point
towards the neck
322.1 Open harps The harp has no pillar
322.11 Arched harps The neck curves away from the resonator
Burma and Africa
322.12 Angular harps The neck makes a sharp angle with the resonator
Assyria, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Korea
322.2 Frame harps The harp has a pillar
322.21 Without tuning action All medieval harps
322.211 Diatonic frame harps
322.212 Chromatic frame harps
322.212.1 With the strings in one plane Most of the older chromatic harps
322.212.2 With the strings in two planes crossing one another
The Lyon chromatic harp
322.22 With tuning action The strings can be shortened by mechanical
action
322.221 With manual action The tuning can be altered by h

Hook harp, dital harp, harpinella
322.222 With pedal action The tuning can be altered by pedal
323 Harp lutes The plane of the strings lies at right angles to
table; a line joining the lower ends of the strings wou
perpendicular to the neck. Notched bridge
W. Africa (kasso, etc.)
Suffixes for use with any division of this class (chordophones):

-4 sounded by hammers or beaters
-5 sounded with the bare fingers
-6 sounded by plectrum
-7 sounded by bowing
-71 with a bow
23
-72 by a wheel
-73 by a ribbon [Band]
-8 with keyboard
-9 with mechanical drive
4 AEROPHONES The air itself is the vibrator in the primary sense

41 Free aerophones The vibrating air is not confined by the instrument
411 Displacement free aerophones The air-stream meets 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 alternate flanks of the edge Whip, sword-blade
412 Interruptive free aerophones The air-stream is interrupted periodi-
cally
4I2.1 Idiophonic interruptive aerophones or reeds The air-stream is
directed against a lamella, setting it in periodic vibration
to interrupt the stream intermittently. In this group also
belong reeds with a 'cover', i.e. a tube in which the air
vibrates only in a secondary sense, not producing the sound
but simply adding roundness and timbre to the sound made
by the reed's vibration; generally recognizable by the
absence of fingerholes Organ reed stops
412.II Concussion reeds Two lamellae make a gap which closes periodi-
cally during their vibration A split grass-blade
412.12 Percussion reeds A single lamella strikes against a frame
412.121 Individual percussion reeds Brit. Columbia
412.122 Sets of percussion reeds The earlier reed stops of organ
412.13 Free reeds The lamella vibrates through a closely-fitting slot
412.131 (Individual) free reeds Single-note motor horn
412.132 Sets of free reeds NB In instruments like the Chinese sheng the
fmgerholes do not serve to modify the pitch and are
therefore not equivalent to the fingerholes of other pipes
Reed organ, mouthorgan, accordion
412.14 Ribbon reeds The air-stream is directed against the edge of a
stretched band or ribbon. The acoustics of this process has
not yet been studied Brit. Columbia
412.2 Non-idiophonic interruptive instruments The interruptive age
is not a reed
412.21 Rotating aerophones The interruptive agent rotates in its o

plane Sirens
412.22 Whirling aerop
Bull-roarer, wh
413 Plosive aerophone
stimulus condensation shock Pop guns
24
42 Wind instruments proper The vibrating air is confined within the
instrument itself
421 Edge instruments or flutes A narrow stream of air is directed against
an edge
421.1 Flutes without duct The player himself creates a ribbon-shaped
stream of air with his lips
4zI.11 End-blown flutes The player blows against the sharp rim at the
upper open end of a tube
42I.111I (Single) end-blown flutes
421.III.I Open single end-blown flutes The lower end of the flute is
open
42I.III.II Without fingerholes Bengal

421.III.12 With fingerholes Almost world-wide
421.III.2 Stopped single end-blown flutes The lower end of the f
is closed
421.III.21 Without fingerholes The bore of a key

421.III.22 With fingerholes Especially New Guinea
421.112 Sets of end-blown flutes or panpipes Several end-blown flutes
of different pitch are combined to form a single instrument
421.112 Open panpipes
421.112.II Open (raft) panpipes The pipes are tied together in the form
of a board, or they are made by drilling tubes in a board
China
421.112.2 Open bundle (pan-) pipes The pipes are tied together in a
round bundle
Solomon Is., New Britain, New Ireland, Admiralty Is.
421.112.2 Stopped panpipes Europe, S. America
421.112.3 Mixed open and stopped panpipes Solomon Is., S. Amer
421.12 Side-blown flutes The player blows against the sharp rim of
hole in the side of the tube
421.121 (Single) side-blown flutes
421.121.1 Open side-blown flutes
421.I21.II Without fingerholes S. W. Timor
421.I21.I2 With fingerholes European flute
421.121.2 Partly-stopped side-blown flutes The lower end of the
is a natural node of the pipe pierced by a small hole
N. W. Borneo
42I.I21.3 Stopped side-blown flutes

421.121.31 Without fingerholes
421.121.311 With fixed stopped lower end Apparently non-existent
421.121.312 With adjustable stopped lower end (piston flutes)
Malacca, New Guinea
421.121.32 With fingerholes E. Bengal, Malacca
421.122 Sets of side-blown flutes
421.122.I Sets of open side-blown flutes Chamber flute orum
25
421.122.2. Sets of stopped side-blown flutes
N. W. Brazil (among the Siusi)
421.13 Vessel flutes (without distinct beak) The body of the pipe is not
tubular but vessel-shaped
Brazil (Karaja), Lower Congo (Bafiote)
421.2 Flutes with duct or duct flutes A narrow duct directs the air-
stream against the sharp edge of a lateral orifice
421.21 Flutes with external duct The duct is outside the wall of the
flute; this group includes flutes with the duct chamfered in
the wall under a ring-like sleeve and other similar arrange-
ments
421.211 (Single) flutes with external duct

421.211.I Open flutes with external duct
421.211.11I Without fingerholes China, Borneo
421.211.12 With fingerholes Indonesia
421.211.2 Partly-stopped flutes with external
421.211.3 Stopped flutes with external duct
421.212 Sets of flutes with external duct Tibet
421.22 Flutes with internal duct The duct is inside the tube. T
includes flutes with the duct formed by an internal b
(natural node, block of resin) and an exterior tied-on
(cane, wood, hide)
421.221 (Single) flutes with internal duct
421.221.1 Open flutes with internal duct
421.221.11
421.221.12Without fingerholes European
With fingerholes Recordersignalling
421.221.2 Partly-stopped flute with internal duct Ind
421.221.3 Stopped flutes with internal duct
421.221.311 With fixed stopped lower end European s
421.221.312 With adjustable stopped lower end
Piston pipes [swannee whistl
421.221.4 Vessel flutes with duct
Zoomorphic pottery whistles (Europe
421.221.42 With fingerholes Ocarina
421.222 Sets of flutes with internal duct
421.222.1 Sets of open flutes with internal duct
421.222.11 Without fingerholes Open flue st
421.222.I12 With fingerholes Doub
421.222.2 Sets of partly-stopped flutes with intern
Rohrfldte stops of the orga
421.222.3 Sets of stopped flutes with internal duct
Stopped flue stops of the org
26
422 Reedpipes The air-stream has, through means of two lamellae placed
at the head of the instrument, intermittent access to the
column of air which is to be made to vibrate
422.1 Oboes The pipe has a [double] reed of concussion lamellae (usually
a flattened stem)
422.II (Single) oboes
422.11III With cylindrical bore
422.111I. Without fingerholes Brit. Columbia
422.11.2 With fingerholes Aulos, crumhorn
422.112 With conical bore European oboe
422.12 Sets of oboes
422.121 With cylindrical bore Double aulos
422.122 With conical bore India
422.2 Clarinets The pipe has a [singl
lamella
422.21 (Single) clarinets
422.211 With cylindrical bore
422.211.I Without fingerholes Brit. Columbia
422.211.2 With fingerholes European clarinet
422.212 With conical bore Saxophone
422.22 Sets of clarinets Egypt (zummara)
422.3 Reedpipes with free reeds The reed vibrates through [at] a
fitted frame. There must be fingerholes, otherwise
instrument belongs to the free reeds 412.13 S.E. A
422.31 Single pipes with free reed
422.32 Double pipes with free reeds
423 Trumpets The air-stream passes through the player's vibrating
gaining intermittant access to the air column which
be made to vibrate
423.I Natural trumpets Without extra devices to alter pitch

423.II Conches A conch shell serves as trumpet
423.III End-blown
423.111.1 Without mouthpiece India
423.III.2 With mouthpiece Japan (rappakai)
423.112 Side-blown Oceania
423.12 Tubular trumpets
423.121 End-blown grumpets T
trumpet
423.121.I End-blown straight trumpets The tube is neither curved nor
folded
423.121.II Without mouthpiece Some alphorns

423.12I.I2 With mouthpiece Almost world-wide
423.121.2 End-blown horns The tube is curved or folded
423.I21.2I Without mouthpiece Asia
423.121.22 With mouthpiece Lurs
27
423.122 Side-blown trumpets The embouchure is in the side of the tube
423.122.1 Side-blown straight trumpets S. America
423.122.2 Side-blown horns Africa
423.2 Chromatic trumpets With extra devices to
423.21 Trumpets with fingerholes Cornetti, key bugles
423.22 Slide trumpets The tube can be lengthened by extending a
telescopic section of the instrument European trombone
423.23 Trumpets with valves The tube is lengthened or shortened by
connecting or disconnecting auxiliary lengths of tube
Europe
423.231 Valve bugles The tube is conical throughout
423.232 Valve horns The tube is predominantly conical
423.233 Valve trumpets The tube is predominantly cylindrical
Suffixes for use with any division of this class (aerophones):

-6 with air reservoir
-6i with rigid air reservoir
-62 with flexible air reservoir
-7 with fingerhole stopping
-71 with keys
-72 with Bandmechanik [presumably a perforated roll or ribbonl
-8 with keyboard
-9 with mechanical drive
TRANSLATORS' GLOSSARY
SHOWING CERTAIN TERMS EMPLOYED AND
THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN THE ORIGINAL
Arched harps, Bogenharfen Conical drums, Konustrommeln

Double conical, Doppelkonus-
Barrel-shaped drums, Fasstrommeln
Beater, Schlagel 'Cover' (in interruptive aerophones,
Bow-lutes, Bogenlauten 412.1), 'Ausfatz'
Bowl-, Schalen- Cylindrical drums, Zylindertrommeln
Box zither, Kastenzither Dish-shaped, Schalenformig
Displacement aerophone, Ablenkung-
Clack idiophone [cf. Sachs's Knack-
holz], Cricri saerophone
Clapper bells, Kl'ppelglocken Duct, Kernspalte
Clappers, Klappern - flutes with external duct, Aussen-
Cog rattles [Ratchet rattles], Ratschen spaltflten
Conches, Schneckentrompeten - flutes with internal duct, Innen-
Concussion, Gegenschlag- spaltfliten
28
Edge instruments, Schneideninstru- Plosive aerophones, Explosiv-aero-
mente
phone
End-blown (in conches), mit end- Plucked, Zupf-
standigen Mundloch Rattle, Rassel
- flutes, Lingsflidten Reedpipes, Schalmeien
- tubular trumpets, Laiingstrompeten Resting bells, Standglocken
Free reeds, Durchschlagzungen Ribbon reeds, Bandzungen
Free-reed pipes, Durchschlagzungen- Set of, -spiele
Schalmeien Shaken idiophones, Schiittel-Idiophone
Friction, Reib-, Reibung Side-blown (in conch), mit seiten-
Friction drums with fixed stick, stdndigen Mundloch
Fesselstab-Reibtrommeln - flutes, Querfldten
- semifixed stick, Halbfreistab-Reibtr. Singing membrane, Ansingtrommeln
- cord, Schnur-Reibtrommeln Siren, Lochsirene, Wellensirene
- twirling stick, Geschwungene Schnur- Slit drums, Holztrommeln
Reibtr. Spike lutes, Spiesslauten
Goblet-shaped, Becher- Split idiophones, Reiss-Idiophone
Ground zithers, Erdzithern Stationary (in friction drums), stehende
Guimbarde, Maultrommel Stick, Stab-
Handle lutes, Stiellauten Sticks, Stdbe
Hanging bells, Hdngeglocken Stick zithers, Musikstdbe
Harp-bow, Harfebogen Stopped (in flutes), gedackt
Individual, selbstiindige Stopped lower end (in flutes), Miin-
Interruptive aerophone, Unterbrech- dungsboden
ungsaerophone Straight trumpets: end-blown, Lang-
Kazoos, Mirlitons stuben
Kettle gongs, Kesselgongs - side-blown, Quertuben

Lamella, Zunge, Lamella Striker, internal striker (in bells),
Musical-bow-cum-stick, Musikbogen- Kloppel
stdbe
Struck idiophones, Schlag-Idiophone
Necked lutes, Halslauten String bearer, Saitentriger
Noose: tuning noose, Stimnmschlinge Strung rattles, Schnurrasseln
Notched musical bow, Kerb-Musik- Suspension rattles, Reihenrasseln
bogen Trough zithers, Schalenzithern
Open harps, Biigelharfen Valve bugles, Signalhdrner
Pellet bells, Schellen - horns, Waldhirner
Pendant rattles, Pendelrasseln - trumpets, Trompeten
Percussion, Aufschlag- Vertex, Scheitel
Piston flutes, Stempelfliten Vessel, Gefdss-
Plaques, Platten Whole-tube (in zithers), Vollriihren
For French terminology see Andr6 Schaeffner's section Adaptation franpaise de

la classification des Professeurs E.M.v.Hornbostel et C.Sachs in Encyclop6die
Franqaise Vol.xvi, 1935, pp. 16'36-I5/16.
29

Classification of Musical Instruments (Eng)

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Classification of Musical Instruments (Eng)

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Classification of Musical Instruments: Translated from the Original German by Anthony

Baines and Klaus P. Wachsmann

The revival of a learned treatise about half a century after its

* Erich M. von Hornbostel und Curt Sachs, 'Systematik

Classification of Musical Instruments

7. The objections which can be raised against the crudity of the

29. The systematic survey of musical instruments which now follows

11.142 Cymbals Vessel clappers with everted rim

Suffixes for use with any division of this class (idiophones):

2 MEMBRANOPHONES The sound is excited by tightly-s

211.1 Kettle drums (timpani) The body is bowl- or dish-shaped

2II.212.I (Individual) cylindrical d

* To be sub-divided like 211.21.

231.2 With tied stick The stick is tied to the mem

Suffixes for use with any division of this class (membranophones):

3 CHORDOPHONES One or more strings are

311.121.1I Without tuning noose Africa (ganza, samuius, to)

321.21 Bowl lyres A natural or carved-out bowl serves as the resona

321.3 Handle lutes The string bearer is a plain handle. Subsidiary n

322.221 With manual action The tuning can be altered by h

Suffixes for use with any division of this class (chordophones):

4 AEROPHONES The air itself is the vibrator in the primary sense

412.21 Rotating aerophones The interruptive agent rotates in its o

42I.III.II Without fingerholes Bengal

421.III.21 Without fingerholes The bore of a key

42I.I21.3 Stopped side-blown flutes

421.211 (Single) flutes with external duct

423.I Natural trumpets Without extra devices to alter pitch

423.121.II Without mouthpiece Some alphorns

Suffixes for use with any division of this class (aerophones):

SHOWING CERTAIN TERMS EMPLOYED AND

THEIR EQUIVALENTS IN THE ORIGINAL

Arched harps, Bogenharfen Conical drums, Konustrommeln

Kettle gongs, Kesselgongs - side-blown, Quertuben

For French terminology see Andr6 Schaeffner's section Adaptation franpaise de

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