1. CLASSIFICATION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
 IDIOPHONES
 MEMBRANOPHONES
 AEROPHONES
 CHORDOPHONES
IDIOPHONES
Musical instruments in which a vibrating solid material is used to produce sound. Examples
of solid materials used in such instruments are stone, wood and metal.
Idiophones are differentiated according to how you make it vibrate. Such as:
 Concussion
 Percussion
 Rattle
 Scraper
 Plucked
 Friction
Concussion
 idiophones are instruments that produce sound by being struck against one another.
Percussion
 idiophones produce sound by being struck with a non-vibrating foreign object.
Rattle
 idiophones are shaken.
Scraper
 idiophones are instruments that are scraped with a stick or other foreign objects to give off a
sound.
Plucked
 idiophones produce sound by plucking a flexible tongue from within the instrument itself.
Friction
 are rubbed to increase vibration and sound intensity.

2. MEMBRANOPHONES
Musical instruments that have vibrating stretched membranes or skin that produce sound.
Kettle Drums - Also known as vessel drums, these are rounded at the bottom and may be tunable
or non-tunable. The vibrating membrane is either laced, nailed or glued to the body and the
player uses his hands, a beater or both to strike it.
Other membranophones are called frame drums in which the skin or membrane is
stretched over a frame such as tambourines.
AEROPHONES
instruments which produce sound by a vibrating mass of air. This is more commonly known
as wind instruments.
2 TYPES OF AEROPHONES
 Brass winds Instruments
 Wood winds Instruments
Brass winds - Made of metal, particularly brass, these instruments create sound through the
vibration of a player's lips on the mouthpiece. The air that passes from the player's lips goes
to the air column of the instrument and thus creates sound.
Examples. Trombone, trumpet, tuba
Woodwinds - Originally made of wood but now other materials have also been used.
Examples. Saxophone, flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, English horn
CHORDOPHONES
 Music instruments that produce sound by means of a stretched vibrating string.
Zithers - Have no necks; strings are stretched from one end of the board to another end. Zithers
may be plucked or struck.
 Chordophones also have subcategories depending on how the strings are played.
Bowing- double base, violin
Plucking- banjo, guitar, harp, mandolin and ukelele
Struck- dulcimer, clavichord
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