Musical Instruments

The academic study of musical instruments is called organology. In principle, anything that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument however the home made variety are rarely very musical and the term is used to describe an instrument that produces a sound that pleases us, has variety and will generally blend harmoniousely with other instruments because it is created to make sound at certain pitch points.

Classical musical instruments are traditionally classified as one of four types of instrument: brass, woodwinds, percussion and strings. Such classification has since been expanded on and  redefined but instruments are still referred to mostly by this.

Brass

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator. These include the trombone, trumpet, tuba, baritone, euphonium, french horn, flugelhorn, sousaphone, mellophone, saxhorn, cornet, sackbut, bazooka, bugle, cornett, serpent, ophicleide and the keyed trumpet and the bass trumpet.

Woodwinds

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edge of, or opening in, the instrument, causing the air to vibrate within a resonator. Most commonly, the player blows against a thin piece of wood called a reed. Woodwind instruments include the bansuri, dizi, flute, fife, piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, bass clarinet, panpipes, recorder, pipe organ, and several instruments in the oboe family.

The free reed aerophones, such as the Chinese shêng, Japanese shō, Laotian khene, and the European instruments: harmonica, harmonium and reed organ, accordion, bayan, concertina, and bandoneón, are also classified in the woodwind family.

Strings

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. Most common string instruments include the violin, viola, cello, bass, mandolin, guitar, sitar, ukulele, harp, and the banjo.

Percussion

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration. Some percussion instruments are the piano, xylophone, triangle, snare and bass drums, cymbals, and anything that can be hit, for example, a tupperware container could be a percussion instrument.

High or Low Classification Range

Western instruments are also often classified by their musical range in comparison with other instruments in the same family. These terms are named after singing voice classifications:

* Soprano : flute, recorder, violin, trumpet
* Alto : alto saxophone, oboe, alto flute, viola, horn
* Tenor : trombone, clarinet , Tenor Saxophone, guitar
* Baritone : Bassoon, English Horn, Baritone Saxophone, Baritone Horn, Bass Clarinet, Cello
* Bass : Contrabassoon, Bass Saxophone, double bass, tuba

Some instruments fall into more than one category: for example, the cello may be considered either tenor or bass, depending on how its music fits into the ensemble, and the trombone may be alto, tenor, or bass while the French horn can be bass, baritone, tenor, or alto, depending on which range it is played.

Musical instrument construction is a specialized craft or trade that requires years of training, practice, and often an apprenticeship. Most makers of musical instruments specialize in one genre of instruments; for example, a luthier makes only stringed instruments. Some will make only one type of instrument such as a piano.

This comprehensive list of instruments has 546 names of musical instruments from all around the world. I'm not aiming to be anywhere near that comprehensive on this site!