musical instrument

Table of Contents

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Bone whistle, c. 10,000 bc; in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford, Eng.

A Sakha group (from eastern Siberia) playing the khomus, a type of Jew's harp.

Typically ornate Hardanger fiddle (detail), a Norwegian folk instrument.

Musician playing a changgo, a Korean two-headed drum.

Tambourine with snare and jingles, detail from an early 14th-century English manuscript (add. 42130, fol. 164); in the British Library, London

Listen to the discussion about the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota

musical instrument

Q: What are the principal types of musical instruments?

The principal types of musical instruments are percussion, stringed, keyboard, wind, and electronic.

Q: How long have musical instruments existed?

Archaeology has revealed musical instruments such as pipes and whistles in the Paleolithic Period and clay drums and shell trumpets in the Neolithic Period. Ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, India, East Asia, and the Americas all possessed diverse and well-developed assortments of musical instruments, indicating that a long previous development must have existed.

Written by Theodore C. Grame, Jack Allan WestrupSee All

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

musical instrument

See all media

Category: Arts & Culture

Key People:: Antonio Stradivari; Theobald Boehm; Victor-Charles Mahillon; John Philip Sousa; Curt Sachs

Related Topics:: keyboard instrument; wind instrument; stringed instrument; percussion instrument; effects pedal

See all related content →

What are the principal types of musical instruments?

How long have musical instruments existed?

musical instrument, any device for producing a musical sound. The principal types of such instruments, classified by the method of producing sound, are percussion, stringed, keyboard, wind, and electronic. Musical instruments are almost universal components of human culture: archaeology has revealed pipes and whistles in the Paleolithic Period and clay drums and shell trumpets in the Neolithic Period. It has been firmly established that the ancient city cultures of Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, India, East Asia, and the Americas all possessed diverse and well-developed assortments of musical instruments, indicating that a long previous development must have existed. As to the origin ...(100 of 4818 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.