Home > Hornbostel-Sachs

The system is based on one devised in the late 19th century by Victor Mahillon , the curator of Brussels Conservatory's musical instrument collection. Mahillon's sytem was one of the first to classify according to what vibrated in the instrument to produce its sound, but was limited, for the most part, to western instruments used in classical music. The Sachs-Hornbostel system is an expansion on Mahillon's in that it is possible to classify any instrument from any culture with it.

1 The skeleton of the system

Formally, Hornbostel-Sachs is based on the Dewey Decimal classification. It has four top level classifications, with several levels below those, adding up to over 300 basic categories in all. The top two levels of the scheme, with explanations, are shown below:

• 1. Idiophones - sound is primarily produced by the actual body of the instrument vibrating, rather than a string, membrane, or column of air. In essence, this group includes all percussion instruments apart from drums, as well as some other instruments.
  • 11. Struck idiophones - idiophones set in vibration by being struck, for example cymbals or xylophones.
  • 12. Plucked idiophones - idiophones set in vibration by being plucked, for example the Jew's harpAmerican Civil War camp near Winchester, Virginia Slovakia, Central Europe The Jew's harp is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Originally called a trump or gewgaw in different cultures it is known as the jaw harp khomuz kubyz mungiga mun or mbira
  • 13. Friction idiophones - idiophones which are rubbed, for example the nail violin , a bowed instrument with solid pieces of metal or wood rather than strings.
  • 14. Blown idiophones - idiophones set in vibration by the movement of air, for example the Aeolsklavier , an instrument consisting of several pieces of wood which vibrate when air is blown onto them by a set of bellowsThe bellows is a device for delivering pressured air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. At its most simple terms a bellows is a container which is deformable in such a way as to alter its volume which has an outlet or outlets where one wis.

• 2. MembranophoneA membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, the others - sounds is primarily produced by the vibration of a tightly stretched membraneNet flux A membrane is a thin, typically planar structure or material that separates two environments. Because it sits between environments or phases and has a finite volume, it can be referred to as an interphase rather than an interface. Membranes selec. This group includes all drumFor other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). A drum is a musical percussion instrument, consisting of a membrane which is usually stretched taut over a cylindrical tube that is open at the other end. The membrane is struck, either with the hand ors and kazooThe kazoo a simple musical instrument ( membranophone) that adds tonal qualities when the player hums into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane. History Such instruments hs.
  • 21. Struck drums - instruments which have a struck membrane. This includes most types of drum, such as the timpaniTimpani or kettledrums are percussion musical instruments. A type of drum, they consist of a skin, called a head stretched over a large hemispherical bowl generally made of copper. Unlike most drums, they have a definite pitch when struck. Timpani is an I and snare drum.
  • 22. Plucked drums - these are drums with a knotted string attached to the membrane. When the string is plucked, it passes the vibration on to the membrane, which vibrates to give the sound. Some kinds of Indian drums are like this. Some commentators believe that instruments in this class ought instead to be regarded as chordophones (see below).
  • 23. Friction drums - drums which are rubbed, either with the hand, a stick, or something else, rather than being struck.
  • 24. Singing membranes - this group includes kazoos, instruments which do not produce noise of their own, but modify other noises by way of a vibrating membrane.

• 3. Chordophones - sound is primarily produced by the vibration of a string or strings. This group includes all instruments generally called string instruments in the west, as well as many (but not all) keyboard instruments, like pianos and harpsichords.
  • 31. Simple chordophones - instruments which are in essence simply a string or strings and a string bearer. These instruments may have a resonator box, but removing it should not render the instrument unplayable (although it may result in quite a different sound being produced). They include the piano therefore, as well as zithers, the musical bow, and various types of non-western harp.
  • 32. Composite chordophones - instruments which have a resonator as an integral part of the instrument. This includes most western string instruments, such as violins, guitars and the orchestral harp.

• 4. Aerophones - sound is primarily produced by vibrating air. The instrument itself does not vibrate, and there are no vibrating strings or membranes.
  • 41. Free aerophones - instruments where the vibrating air is not enclosed by the instrument itself, for example an old car horn, or the bullroarer.
  • 42. Wind instruments - instruments where the vibrating air is enclosed by the instrument. This group includes most of the instruments called wind instruments in the west, such as the flute or French horn, as well as many other kinds of instruments such as conch shells.

A later revision added a fifth top-level group, electrophones, which are instruments which make sound primarily by way of electrically driven oscillators, such as theremins or synthesizers.