By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Classify and categorize instruments into their respective families within the Western system, including brass, woodwind, percussion, and strings, based on their construction, sound production mechanism, and playing techniques.
Classify instruments according to the Sachs-Hornbostel System, including idiophones, membranophones, chordophones, aerophones, and electrophones, based on their sound production methods and material composition.
Compare and contrast both classification systems above, discussing the advantages and limitations of both the Western system and the Sachs-Hornbostel System in categorizing instruments.
Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge of instrument families and classification systems to identify and categorize specific instruments based on their visual appearance, sound characteristics, and functional attributes.
Analyze compositions and performances from various musical genres, identifying the instrument families utilized and the roles they play within the ensemble or composition.
Read about two different ways instruments are classified:
Categories for Western Orchestral Instruments
The Sachs-Hornbostel System (global method)
The Harry Partch Instrumentarium
Harry Partch was a 20th-century American composer and instrument inventor. In this video, instrument curator, Charles Corey, discusses and demonstrates several of Partch's instruments.
It's a 45-minute video, just scroll through and check out a few of the instruments that interest you.
Check out the Philharmonia Instruments site to explore the sounds and characteristics of Western orchestral instruments.
Musical Instrument Library Youtube Channel
This channel includes 59 videos highlighting instruments from around the world.
Instruments by Category
Scan through this handout to see instruments from around the world categorized by the Sachs-Hornbostel system.
Instrument Types (from KaitlinBove.com)
Why Instruments Sound Different (from KaitlinBove.com)
Sachs-Hornbostel System: What is the Sachs-Hornbostel System? Talk through the 5 categories together as a class and come up with a few examples of instruments for each category.
What are the criteria used to categorize instruments in the Sachs-Hornbostel system and how does that compare to the classification system used for Western orchestral instruments (e.g. brass, woodwinds, strings, percussion)? Why do you think ethnomusicologists more commonly use the Sachs-Hornbostel System?
Instruments and Composition: How do the instruments that composers and songwriters use affect the way they write music? How do instruments restrict compositional decisions? Consider ways that instruments affect elements of music including pitch collections, tuning systems, chordal and melodic decisions, texture, phrasing, etc. Think about what kinds of movements are more natural on different instruments (playing the same chord change on a piano vs. a guitar). Think about your own instrument and some of the limitations and advantages compared to others.
If you need an example, there's a video in the "Want to Learn More?" section below that explores this topic from the perspective of guitar players in popular music.
In what ways does technology play a role in modern instrumentation? How has it expanded possibilities for composers and performers?
A Musical Offering: The Musical Offering is a collection of keyboard pieces written by J. S. Bach in 1747. In 1935, Anton Webern arranged the 6-Part Ricercare from the piece for orchestra. Although his version of Bach's Ricercare is a note-for-note transcription of the original, the orchestration features a 20th-century technique referred to as Klangfarbenmelodie (or "tone color melody") in which timbre is used as as melodic compositional parameter. The entrance of each instrument also features a series of palindromes.
Listen to mm. 1–56 of both Bach's and Webern's version with the score. (Bach: Score & Youtube, Webern: Score & Youtube).
A timbral analysis of this section by Mark Gotham is provided here, showing the instrumental palindromes for each section.
Discussion: How does the difference in orchestration change the way you hear the piece? How is timbre and instrumentation used like melody? Do you like Webern's version? Can you hear the palindromes?
Notable Instruments: Check out the playlist of examples in the Anthology (see the section "Pieces for Discussing Instrumentation"). These are examples feature interesting or special instruments or combinations great for classroom discussion.
Name that Instrument: Test your knowledge of instruments. Have your instructor or a group leader flip through the Quizlet flashcards here.
Click the gear icon in the bottom right. Change the settings to "Answer with: English" to see the pictures first, then click the shuffle icon on the bottom left of the card to get a nice variety of instruments.
Keep track of your score as you go to compete with your classmates and see who can identify the most instruments correctly. If you run across an instrument you don't recognize, try to find a Youtube video of a performer playing that instrument to hear what it sounds like.
Categorizing Instruments: Check out the handout here with instruments from around the world being played by artists. Work individually or in groups and attempt to categorize each instrument in one of the 5 Sachs-Hornbostel instrumental categories. Be prepared to provide your reasoning. If you're not sure based on the picture, look up more information about the instrument or try to find a YouTube video.
Instrumentation in Ensembles: As a class or in groups, try to think of as many common ensemble types as you can and name the instruments that commonly make up those ensembles. As an example, can you name the instruments that are typically found in a Western orchestra, marching band, woodwind quintet, string quartet, or Pierrot ensemble?
What instruments are commonly used in popular music? How has that changed over time and how does it vary across different styles of popular music? Can you think of any bands or songs that use unusual instrumentation? Listen to a few excerpts from these songs together and talk about how the instrumentation changes the way you hear the music.
Can you name any non-Western ensemble types? Try looking up a few ensembles, listening to the sounds of the instruments, and categorizing them according to the Sachs-Hornbostel system.
Instrumentation: The Anthology page on Instrumentation contains a Youtube playlist with videos that incorporate unique examples of instrumentation for discussion along with additional examples for study.
Instruments & Songwriting: How do the instruments artists use shape their songwriting? Check out Nicholas Shea's SMT-V Video to the right, "The Feel of the Guitar in Popular Music Performance."
Musition: All Levels for:
Instrument Knowledge
Instrument Recognition
Auralia: Instrumentation: Levels 1–3
Quizlet Flashcards: Instrument ID. Given the picture of an instrument, can you identify it by name? Flip through the flashcards or play the matching game.