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Musical instrument classification

In organology, the study of musical instruments, many methods of classifying instruments exist. Most methods are specific to a particular cultural group and were developed to serve that culture's musical needs. Culture-based classification methods sometimes break down when applied outside that culture. For example, a classification based on instrument use may fail when applied to another culture that uses the same instrument differently.

In the study of Western music, the most common classification method divides instruments into the following groups:

(5th and 6th centuries) labelled them intensione ut nervis, spiritu ut tibiis ("breath in the tube"), and percussione;

Boethius

a younger contemporary of Boethius, used the names tensibilia, percussionalia, and inflatilia;

Cassiodorus

(13th century) dubbed them tensilia, inflativa, and percussionalia;

Roger Bacon

(14th and 15th centuries) called them intensione ut nervis, spiritu ut tibiis, and percussione;

Ugolino da Orvieto

(1703) referred to them as enchorda or entata (but only for instruments with several strings), pneumatica or empneousta, and krusta (from the Greek for hit or strike) or pulsatilia (for percussives);

Sebastien de Brossard

(1722) used vernacular names: sonori per il fiato, sonori per la tensione, and sonori per la percussione;

Filippo Bonanni

Joseph Majer (1732) called them pneumatica, pulsatilia (percussives including plucked instruments), and fidicina (from fidula, fiddle) (for bowed instruments);

Johann Eisel (1738) dubbed them pneumatica, pulsatilia, and fidicina;

(1784) used the terms chordalia, foraminalia (from foramina, "bore" in reference to the bored tubes), and vasalia (for "vessels");

Johannes de Muris

(1784) called them tensibile, inflatile, and percussionabile.

Regino of Prum

Classification of percussion instruments

Organology

List of musical instruments

Signal instrument