Classification of the major musical instruments

This is not a systematic and complete classification but only a guide to various sections. To see the range of instruments, consult the table on the page Range of musical instruments.

Instruments can be classified on the basis of various parameters. Of primary interest to physics is the medium that produces oscillations and, therefore, sound. Followed by the material of which the instrument is made.

It is a common, longstanding practice to classify musical instruments by the family they belong to; not only because of a historical-cultural process that brought a standard conformation to the orchestral company but also because of the physical and acoustic properties that the instruments unequivocally have in common. We will try to adhere to this classification. The names of the families (chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, idiophones, to which electrophones were later added) come from the classification proposed in 1914 by Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, based precisely on what vibrates first: a string, an air column, a stretched membrane or the body of the instrument itself.

In the table the brass instruments appear among the instruments without reeds, but from a physical point of view the player's lips, vibrating against the mouthpiece, act as a reed that periodically opens and closes the passage of air (this is sometimes called a "lip reed"). The vocal folds do the same in the human voice.