How the idiophone makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the idiophone belongs to the idiophones: the solid body of the instrument itself vibrates, without strings or a stretched membrane.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air flow (as with aerophones), strings (chordophones), membranes (membranophones) or electricity (electrophones). It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel–Sachs system of musical instrument classification (see List of idiophones by Hornbostel–Sachs number). The early classification of Victor-Charles Mahillon called this group of instruments autophones. The most common are struck idiophones, or concussion idiophones, which are made to vibrate by being struck, either directly with a stick or hand (like the wood block, singing bowl, steel tongue drum, handpan, triangle or marimba) or indirectly, with scraping or shaking motions (like maracas or flexatone). Various types of bells fall into both categories. A common plucked idiophone is the Jew's harp.
According to Sachs, idiophones
Other idiophones
Frequently asked questions
What does an idiophone sound like?
As one of the idiophones, its sound comes from the way the solid body of the instrument itself vibrates, without strings or a stretched membrane.
What type of instrument is the idiophone?
It is classified as idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 1).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q12639 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Idiophone – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Culturalis – CC BY-SA 2.0