Introduction:  Instrument Families

In this module, you will learn about the way instruments create sound, and how they are grouped together. You may be familiar with the first set of terms, but the second may be new.

First, you will learn about brass, woodwind, stringed, and percussion instruments. These are the instrument families commonly used in bands and orchestras that play Western Classical music as heard in Europe and North America. However, as you travel around the world, you may discover instruments that have different qualities, or that might not fit “exactly” into one of these four families. Because of this, we can broaden our understanding of how instruments create sound and the ways we can categorize them. There are additional instrument family categories that encompass all the ways instruments can make sounds. These are known as chordophones, aerophones, membranophones, and idiophones. These broader categories describe the method of sound production an instrument uses.

For example, a violin is a member of the string family, and also a chordophone. Chordophones are played by plucking strings, strumming strings, or drawing a bow across an instrument’s strings.

Trumpets and flutes are both aerophones, because playing them involves blowing air into the instrument in some way. However, a trumpet is a brass instrument, while a flute is in the woodwind family.

We will explore these concepts in greater depth later in this module as you learn more about the characteristics of instrument families.