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Reference

Hornbostel–Sachs Classification

How the Hornbostel–Sachs system classifies musical instruments into idiophones, membranophones, chordophones, aerophones and electrophones — with real examples.

1 Idiophones

The body of the instrument itself vibrates — bells, xylophones, rattles.

  • 11 Struck idiophones
  • 12 Plucked idiophones (lamellophones)
  • 13 Friction idiophones
  • 14 Blown idiophones

2 Membranophones

A stretched membrane vibrates — drums.

  • 21 Struck drums
  • 22 Plucked drums
  • 23 Friction drums
  • 24 Singing membranes (kazoos)

3 Chordophones

One or more strings stretched between fixed points vibrate.

  • 31 Simple chordophones / zithers (incl. piano, harpsichord)
  • 32 Composite chordophones (lutes, harps, violins, guitars)

4 Aerophones

A column or stream of air vibrates — every wind instrument.

  • 41 Free aerophones (accordion, harmonica)
  • 42 Non-free aerophones: wind instruments proper
  • 421 Edge-blown aerophones / flutes
  • 422 Reed aerophones (oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon)
  • 423 Trumpets (lip-vibrated: brass)

5 Electrophones

Sound produced or modified electrically (added 1940 by Galpin).

Background

Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs. This system was first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961, which is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments by ethnomusicologists and organologists (people who study musical instruments). The system was updated in 2011 as part of the work of the Musical Instrument Museums Online (MIMO) Project.

Hornbostel and Sachs based their ideas on a system devised in the late 19th century by Victor-Charles Mahillon, the curator of musical instruments at Brussels Conservatory. Mahillon divided instruments into four broad categories according to the nature of the sound-producing material: an air column; string; membrane; and body of the instrument. From this basis, Hornbostel and Sachs expanded Mahillon's system to make it possible to classify any instrument from any culture.

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article “Hornbostel–Sachs”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.