INTRODUCTION

Organology is the scientific study of musical instruments

o Latin based version of German Instrumentenkunde
o Derived from Greek words organon (instrument) and logos (study)
2 Goals of Organology:
o To understand indigenous terminology and its relation to its culture
o To develop methods and meanings for abstracting and comparing
information about all musical instruments
Instruments often fulfil extra functions in categories such as:
o History
o Technology
o Religion, etc.
The terms and classifications of instruments reflect the culture and need
of the classifier
Instruments are classified according to systems based on:
o Playing method
o Material and structure
o Status/Use
Westerners speak of:
o Winds (Playing method)
o Strings (Material)
o Percussion (Playing method)
Indonesians however speak of:
o Slabs (Material?)
o Gongs (Method)
o Drums (Structure)
Some instruments are used for singular purposes, sometimes sacred or
secular
o Jewish shofar (SACRED)
o New Gunea ancestral flutes (SACRED)
o Dutch Midwinter horn (SECULAR)
Status symbols
o Upright vs Grand piano
o Pipe vs Electric Organ
o Royal drums
o House gongs
You could also say a system is worked out by
o Where an instrument is played
o What is its purpose
o How it is played
o Its physical features

HISTORY OF CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

Ancient China Bayin System derived from materials

o Pottery
o Metal
o Gourd
o Stone
o Silk
o Wood
o Skin
o Bamboo
Bharatas Natya Shastra (India 200BC)
o Classified according to physical properties of the primary sounding
matter
Johannes De Murls French simple system (France 1300s)
o Stringed
o Wind
o Percussion
Michael Praetorius first publishes about African instruments (France 1600s)
o Syntagma musicum: De organographia (1618)
o Theatrum Instrumentorium (1620) African
Franois Auguste Gevaert in Trait dinstrumentation (Belgium 1863)
o Stringed (scraped, plucked, percussion)
o Membrane (definite, indefinite pitch)
o Wind (flue, reed, mouthpiece)
o Autophonic (definite, indefinite pitch)
Victor Charles Mahillon, Gevaerts follower, in Catalogue descriptive
(Belgium 1888)
o Autophones
o Membranophones
o Chordophones
o Aerophones
Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs in Sytematik der Musikinstrumente
(Germany 1914)
o Widely accepted today
o Replaces autophone with idiophone
o Mostly identical to Mahillons revision of Gevaerts system
o Idiophones and membranophones subdivided according to ways of
playing
o Chordophones classified according to external appearance
o Aerophones classified according to functional and constructional
features
o Not applicable to any instrument invented after 1914, nor combined
instruments
o Sachs furthered his research in 1930 and 1940 in two new papers
- Lehmann classified strings and flutes by shape (1920s)
- Norlind classified chordophones by organographic criteria (1930s)
- Hickmann classified Egyptian harps according to shape
Andr Shaeffners consistent approach closer to the Ancient Chinese
(France 1932)

Solid
Bodies which cannot be tensioned (reeds)
Bodies which can be subjected to tension (membranophones
and chordophones)
o Wind
Scaeffner, Kartomi and Yamaguchis (among others) ideas merged to form
Elementary Organology (1900s)
o Earth solids Gaiaphones
o Water liquids Hydraulaphones
o Air gases Aerophones
o Fire plasmas Plasmaphones
o Quintessence/Idea informatics Quintephones
Hans-Heinz Drger broadened and furthered his teachers (Hornbostel and
Sachs) system (Europe 1948)
o Examination of each instrument before classification
Montagu and Burton attempted to create a system based on words, rather
than numbers to avoid confusion and misunderstanding (England, 1971)
The Organology Section of ICOM (International Committee of Museums)
attempted to improve the Hornbostel-Sachs system (Congress in Moscow
1977)
Pavel Kurfrst categorizes by:
o Radioelectronic terminology
o Acoustic analysis
o Schematic model
Currently, organologists work with technologists to research organology.
There is a growing intereset in Electric musical instruments.
o

HORNBOSTEL-SACHS SYSTEM:

IDIOPHONES: Vibrations are produced, without stretching the basic

material, by:
o striking one portion of the instrument against another
o striking another object against the instrument
o by shaking
o by scraping
o by plucking
o by rubbing
o by blowing
o by bowing
o by stamping
MEMBRANOPHONES: Sound produced by vibrations that is:
o Struck
o Rubbed
o Blown
CHORDOPHONES: Sound produced by a vibrating (stretching) string
activated by:
o Striking
o Plucking
o Bowing
o BASIC FAMILIES ARE:
Lute - Strings parallel to soundboard and extend on a
neck/fingerboard
Zither Strings parallel to soundboard and are its same
length
Harp - Strings are perpendicular to soundboard
Lyre - Strings are parallel to soundboard and suspended
beyond on crossbar/yoke
AEROPHONES: Sound from a vibrating column of air. May be activated
from a:
o Blow hole
o Reed
o Buzzing lips

NGUNI INSTRUMENTS
LEVINES CLASSIFICATIONS (2005)
Drums
o Igubu
Rattle/Shakers
o Shele
Hand Clappers
o Amatambo
Flutes/Whistles/Reeds
o Imbande
Trumpets
o Icilongo
Horns
o Mpalampala
Bull-Roarers
o Uvuru
Xylophones
o Marimba
Mbiras
o Ukele
Bows
o Mouth-resonated Bows
o Unbraced Bows with Resonators
o Braced Bows
o Plucked, mouth-resonated Bows
o Bows with tin resonators
o The Bow typically substitutes for a vocal chorus when
accompanying singing
o Originate with Khoi San hunting
o Sometimes feature one or two open notes
o Bowed, struck, plucked
o Resonators or mouth resonated
o Drives African music with equidistant and harmonic scales
o Interval between open and stopped fundamentals determine the
scale used
o Ikinge
String-Wind
o Ugwali

ORCHESTRAS:

BAROQUE:
o Conductor on harpsichord leads
o First Violins
o Second Violins
o Violas
o Cellos
o Double Bass
o Oboes
o Bassoon
o Timpani
o Natural Trumpets
CLASSICAL:
o Conductor no longer on harpsichord
o First Violins
o Second Violins
o Violas
o Cellos
o Double Bass
o Flutes
o Oboes
o Clarinets
o Bassoon
o Hand Horns
o Natural Trumpets
o Timpani
19TH-CENTURY ORCHESTRA:
o First Violins
o Second Violins
o Violas
o Cellos
o Double Bass
o Harp
o Flutes
o Oboes
o Clarinets
o Bassoons
o French Horns
o Trumpets
o Trombones
o Tubas
o Percussion

20TH-CENTURY ORCHESTRA
o 12-18 First Violins (bowed lute chordophone)
o 12-16 Second Violins (bowed lute chordophone)
o 10-12 Violas (bowed lute chordophone)
o 10 Cellos (bowed lute chordophone)

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8 Double Basses (bowed lute chordophone)

2 Harps (harp chordophone)
1 Piccolo (side-blown flute with keys aerophone)
3 Flutes (side-blown flute with keys aerophone)
3 Oboes (double reed pipe with keys aerophone)
3 Clarinets (single reed pipe with keys aerophone)
1 Bass Clarinet (single reed pipe with keys aerophone)
3 Bassoons (double reed pipe with keys aerophone)
1 Double Bassoons (double reed pipe with keys aerophone)
1 English Horn (double reed pipe with keys aerophone)
6 French Horns (chromatic trumpet with valves aerophone)
4 Trumpets (chromatic trumpet with valves aerophone)
4 Trombones (chromatic trumpet with slide aerophone)
1 Tubas (chromatic trumpet with valves aerophone)
Kettledrums/Timpani (struck drum struck directly kettle drum
membranophone)
Snare drum (struck drum struck directly tubular double skin
cylindrical membranophone)
Tenor drum (struck drum struck directly tubular double skin
cylindrical membranophone)
Bass drum (struck drum struck directly tubular double skin
cylindrical membranophone)
Glockenspiel (percussion idiophone)
Tubular bells (percussion idiophone)
Xylophone (percussion idiophone)
Celesta (percussion idiophone)
Cymbals (percussion idiophone)
Sometimes
Organ
Piano
Saxes
Mandolins, etc.