This is a glossary of aerophones.
See also the glossary of musical instrument classification (organology).
- accordion
- A small, portable, keyed wind instrument, whose tones are generated by play of the wind from a squeezed bellows upon free metallic reeds.
|
- alphorn
- A long, curved, wooden horn used by mountain-dwelling herders in the Alps, originally to call cattle but now only as musical instrument in classical and folk tunes.
|
- arghul
- An ancient single-reed instrument of Egyptian origin.
|
- bagpipe
- A musical wind instrument having a flexible bag inflated by a tube or bellows, a double-reed melody pipe and up to four drone pipes.
|
- balaban
- A double-reed instrument of Azerbaijani origin.
|
- bandoneon
- A small Latin American accordion played with buttons.
|
- baritone horn
- A brass instrument in the baritone range that is similar to a euphonium.
|
- bassoon
- A musical instrument in the woodwind family, having a double reed and playing in the tenor and bass ranges.
|
- bawu
- A free reed instrument of Chinese origin.
|
- bazooka
- A primitive trombone having wide tubes.
|
- bugle
- A simple brass instrument consisting of a horn with no valves, playing only pitches in its harmonic series.
|
- calliope
- A musical organ, consisting of steam whistles played with a keyboard. Often used with merry-go-rounds.
|
- chalumeau
- A single-reed instrument of European origin, used mainly in the Baroque and Classical eras.
|
- clarinet
- A woodwind musical instrument that has a distinctive liquid tone whose characteristics vary among its three registers: chalumeau (low), clarion (medium), and altissimo (high).
- Performer: clarinetist
- Types: piccolo clarinet (also sopranino clarinet, octave clarinet), soprano clarinet, basset clarinet, clarinette d'amour, basset horn, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, contrabass clarinet, octocontra-alto clarinet, octocontrabass clarinet
|
- concertina
- A musical instrument, like the various accordions, that is a member of the free-reed family of musical instruments, typically having buttons on both ends.
|
- cornet
- A brass instrument with a conical bore.
|
- cornett
- A trumpet-like wind instrument used in European music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
|
- didgeridoo
- A musical instrument endemic to the Top End of Australia, consisting of a long hollowed out log, which, when blown into, produces a low, deep mesmerising drone with sweeping rhythms.
|
- diple
- Any of several instruments of Balkan origin; namely a type of flute and a type of bagpipe.
|
- diplica
- A single-reed instrument of Balkan origin.
|
- duduk
- A woodwind instrument, originating in Armenia
|
- erke
- A type of large horn originating in Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
|
- euphonium
- A valved brass instrument, a sax horn, the tenor of the tuba family of instruments, having the appearance very similar to that of a tuba.
|
- flugelhorn
- A brass instrument resembling a cornet but with a wider, conical bore, and usually with three valves, in the same B-flat pitch as many trumpets and cornets but with a more deeply conical mouthpiece than those. A bugle with valves.
|
- flute
- A woodwind instrument consisting of a metal, wood or bamboo tube with a row of circular holes and played by blowing across a hole in the side of one end or through a narrow channel at one end against a sharp edge, while covering none, some or all of the holes with the fingers to vary the note played.
|
- French horn
- A coiled brass musical instrument, derived from the French hunting horn, which has rotary valves.
|
- frula
- A flute-like instrument of Serbian origin.
|
- fue
- Any of several kinds of Japanese flute.
|
- guan
- A double-reed instrument with a cylindrical bore, of Chinese origin.
|
- harmonica
- A musical instrument, consisting of a series of hemispherical glasses which, by touching the edges with the dampened finger, give forth the tones.
|
- Heckel-clarina
- A single-reed instrument with a conical bore, originating in Germany.
|
- hichiriki
- A double-reed flute of Japanese origin, a type of fue
|
- hulusi
- A free reed instrument of Chinese origin.
|
- Irish flute
- A traditional conical-bore flute of Irish origin.
|
- Jew's harp
- A musical instrument consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo “tongue” attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer’s mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note of constant pitch. Melodies can be created by changing the shape of the mouth and causing different overtones.
|
- kagurabue
- A transverse flute of Japanese origin, used mainly in kagura performance.
|
- komabue
- A transverse flute of Japanese origin, used mainly in the traditional music of the Japanese royal court, and a type of fue.
|
- lur
- An archaic kind of long, curved horn.
|
- mellophone
- A brass instrument frequently used in place of the French horn in marching bands and similar performance groups.
|
- melodica
- A free-reed keyboard wind instrument.
|
- mey
- A cylindrical double-reed instrument used in Turkish music.
|
- mijwiz
- A pair of single-reed flutes played as one instrument, of Middle-Eastern origin.
|
- oboe
- A soprano and melody wind instrument in the modern orchestra and wind ensemble. It is a smaller instrument and generally made of grendilla wood. It is a member of the double reed family.
|
- octavin
- A single-reed instrument with a conical bore, originating in Germany.
|
- olifant
- A type of horn made from an elephant tusk.
|
- ophicleide
- A keyed brass baritone bugle, now replaced by the tuba in orchestral music.
|
- palendag
- A long bamboo flute of Filipino origin.
|
- pibgorn
- A single-reed instrument of Welsh origin.
|
- piccolo
- An instrument similar to a flute, but smaller, and playing an octave higher.
- Performer: piccoloist
- Note: The word piccolo is also used to describe a type of other instruments, designed to play in a higher pitch, such as the piccolo clarinet.
|
- pipe organ
- An aerophone that uses pressurized air controlled through a keyboard to produce sound.
|
- piri
- A double-reed instrument of Korean origin.
|
- quray
- An aerophone of Bashkir origin; a long open endblown flute with five to seven finger holes
|
- recorder
- A musical instrument of the woodwind family, fipple flute, a simple internal duct flute.
- Types: garklein recorder, sopranino recorder, soprano recorder, alto recorder, voice flute, tenor recorder, bass recorder, great bass recorder, contrabass recorder, sub-great bass recorder, sub-contrabass recorder
- Performer: recordist, recorderist
|
- ryūteki
- A transverse flute of Japanese origin.
|
- sackbut
- A brass instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras, and an ancestor of the modern trombone.
|
- saxhorn
- Any of a group of similar brass instruments, resembling a bugle in shape, but with valves.
|
- saxophone
- A single-reed instrument musical instrument of the woodwind family, usually made of brass and with a distinctive loop bringing the bell upwards.
- Synonym: sax
- Performer: saxophonist
- Types: soprillo, Sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, mezzo-soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, C melody saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass saxophone, contrabass saxophone, subcontrabass saxophone, tubax
|
- serpent
- A brass instrument shaped like a snake.
|
- shakuhachi
- A Japanese flute which is tuned to a pentatonic scale is end-blown like a recorder instead of being held transversely like the Western transverse flute, and a type of fue.
|
- shawm
- A mediaeval double reed wind instrument with a conical wooden body.
|
- sheng
- A mouth-blown free reed instrument, with vertical pipes, of Chinese origin.
|
- shō
- A free reed instrument of Japanese origin.
|
- shofar
- An archaic horn of Jewish origin, used in religious services.
|
- sipsi
- A single-reed instrument of Turkish origin.
|
- sousaphone
- A valved brass instrument with the same length as a tuba, but shaped differently so that the bell is above the head, that the valves are situated directly in front of the musical instruments and a few inches above the waist, and that most of the weight rests on one shoulder.
|
- sudrophone
- A brass instrument with a cylindrical bore and four valves.
|
- suona
- A double-reed horn of Chinese origin.
|
- taepyeongso
- A double-reed wind instrument used in the traditional music of Korea.
|
- tárogató
- Two different woodwind instruments used in Hungary and Romania.
- Note: The earliest references to the tárogató are a shawm-like double-reed instrument. It was later conflated with a more recent single-reed instrument rather more like a clarinet.
- Synonyms: (töröksíp (Turkish); tárogatós; taragot or ttorogoata (Romanian)
|
- trombone
- A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both).
- Performer: trombonist, tromboner (dated)
- Note: Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone.
- Types: tenor trombone, soprano trombone, sopranino trombone, piccolo trombone, alto trombone, bass trombone, contrabass trombone, buccin, superbone, tromboon
|
- trumpet
- A musical instrument of the brass family, generally tuned to the key of B-flat.
|
- tuba
- A large brass musical instrument, usually in the bass range, played through a vibration of the lips upon the mouthpiece and fingering of the keys.
|
- tumpong
- A kind of bamboo flute of Filipino origin.
|
- vuvuzela
- A simple plastic horn of South African origin.
|
- washint
- An end-blown flute of Ethiopian origin.
|
- xaphoon
- A modern single-reed instrument.
|
- zhaleika
- A traditional single-reed instrument of Russian origin.
|
