Hornbostel, Erich Moritz von

Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, and first published in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie in 1914. An English translation was published in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961.

The Hornbostel–Sachs system categorizes musical instruments by how they make sound. It divides instruments into five groups: idiophones, membranophones, chordophones, aerophones, and electrophones. A number of instruments also exist outside the five main classes.

Hornbostel Name Meaning North German: habitational name from a place so called near Celle.

Inside a piano, there are strings, and there is a long row of uniformly rounded felt-covered hammers. In the traditional Hornbostel-Sachs system of categorizing musical instruments, the piano is considered a type of chordophone. Similar to a lyre or a harp, it has strings stretched between two points.

Under the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, aerophones are broken down into free aerophones and non-free aerophones. Free aerophones are instruments where the vibrating air is not confined to the inside of the instrument itself (eg. accordions and pitch pipes).

Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones.

Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. Instruments are classified using 5 different categories depending on the manner in which the instrument creates the sound: Idiophones, Membranophones, Chordophones, Aerophones, & Electrophones.

West the most widely accepted system of classification is that developed by E.M. von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, a method based on the type of material that is set into vibration to produce the original sound. Thus, stringed instruments are identified as chordophones - that is to say, instruments in which the…

Music can be divided into genres in numerous ways, such as popular music and art music, or religious music and secular music. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some genres may overlap.

Keyboard instrumentStruck string instruments Piano/Instrument family

Among ethnomusicologists, it is the most widely used system for classifying musical instruments. Instruments are classified using 5 different categories depending on the manner in which the instrument creates the sound: Idiophones, Membranophones, Chordophones, Aerophones, & Electrophones.

Shakuhachi