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–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.
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.
Expert-Verified Answer
It is one of the most important classification system of musical instruments. It helps us understanding the underlying mechanism behind the working of instruments. It helps us to gain a deeper insight on this topic. This will further be of our use if we want to learn any if the instruments.
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).
Hornbostel Name Meaning
North German: habitational name from a place so called near Celle.
The Hornbostel-Sachs system divides membranophones into five categories: struck membranophones, plucked membranophones, friction membranophones, singing membranophones, and other membranophones.
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…
Erich Moritz von Hornbostel (25 February 1877 – 28 November 1935) was an Austrian ethnomusicologist and scholar of music. He is remembered for his pioneering work in the field of ethnomusicology, and for the Sachs–Hornbostel system of musical instrument classification which he co-authored with Curt Sachs.
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).
The Sachs-Hornbostel system further classifies aerophones as free aerophones or as wind instruments proper. The wind instruments subdivide into edge instruments, reedpipes, and trumpet-type instruments according to their manner of tone production.
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