Instrument Families
Six ways of grouping instruments by how they make sound and how they are played. Start with a family, then follow the entries into the details.
Keyboard
Instruments played from a row of keys that sets the sound mechanism in motion.
1 entry →02Strings
Instruments whose sound begins with a vibrating string — bowed, plucked, strummed or struck.
13 entries →03Woodwinds
Instruments that shape a column of air with finger holes or keys, sounded by an edge or a reed.
5 entries →04Brass
Instruments sounded by the player’s buzzing lips and tuned by the length of their tubing.
4 entries →05Percussion
Instruments sounded by striking, from tuned bars to drums with membranes.
5 entries →06Free-reed
Instruments in which thin metal tongues vibrate freely through a slot, driven by breath or bellows.
2 entries →Families are a practical guide, not a rigid law of nature: a saxophone is metal but belongs with the woodwinds, and an accordion has keys but is grouped by its reeds. The article Instrument Families and How They Are Classified explains where these lines come from and where they blur. Prefer a finer search? Use the filterable catalogue to combine family with playing method, range, context and period.