LibGuides: World Music: Studying Musical Instruments of the World

Introduction

Identifying and studying unfamiliar instruments is an important part of world music research. This page collects resources to help you learn about musical instruments from around the world as well as find examples of what they look and sound like.

Suggested Library Resources

Below you'll find several key reference books for the study of musical instruments from around the world.

Research Tip: Before exploring the books below, it may help to become familiar with the Hornbostel-Sachs system of instrument classification, which categorizes instruments according to their manner of producing sound.

The Hornbostel-Sachs system is used frequently in discussions of instruments from around the world, and reading some brief background will help you better navigate the resources on the rest of this page.

Musical Instruments of the World
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML102.I5 D42 and MPAL Stacks 781.91 D542M
Details the forms, decoration, evolutions, methods of sounding past and present, and mechanical and electrical instruments from around the world, ranging through folk, popular, orchestral, and national instruments of every kind.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments
Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML102.I5 I44 and MPAL Stacks ML102.I5 I44
The encyclopedia focuses mostly on Western instruments but also includes a section on "Non-Western & Obsolete Instruments."
The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
Call Number: ML102.I5 N48
Like the other resources, this focuses primarily on Western instruments but does cover quite a few non-Western instruments. It also has information about well-known makers and manufacturers.

Sounds of Specific Instruments

Smithsonian Global Sound This link opens in a new window
Smithsonian Global Sound includes a collection of recorded instrument sounds. Select "Instruments" from the "Browse" Menu to explore a variety of instrument sounds.

Images of Instruments

If you are looking for images of different musical instruments, check out some of the collections linked below. There are several major musical instruments collections - at universities, museums, and societies - that include instrument photographs for patrons to browse online.

Yale Collection of Musical Instruments
The Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments is committed to fostering an understanding and appreciation of musical instruments from all cultures and periods. One of the foremost institutions of its kind, the Collection acquires, preserves, and exhibits musical instruments from antiquity to the present, and showcases restored examples in demonstrations and live performances.
Musical Instruments Museum Online
Gateway to the world's largest freely accessible database for information on musical instruments held in public collections. The database now contains the records of 64,166 instruments.
UW Ethnomusicology Musical Instrument Collection
The University of Washington Ethnomusicology Division houses over 400 musical instruments from around the world. The digitized images in the musical instrument database are intended for educational and instructional use. If you cite or download images, please acknowledge the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives.
National Music Museum Collections
Thousands of objects from our permanent collections, from accordions to zithers and everything in between, can be viewed online in our eMuseum portal. Visit eMuseum here or explore the object categories below to view online records.
American Musical Instrument Society list of collections
The American Musical Instrument Society promotes better understanding of all aspects of the history, design, construction, restoration, and usage of musical instruments in all cultures and from all periods.