Musical instrument

Musical instruments are things used to make music. Anything that somehow produces sound can be considered a musical instrument, but the term generally means items that are specifically for making music.

Musical instruments can be divided by type into:

An orchestra has instruments from four families:

bowed string instruments (e.g. violin)
woodwind (e.g. flute)
brass (e.g. trumpet)
percussion (e.g. drums)

Some people think that the voice is a "natural musical instrument" because singing is a way to make music without any instrument at all.

Musical Instrument Media

Anne Vallayer-Coster, Attributes of Music, 1770. This still life painting depicts a variety of French Baroque musical instruments, such as a natural horn, transverse flute, musette, pardessus de viole, and lute.
Bamileke slit drum drummers in Cameroon's West Province.
Found in Slovenia, the Divje Babe Flute is sometimes considered the world's oldest known musical instrument
Two Aztec slit drums (teponaztli). The characteristic "H" slits can be seen on the top of the drum in the foreground.
Molo, a lute of the Hausa people of northern Nigeria.
Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting lute players, 18th Dynasty (c. 1350 BC)
The monumental Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, c. 5th century BCE, from Hubei
Carnyx discovered in Tintignac
The Alboka has a double-reed that vibrates when blown on the small tube. The tubes regulates the melody and the big horn amplifies the sound.
An Indonesian metallophone