page_title: Idiophone
hierarchical_section_title: Idiophone
caption_attribution_description: English: Latin jazz percussion sticks called 'clave' (foreground), and a conga drum in the background
context_page_description: An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air, strings or membranes. It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. The early classification of Victor-Charles Mahillon called this group of instruments autophones. The most common are struck idiophones, or concussion idiophones, which are made to vibrate by being struck, either directly with a stick or hand or indirectly, by way of a scraping or shaking motion. Various types of bells fall into both categories. A common plucked idiophone is the Jew's harp.
context_section_description: An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air (as is the case with aerophones), strings (chordophones) or membranes (membranophones). It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification (see List of idiophones by Hornbostel–Sachs number). The early classification of Victor-Charles Mahillon called this group of instruments autophones. The most common are struck idiophones, or concussion idiophones, which are made to vibrate by being struck, either directly with a stick or hand (like the wood block, singing bowl, steel tongue drum, triangle or marimba) or indirectly, by way of a scraping or shaking motion (like maracas or flexatone). Various types of bells fall into both categories. A common plucked idiophone is the Jew's harp.
caption: Claves (foreground), a struck idiophone
exif: {}