| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bianqing |  | China | The bianqing (Chinese: 編磬) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of L-shaped flat stone chimes, played melodically. The chimes were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the bronze bells called bianzhong, they were an important instrument in China's ritual and court music going back to ancient times. A similar instrument was imported to Korea, where it is called pyeongyeong and still used in Korean court and ritual music. |
| Bianzhong |  | China | Bianzhong (編鐘) is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, played melodically. The bells were hung in a wooden frame and struck with a mallet. Along with the stone chimes called bianqing, they were an important instrument in China's ritual and court music going back to ancient times. |
| Biniou |  | France | Binioù means bagpipe in the Breton language. There are two kinds of Binioù found in Brittany: the binioù kozh (kozh means "old" in Breton) and the binioù bras (bras means "big"), sometimes also called pib-veur. The binioù bras is essentially the same as the Scottish great Highland bagpipe; sets are manufactured by Breton makers or imported from Scotland or elsewhere. |
| Biwa |  | Japan | The biwa (琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, and a close variant of the Chinese pipa. The biwa is the chosen instrument of Benten, Goddess of music, eloquence, poetry, and education in Japanese Buddhism. The biwa derives from a Chinese lute called pipa, which itself derives from a Persian/Middle Eastern lute called barbat. Barbat's modern descendant in Arabic regions is called oud. |
| Bo Cymbals |  | China | The bo (bronze cymbals) were frequently used in Sui and Tang dynasties (AD 581-907) with varying designs. Now it is commonly made of high-tin bronze. The performer strikes the cymbals together. The most common type now is the jingbo (the prefix jing referring to Beijing, the prefix used to define the instruments in the Beijing opera). This type is clear and forceful in tone quality. It is also used in other regional opera genres and ensembles, and is one of the four major instruments (drum, large and small gongs and cymbals) in the jubilant luogu (锣鼓) (gong and drum) music. |
| Bodhran |  | Ireland | The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65cm (10" to 26") in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45cm (14" to 18"). The sides of the drum are 9 to 20cm (3½" to 8") deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (although nowadays, synthetic heads, or new materials like kangaroo skin, are sometimes used). The other side is open ended for one hand to be placed against the inside of the drum head to control the pitch and timbre. One or two crossbars, sometimes removable, may be inside the frame, but this is increasingly rare on professional instruments. The image shows a bodhrán with two-headed tipper. |
| Bolombatto |  | Mali | The bolombatto is a traditional stringed instrument that features in the music of West Africa. It consists of four strings, stretched over a gourd, which serves as a resonator. In addition, the instrument also has a tin rattle attached to its body, which the musician plays by striking the strings and gourd simultaneously, adding an element of percussion to the music. In this way, it is similar to the sinding. The bolombatto was originally played by shepherds, who used the combined sounds of the strings and percussion to frighten away wild animals. |
| Bombarde |  | Brittany | The bombarde, or bombard (in Breton) is a folk musical instrument from Brittany and Cornwall that is a cross between an oboe and a conical-bored pipe chanter (the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody). The bombarde is blown by the mouth; the reed is held between the lips. Typically pitched in B flat, it plays a diatonic scale over two octaves. |
| Bombo |  | Spain | A bombo is a kind of bass drum used in traditional music in Spain, Portugal and South America. |
| Bombo Legüero |  | Argentina | Bombo legüero is an Argentine drum traditionally made of a hollowed tree trunk and covered with cured skins of animals such as goats, cows or sheep. It derives instead from the old European military drums, and uses a similar arrangement of hoops and leather thongs and loops to tighten the drumheads, which are usually double. The player’s hands hold a soft-headed mallet and a stick, which strike drumhead and wooden rim in alternation. The bombo serves as a combination of bass and percussion, not just maintaining the meter, but evoking an elemental, visceral response. It is called legüero because it can be heard from many leguas. |
| Bonang |  | Indonesia | The bonang is a musical instrument used in the Javanese gamelan. It is a collection of small gongs (sometimes called "kettles" or "pots") placed horizontally onto strings in a wooden frame (rancak), either one or two rows wide. All of the kettles have a central boss, but around it the lower-pitched ones have a flattened head, while the higher ones have an arched one. Each is tuned to a specific pitch in the appropriate scale; thus there are different bonang for pelog and slendro. They are typically hit with padded sticks (tabuh). This is similar to the other cradled gongs in the gamelan, the kethuk, kempyang, and kenong. |
| Bones |  | Ireland | The bones are a folk instrument which, at the simplest, consists of a pair of animal bones, or pieces of wood or a similar material. Sections of large rib bones and lower leg bones are the most commonly used true bones, although wooden sticks shaped like the earlier true bones are now more often used. They have contributed to many music genres, including 19th century minstrel shows, traditional Irish music, the blues, bluegrass, zydeco, French-Canadian music, and music from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. The image shows a painting titled "The Bone Player" by William Sidney Mount, 1856. |
| Bongos |  | Cuba | Bongo drums or bongos are a percussion instrument made up of two small drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called a hembra (Spanish: female), the smaller drum is called a macho (Spanish: male). |
| Border Pipes |  | Scotland | The border pipes are a musical instrument that is a close cousin of the Great Highland Bagpipe. It is commonly confused with the Scottish smallpipe, although it is a quite different and much older instrument. Other names have been used for the instrument - lowland pipes in Scotland, and in Northumberland, half-long pipes, this term now referring particularly to surviving examples from the 1920's when there was a partially successful attempt to revive the instrument. The instrument has a conical-bored chanter, in contrast to the cylindrically-bored Scottish smallpipe, and hence sounds at pitch, rather than an octave lower, as the latter instrument does. It is also much louder than the Scottish smallpipe, though not as loud or raucous as the Great Highland Bagpipe. |
| Bouzouki |  | Greece | The bouzouki (plural sometimes transliterated as bouzoukia) is the mainstay of modern Greek music as well as other Balkan folk music, particularly of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck. The bouzouki is a member of the 'long neck lute' family and is similar to a mandolin. The front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound. |
| Buben |  | Russia | Buben (Бубен in Russian, Бубон in Ukrainian, buben in Czech, bęben in Polish) is a musical instrument of the percussion family similar to a tambourine. A buben consists of a wooden or metal hoop with a tight membrane stretched over one of its sides (some bubens have no membrane at all). Certain kinds of bubens are equipped with clanking metal rings, plates, cymbals, or little bells. It is held in the hand and can be played in numerous ways, from stroking or shaking the jingles to striking it sharply with hand. It is used for rhythmical accompaniment during dances, soloist or choral singing. Buben is often used by some folk and professional bands, as well as orchestras. |
| Buccina |  | Greece | The Buccina (also Bucina, bukanē) is a brass curved-trumpet used in the ancient Greek army. It was originally designed as a tube measuring some 11 to 12 feet in length, of narrow cylindrical bore, and played by means of a cup-shaped mouthpiece. The tube is bent round upon itself from the mouthpiece to the bell in the shape of a broad C and is strengthened by means of a bar across the curve, which the performer grasps while playing to steady the instrument. The bell curves over his head or shoulder. |
| Bugle |  | Germany | The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments; it is essentially a small natural horn with no valves. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series. |
| Buhay |  | Ukraine | The Buhay is a percussive that was used in Western Ukraine and is classified as a friction drum. It consists of a conical barrel (sometimes a wooden bucket). At one end a sheep membrane is stretched with a hole in this skin's center. Through this hole a tuft of horse hair with a knot at one end is passed. Usually two performers are needed to operate the instrument, one to hold the instrument, the other to pull the horsehair with moistened fingers. In recent times versions of the Buhay have been made which are held in position by the players feet allowing one player to play the instrument. These instruments can be played successfully by one player without assistance. Five to six different sounds can be obtained from the instrument, depending on the skill of the player. |
| Buk Drum |  | Korea | A buk is a traditional Korean drum. It is barrel-shaped, with a round wooden body covered on both ends with animal skin. It is played with both an open hand and a wooden stick in the other hand. The buk is one of the four instruments used in samul nori, a modern performance version of pungmul. |
| Bukhalo |  | Ukraine | The bukhalo is a type of large drum often used in dance music, particularly popular in Western Ukraine. It is tied to the player with a belt so that the performer can also dance. The bukhalo is struck with a wooden stick and often has a cymbal joined to the side of the instrument which is struck by a metal rod, or another cymbal, to produce unexpected rhythmic sounds. |
| Byzaanchy |  | Tuva | The byzaanchy (Tuvan: бызаанчы; Russian: Бизанчи; also transliterated byzanchi or byzanchie) is a four-stringed vertical spike fiddle used in the traditional music of Tuva. It is similar to the Chinese sihu. However, the byzaanchy's soundbox is generally made of wood whereas the sihu usually has a metal soundbox. The byzaanchy's soundbox may be cylindrical or, more rarely, cubical. The instrument's four strings are in courses of two, one of each pair tuned together, to the interval of a fifth. The horsehair bow is divided into two portions of hair. A carved horse's head generally features at the top of the instrument's wooden neck. |
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