| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shlemovidnye Gusli |  | Russia | Shlemovidnye gusli is one of the traditional folk instruments from Russia. It is a helmet-shaped gusli. It is a variety of gusli held by the musician on his knees, so that strings were horizontal, resonator body under them. The musician uses his left hand to mute unnecessary strings and thus forming chords, while passing all the strings with his right hand. The instrument was spread in southern and western regions of Kievan Rus’. |
| shō |  | Japan | The shō (笙) is a Japanese free reed musical instrument that was introduced from China during the Nara period. It consists of 17 slender bamboo pipes, each of which is fitted in its base with a metal free reed. The instrument's sound is said to imitate the call of a phoenix. The pipes are tuned carefully with a drop of wax. As moisture collected in the shō's pipes prevents it from sounding, performers can be seen warming the instrument over a small charcoal brazier when they are not playing. The shō is one of the three primary woodwind instruments used in gagaku, Japan's imperial court music. The image shows a Chinese sheng (left) and a Japanese shō (right.) |
| Shofar |  | Israel | A shofar (Hebrew: שופר) is a musical instrument used for religious/non-religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar is sometimes used in Western classical music. In pop music, the shofar is used by the Israeli Oriental metal band Salem in their adaptation of "Al Taster" psalm. Trumpeter Lester Bowie plays a shofar with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In Joey Arkenstat's album Bane, the former bassist for Phish is credited for playing the shofar. The image shows a shofar made from the horn of a kudu. |
| Shurangiz |  | Iran | The shurangiz is a newly Iranian musical instrument, a member of the lute family, developed under supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh. It has a skin face, six strings, a longer finer fingerboard and increased number of frets comparing with its original prototype setar. The image shows Hossein Alizadeh at a concert in London. |
| Shvi |  | Armenia | The Shvi (Armenian: Շվի; literally whistle) is a woodwind instrument with a libium mouth piece. It typically has a range of an octave and a-half. The Tav Shvi is made from apricot wood, it is up to 18 inches long, and is tuned 1/4 lower producing a more lyrical and intimate sound. The shvi is up to 12 inches in length and is made of reed, the bark of willows, or walnut wood. It has 8 holes on the front, 7 of which are used while playing, and 1 thumbhole. One octave is obtained by blowing normally into the shvi and a second octave is attained by blowing with slightly more force. |
| Sihu |  | China | The sihu (四胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument with four strings. It is a member of the huqin family of instruments. Its soundbox and neck are made from hardwood and the playing end of the soundbox is covered with python, cow, or sheep skin. The sihu is primarily associated with the mongolian culture. It is also used as a traditional instrument in the Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang provinces of China. |
| Siku |  | Andes | The siku (also "Sicu," "Sicus," "Zampolla" or Spanish zampoña), is a traditional Andean panpipe. It accompanies the folk music of the high Andes, where it is widely used. It is one of the main instruments in Andean Huayno and the principal instrument in Sikuri and K'antu. Sikus are typically made from bamboo tubes, but have also been made from Condor feathers, bone, and many other materials. Additionally, different types of bamboo are employed to change the quality of the sound. Siku is split across two rows of pipes. One must alternate rows with every note in order to play a complete scale. Traditionally, two musicians were required to play the siku - each one taking one row of the instrument. |
| Sil-snyan |  | China | Sil-snyan is a pair of small hand cymbals linked togehther. It is accompanied by the dung-dkar (a conch instrument) and the “mchod-rnga” (an offering drum) in an ensemble, a traditional offering to Buddha. The sound of the ensemble is said to make the ghosts panic and Buddha happy. |
| Singing Bowl |  | Tibet | Singing bowls (also known as 'Himalayan bowls' or 'rin' or suzu gongs in Japan) are a type of bell, specifically classified as a standing bell. Rather than hanging inverted or attached to a handle, standing bells sit with the bottom surface resting. The sides and rim of singing bowls vibrate to produce sound. Singing bowls were traditionally used throughout Asia as part of Bön and Tantric Buddhist sadhana. Today they are employed worldwide both within and without these spiritual traditions, for meditation, relaxation, healthcare, personal well-being and religious practice. |
| Singing Ringing Tree |  | England | The Singing Ringing Tree is a musical sculpture set in the landscape of the Pennines overlooking Burnley, in the north west of England.Completed in 2006, it is part of the series of four sculptures within the Panopticons arts and regeneration project. Designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu, the Singing Ringing Tree is "constructed from pipes of galvanised steel, which harnesses the energy of the prevailing winds", to produce a slightly discordant and penetrating choral sound covering a range of several octaves. Some of the pipes are primarily structural and aesthetic elements, while others have been "cut across their width enabling the sound". The harmonic and "singing" qualities of the tree were produced by tuning the pipes "according to their length by adding holes to the underside of each". |
| Sintir |  | Morocco | The sintir, also known as the Guembri or Hejhouj, is a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco. It is approximately the size of a guitar, with a body a carved from a log and covered on the playing side with camel. The neck is a simple stick with one short and two long goat strings that produce a percussive sound similar to a pizzicato cello or double bass. |
| Sistrum |  | Egypt | A sistrum is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and between 10 and 30 cm in width. When shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can range from a soft tinkling to a loud jangling. |
| Sitar |  | India | The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance. Predominantly used in Hindustani classical, sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages. This instrument is used throughout the Indian subcontinent. |
| Skull Drum |  | Tibet | The skull drum (damaru) is an hourglass-shaped drum constructed of two inverted skull caps, symbolic of the joining of the female and male elements of life. Silver band, ornamented with coral and turquoise stones, connects the two halves. Played by rotating, causing the swinging beater to strike each head. The skull drum, often paired with a dribu (hand bell) in Tibetan chanting. The image shows a monk chanting in Lhasa, 1993. The right hand of the monk is holding a skull drum. |
| Slenthem |  | Indonesia | The slenthem (also spelled slentem) is an instrument in the gamelan. It is similar to the family of sarons, in that it usually has seven keys and a range of about an octave, pitched below the saron demung (the lowest saron), and generally the same as the slentho. However, in sound it is much softer than the saron, because its keys are in the delicate shape of those of the gendér, and it is hit with soft mallets (tabuh) like those used on the gendér. The resonator bars below the keys are more similar to the gendér than the saron. It generally plays the basic melody (balungan) of a composition, although it sometimes uses techniques similar to the saron to elaborate. It is especially favored in quieter gamelan ensembles. |
| Slide Guitar |  | United States | Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide is in reference to the sliding motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides, which were the necks of glass bottles. Instead of altering the pitch of the strings in the normal manner (by pressing the string against frets), a slide is placed upon the string to vary its vibrating length, and pitch. This slide can then be moved along the string without lifting, creating continuous transitions in pitch. Slides may be used on any guitar, but slides generally and steels in particular are often used on instruments specifically made to be played in this manner. |
| Slide Whistle |  | United States | A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee whistle, piston flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. It thus has an air reed like some woodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. Because the air column is cylindrical and open at one end and closed at the other, it overblows the third harmonic. The slide whistle is most commonly used as a sound effect, but it is also possible to play melodies on it. |
| Slit Gong |  | Cameroon | A slit gong, or slit drum, is a log drum used throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. It is usually called a boungu in Africa. A whole log is hollowed out through a narrow slit running the length of the log. Slit gong players use padded sticks to produce a range of penetrating musical notes, depending on where and how the gong is struck. The gong may be carved into various pleasing or significant shapes. They are sometimes referred to as a type of drum, but this is incorrect; drums are membranophones whereas a slit gong is an idiophone. In most instruments, the wood on the two sides of the slit is of different thickness, resulting in tones of different pitch. They can therefore be used to imitate the tonal patterns found in tonal languages. Instruments with two slits (see image) can thus have up to four different pitches. |
| Snare Drum |  | Europe | The snare drum or side drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the bottom head. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom (internal) side of the top (batter) head to make a 'tighter' sound. Originally, snare drums were military instruments originating from Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were commonly called a tabor and were used with the fife in the Swiss military. Today, the snare drum can be found in nearly every form of western music. The image shows snares on a drum. |
| Sogeum |  | Korea | The sogeum (also spelled sogum or sogŭm) is a small bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. Unlike the larger daegeum, it does not have a buzzing membrane (although it did have one in ancient times). It is used in court, aristocratic, and folk music, as well as in contemporary classical music, popular music, and film scores. |
| Sogo |  | Korea | Sogo means a "small drum" and it is used in Pungmullori as well as various types of Korean dances. The drum is held together with a knob with one hand and is beaten on the drumhead with a firm stick with the other hand. Its size and appearance vary according to the region it is in. |
| Sopilka |  | Ukraine | Sopilka (Ukrainian: Cопiлка) is a name applied to a variety of woodwind instruments of the flute family used by Ukrainian folk instrumentalists. It most commonly refers to a fife made of a variety of materials (but traditionally out of wood) and has six to ten finger holes. Sopilkas are used by a variety of Ukrainian folkloric ensembles recreating the traditional music of the various sub-ethnicities in western Ukraine, most notably that of the Hutsuls of the Carpathian Mountains. Often employing several sopilkas in concert, a skilled performer can mimic a variety of sounds found in nature, including bird-calls and insects. |
| Sopranino Saxophone |  | Europe | The sopranino saxophone is one of the smallest members of the saxophone family. A sopranino saxophone is tuned in the key of E-flat, and sounds an octave above the alto saxophone. This saxophone has a sweet sound and although the sopranino is one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use today it is still being produced by several of the major musical manufacturing companies. Due to their small size, sopraninos are not usually curved like other saxophones. Orsi, however, does make curved sopranino saxophones. Shown in the image (left to right): a curved E-flat sopranino saxophone, a straight E-flat sopranino saxophone, a C soprano saxophone, and a B-flat soprano saxophone. |
| Soprano Clarinet |  | Europe | The soprano clarinets are a sub-family of the clarinet family. They include the most common types of clarinets, and indeed are often referred to as simply "clarinets". Among the soprano clarinets are the B♭ clarinet, the most common type, whose range extends from D below middle C (written E) to about the C three octaves above the C on the staff (or three octaves above middle C); the A and C clarinets, sounding respectively a semitone lower and a whole tone higher than the B♭ clarinet; and the low G clarinet, sounding yet a whole tone lower than the A, rare in western music but popular in the folk music of Turkey. |
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