| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timple |  | Canary Islands | Migrating from North Africa in the 16th century to the Canary Islands and then on to Murcia, the Timple has become the traditional instrument of the Canaries. In the north Island of Tenerife many timples are played incorrectly, where by dropping the 5th string to allow for Ukulele tunning to be adopted. It is generally agreed that this method of playing the Timple is incorrect and that the timple ceases to be a Timple when only 4 strings are in use. Popular tunning is GCEAD. |
| Tin Whistle |  | Ireland | The tin whistle, also called the tinwhistle, whistle, pennywhistle,dilli ney or Irish whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. The Irish words for the instrument are feadóg ('whistle' or 'flute') or feadóg stáin. It can be described as an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the flageolet, recorder, Native American flute, and many other woodwind instruments found in traditional music. |
| Tingsha |  | Tibet | Tibetan tingsha (or Ting-Sha) (Tibetan: ཏིང་ཤགས་; Wylie: ting-shags) are small cymbals used in prayer and rituals by Tibetan Buddhist practitioners. Two cymbals are joined together by a leather strap or chain. The cymbals are struck together producing a clear and high pitched tone. Typical sizes range from 2.5–4 inches in diameter. Tingsha are very thick and produce a unique long ringing tone. Antique tingsha were made from special bronze alloys that produce harmonic overtones. |
| Tiple |  | Puerto Rico | The Tiple is the smallest of the 3 musical string instruments of Puerto Rico. Most Tiples have 4 or a 5 strings and most tiple requintos have 3 strings. The main types of Tiples in Puerto Rico are: 1. Tiple Doliente (see image) - 5 single strings; the most common used today. 2. Tiple Requinto de la montaña - a tiny version of the Tiple doliente with only three strings. 3. Tiplón or Tiple con macho - the biggest tiple. 4. Tiple Requinto costanero - a smaller version of the Tiplón with only three strings. |
| Tom-tom drum |  | United States | A tom-tom is a cylindrical drum with no snare. The tom-tom originates from Native American or Asian cultures. The tom-tom drum was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Today two "power" depth tom-toms of 12x10 (12" diameter by 10" depth) and 13x11 is the most common hanging tom configuration, and would be considered standard by most drummers. |
| Tombak |  | Iran | A tombak (also known as tonbak, donbak, dombak and zarb, in Persian تمبک) is a goblet drum from Persia (ancient Iran). It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The skin is usually glued to the body. Goat or lamb skin is the most popular material for the skin. The body of a tonbak is made of mulberry wood which gives it its distinctive sound. The body may be decorated with carved furrows. The throat is almost cylindrical and it is connected from top to the body. The throat and the small opening together are in the form of a trumpet. The large opening is in the top and is covered by the skin. |
| Tonette |  | United States | The Tonette is a small, end-blown flute made of plastic, which was once popular in American elementary music education. The Tonette was introduced in 1938. Designed as a pre-band instrument, the tonette was nearly unbreakable, chromatic, and tunable. It was easy to blow and the fingering was simple. By 1941 over half of the grammar schools in the United States had adopted the Tonette as standard pre-band equipment. The Tonette's pleasant flute-like sound was also used for special novelty effects in radio, television and film. In World War II the armed services found the Tonette to be an inexpensive and entertaining way for idle troops to pass the time. |
| Tonkori |  | Japan | The tonkori (katakana: トンコリ) is a plucked string instrument played by the Ainu people of Hokkaidō, northern Japan and Sakhalin. It is unfretted and has between three and five strings which are not stopped but instead played "open." The instrument is believed to have been developed in the Karafuto region of Sakhalin. The instrument is constructed of Jezo Spruce with strings made of gut or vegetable fiber. Its shape is traditionally said to resemble a woman's body, and the corresponding words are used for its parts. The most prominent tonkori performer is Oki Kano (see image), who often uses the instrument in contemporary and cross-cultural performances and recordings. |
| Torban |  | Ukraine | Torban was manufactured and used mainly in Ukraine, but occasionally also in Poland and Russia. There are about two dozen torbans in museums around the world, with the largest group of 14 instruments in St. Petersburg. The torban has approximately 30 strings, usually made of gut, although instruments having up to 60 strings are known to have existed. A predecessor of the torban called kobza (also known as bandura) was the instrument of the common folk. It differed from the torban by the absence of the bass strings. |
| Toy Piano |  | United States | The toy piano is a musical instrument, made as a child's toy, but which has also been used in more serious musical contexts. The instrument was invented in Philadelphia in 1872 by a German immigrant named Albert Schoenhut. It is often in the form of a scaled down model of a piano, usually no more than 50 cm in width, and made out of wood or plastic. Rather than hammers hitting strings as on a standard piano, the toy piano sounds by way of hammers hitting metal bars or rods which are fixed at one end. |
| Tracker Organ |  | Europe | A tracker organ is a pipe organ that its key action is a tracker action. A key action which physically connects the keys and the windchests is called a mechanical action or a tracker action. This connection is achieved through a series of wooden or metal rods called trackers. When the organist depresses a key, the corresponding tracker moves allowing wind to enter the pipe. Tracker action is in contrast to electrical or electro-pneumatic actions, which connect the key to the valve via an electrical link or an electrically assisted pneumatic system respectively. |
| Trautonium |  | Germany | The trautonium, a predecessor to the synthesizer, is a monophonic electronic musical instrument invented ca. 1929 by Friedrich Trautwein in Berlin. Soon Oskar Sala joined him, continuing development until Sala's death in 2002. Instead of a keyboard, its manual is made of a resistor wire over a metal plate which is pressed to create a sound. Expressive playing was possible with this wire by gliding on it or create vibrato with small movements. The image shows a Mixtur Trautonium, one of two instruments worldwide. |
| Trembita |  | Ukraine | Trembita (Ukrainian: Трембіта) is an Ukrainian alpine horn made of wood. Used primarilly by mountain dwellers known as Hutsuls in the Carpathians. It was used as a signaling device to announce deaths, funerals, weddings. The tube is made from a straight piece of pine or spruce. It is split in two in order to carve out the core section. The sections are once again joined together and then wrapped in lime bark. Today it is often used in Ukrainian ethnograophic ensembles and as an episodic instrument in the Ukrainian folk instrument orchestra. |
| Tres |  | Cuba | The tres is a chordophone created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rican tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument. The Cuban tres has three courses (groups) of two strings each for a total of six strings. From the low pitch to the highest, the principal tuning is in C Major: G, C, E. However, today many treseros are playing a step up A, D, F# or D Major. |
| Triangle |  | Europe | The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape. On a triangle instrument, one of the angles is left open, with the ends of the bar not quite touching. This causes the instrument to be of indeterminate pitch. It is either suspended from one of the other corners by a piece of thin wire or gut, leaving it free to vibrate, or hooked over the hand. It is usually struck with a metal beater, giving a high-pitched, ringing tone. |
| Trikitixa |  | Spain | Trikitixa or eskusoinu ("hand sound") is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons. Trikitixa is reportedly known since the early XIXth century, when it was imported to the Basque Country from Italy through the port of Bilbao. Other sources suggest that this kind of diatonic accordion was brought in by Italian railway workers. Currently traditional style ensembles consist of a pair playing trikitixa, tambourine and voice. Players typically use a highly-ornamented and swift style, along with staccato triplets. |
| Tro |  | Cambodia | Tro is the generic name for traditional bowed string instruments in Cambodia. Instruments in this family include the two-stringed tro u, tro sau toch, tro sau thom and tro che, as well as the three-stringed tro Khmer spike fiddle. |
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