| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Udu |  | Nigeria | The udu is an African pottery-drum originated by the Igbo and Hausa peoples of Nigeria. In the Igbo language, udu means vessel. Actually being a water jug with an additional hole, it was played by women for ceremonial uses. Usually the udu is made of clay. The instrument is played by hand and produces a special and unique bass sound by quickly hitting the big hole. Furthermore the whole corpus can be played by fingers. Today it is widely used by percussionists in different music styles. Fascinated by the possibilities and the various pitches of the usual Udu, Behnam Samani, a master in Persian percussion, created a new form, which still keeps the soft round harmonious bass tones yet opens the way to new inspiration and experience. |
| Udukai |  | India | The udukai is a hour-glass shaped, small drum with a thong attached to the narrow waist. It is used in folk music and prayers in South India. |
| Ugly Stick |  | Canada | The ugly stick is a traditional Newfoundland musical instrument fashioned out of household and tool shed items, typically a mop handle with bottle caps, tin cans, small bells and other noise makers. The instrument is played with a drum stick and has a distinctive sound. |
| Uh |  | Korea | The uh is a tiger-shaped wooden percussion instrument used by Korean since the Goryeo period. A bamboo stick, which is split at its end into nine branches, is used to scratch and beat the instrument. At the end of the ritual music, the head of the tiger is beaten three times and scraped on its back once. This process is repeated three times to signal the end of the ritual music. |
| Uilleann Pipes |  | Ireland | Uilleann pipes (or "Union pipes") are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. The uilleann pipes bag is inflated by means of a small set of bellows strapped around the waist and the right arm. The bellows not only relieves the player from the effort needed to blow into a bag to maintain pressure, they also allow relatively dry air to power the reeds, reducing the adverse affects of moisture on tuning and longevity. The uilleann pipes have a different harmonic structure, sounding sweeter and quieter than many other bagpipes. The uilleann pipes are usually played indoors, and are almost always played sitting down. The chanter has a range of two full octaves, including sharps and flats. The chanter can be played staccato by resting the bottom of the chanter on the piper's knee to close off the bottom hole and then open and close only the tone holes required. |
| Ukelele |  | Hawaii | The ukulele is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four strings or four courses of strings. The ukulele is commonly associated with music from Hawaii, where the name roughly translates as "jumping flea", and was developed there in the 1880s as a combination of the Madeiran braguinha and rajão. |
| Upright Piano |  | United States | Upright pianos, also called vertical pianos, are more compact because the frame and strings are placed vertically, extending in both directions from the keyboard and hammers. It is considered harder to produce a sensitive piano action when the hammers move horizontally, as the vertical hammer return is dependent on springs which are prone to wear and tear. The grand piano hammers return by gravity, hence their return will always remain more consistent than the vertical hammers, thus giving pianists better control of their playing. However, a well-regulated vertical piano will probably play smoother than a grand piano that has not been regulated for years, and the very best upright pianos now approach the level of some grand pianos of the same size in tone quality and responsiveness. |
Prev Top Next |
