| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valiha |  | Madagascar | The valiha is a bamboo tube zither from Madagascar. It is played by plucking the strings, which may be made of metal or (originally) the bamboo skin which is pried up in long strands and propped up by small bridges. The strings are generally made of bicycle brake cable. The cables are unstrung into individual strands and each string of the instrument is made of only one or two strands of the cable, depending upon the tastes of the player. |
| Veena |  | India | Veena is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family. Veena is a string instrument with two gourd resonators connected by a central shaft, possibly of bamboo, and held diagonally from lap to shoulder. |
| Venezuelan Cuatro |  | Venezuela | The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (ADF#B). It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. Most Venezuelan rhythms rely on the cuatro as their rhythmic and harmonic base. It is used in most genres of the different regions of Venezuela, such as Joropo in the Llanos, Gaita in Zulia, Galeron in the Oriente or calypso in Guayana. |
| Venu |  | India | The venu is a keyless bamboo transverse flute used in the Carnatic music of South India. Although it is often called Carnatic flute or simply flute in English, venu is the instrument's ancient Sanskrit name. The flute has a blowing hole near one end, and eight closely placed finger holes. The fingers of both hands are used to close and open the holes. The instrument comes in various sizes. The venu is associated with the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it. The image shows Krishna (holding a venu) with Radha (right). |
| Vertical Slit Drum |  | Vanuatu | Traditional music in Vanuatu was limited to the human voice with rhythmic accompaniment from slit drums. The remarkable, large, vertical slit gongs which symbolize Vanuatu, and are to be seen in ethnological institutions around the world, were used only for communication. The image shows 3 wooden slit drums from Vanuatu, Bernice P. Bishop Museum. |
| Vest Frottoir |  | United States | A vest frottoir is an instrument used in Zydeco music. It is usually made from pressed, corrugated aluminium and is worn over the shoulders. It is played as a rhythm instrument by stroking either bottle openers or spoons down it. Many of these instruments are home made, but Don Landry of Louisiana is a renowned maker of frottoirs - or rub-boards as they are known, making them for Clifton Chenier's band (see image) and Elvis Fontenot and the Sugar Bees, amongst others. |
| Vibraphone |  | United States | The vibraphone, also known as vibraharp or vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion family. It is similar in appearance to the xylophone and marimba, although the vibraphone uses aluminum bars instead of the wooden bars of those instruments. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to that used on a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars are all damped and the sound of each bar is quite short; with the pedal down, they will sound for several seconds. The most common uses of the vibraphone are within jazz music, where it often plays a featured role, and in the wind ensemble, as a standard component of the percussion section. |
| Vichitra Veena |  | India | The vichitra veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic gottuvadhyam (chitra vina). It has no frets and is played with a slide. The Vichitra Veena is the modern form of ancient Ektantri Veena. It is made of a broad, fretless, horizontal arm or crossbar (dand) around three feet long and six inches wide, with two large resonating gourds (tumba), which are inlaid with ivory and attached underneath at either end. The narrow ends of the instrument are fashioned into peacock heads, the national bird of India. |
| Vielle |  | Europe | The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs. The instrument was also known as a fidel or a viuola, although the French name for the instrument, vielle, is generally used. It was one of the most popular instruments of the Medieval period, and was used by troubadours (composers and performers of songs) and jongleurs (medieval European bards) from the 13th through the 15th centuries. |
| Vienna Horn |  | Austria | The Vienna horn (German: Wiener Horn) is a type of horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic and Wiener Staatsoper. The Vienna horn uses a peculiar form of double cylinder valve associated with the Viennese firm Uhlmann of the 1840s known as a pumpenvalve, which is distinct from although similar to the standard piston valve. |
| Viol |  | Europe | The viol (also called viola da gamba) is any one of a family of bowed, fretted stringed musical instruments developed in the 1400s and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Spanish vihuela (a guitar-like plucked string instrument). Some degree of developmental influence, if only in playing posture, is credited to the Moorish rebab as well. Viols most commonly had six strings, although many 16th century instruments had five or even four strings. Unlike members of the violin family, which are tuned in fifths, viols are usually tuned in fourths with a major third in the middle, mirroring the tuning employed on the vihuela de mano and lute during the 16th century, and similar to that of the modern six-string guitar. The image shows a portrait of French composer and viola da gamba master Marin Marais, by Andre Bouys, 1704. |
| Viola |  | Europe | The viola (French, alto; German Bratsche) is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello. The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range (the viola is a perfect fifth below the violin), and identical playing position. However, the viola's timbre sets it apart: its rich, dark-toned sonority is more full-bodied than the violin's. The viola's mellow voice is frequently used for playing inner harmonies, and it does not enjoy the wide solo repertoire or fame of the violin. A "full-size" viola's body is between one and four inches longer than the body of a full-size violin, with an average length of about 16 inches (41 cm). |
| Viola D'amore |  | Europe | The viola d'amore (Italian: love viol) is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. The viola d'amore shares many features of the viol family. Like viols, it has a flat back and intricately carved head at the top of the peg box, but unlike viols, it is unfretted, and played much like a violin, being held horizontally under the chin. It is about the same size as the modern viola. The viola d'amore usually has six or seven playing strings, which are sounded by drawing a bow across them, just as with a violin. In addition, it has an equal number sympathetic strings located below the main strings and the fingerboard which are not played directly but vibrate in sympathy with the notes played. Largely thanks to the sympathetic strings, the viola d'amore has a particularly sweet and warm sound. |
| Violin |  | Finland | The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. A violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. |
| Violone |  | Europe | The violone (literally "large viol") is a musical instrument of the viol family. The largest/lowest member of that family, the violone is a fretted instrument with six strings (although some versions had five, or, more rarely, four strings), generally tuned a fifth or an octave below the bass viol. Thus, the violone can properly be called a contrabass instrument, being tuned lower than the bass instrument. The name is also used sometimes for the 8' bass violin (cf. violoncello). The image shows a violone by maker Amit Tiefenbrunn. |
| Violotta |  | Germany | A violotta is a tenor viola (or tenor violin) invented by the German luthier Alfred Stelzner and patented in 1891. It is tuned in G D A E, an octave below the violin. Other instruments called "tenor violin" were tuned a step lower: F C G D (a fifth below the viola). It is rarely used by composers. One of the few works where it is used is the String Quintet in A by Felix Draeseke. |
| Volynka |  | Ukraine | The Volynka (Ukrainian: Волинка) is a Slavic bagpipe. Its etymology comes from the region where it probably was invented - Volyn of Ukraine. The volynka is constructed around a goat skin air reservoir into which air is blown through a pipe with a valve to stop air escaping. Two to four of playing pipes extend from the reservoir holding the air. The main playing pipe on which the melody is played has five to eight finger holes. The other pipes produce a drone. This is usually either a single tonic note or a perfect fifth. Each of these playing pipes has a double reed usually made from a goose quill. |
| Vuvuzela |  | South Africa | A vuvuzela is an air horn, approximately one metre in length, made from plastic and commonly seen at soccer matches all over the world. Vuvuzela: A rough translation from Zulu meaning making noise. This soccer horn originally made out of tin, but is now locally manufactured (in South Africa) in plastic. It has largely influenced and shaped South Africa’s soccer and sport culture into the alive, vocal and energetic state that it is in today. |
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