Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Contrabass Bugle | Canada | The contrabass bugle, usually shortened to contra, is the lowest-pitched instrument in the drum and bugle corps hornline. It is essentially the drum corps' counterpart to the marching band's sousaphone: the lowest-pitched member of the hornline, and a replacement for the concert tuba on the marching field. | |
Contrabass Clarinet | Germany | The contrabass clarinet is the largest member of the clarinet family that has ever been in regular production or significant use. Modern contrabass clarinets are pitched in B♭, sounding two octaves lower than the common B♭ soprano clarinet and one octave lower than the B♭ bass clarinet. Some contrabass clarinet models have a range extending down to low (written) E♭, while others can play down to low D or further to low C. The contrabass clarinet is also sometimes known by the name pedal clarinet, this term referring not to any aspect of the instrument's mechanism but to an analogy between its very low tones and the pedal tones of the trombone, or the pedal department of the organ. | |
Contrabass Oboe | France | The contrabass oboe is a double reed woodwind instrument in the key of C, sounding two octaves lower than the standard oboe. Current research, in particular that by hautboy specialist Bruce Haynes, suggests that such instruments may have been developed in France as part of an original attempt to maintain the complete family of double reed instruments when the oboe was created from the shawm. It never became a popular or widely employed instrument, and there remain few instances of it today. | |
Contrabass Saxophone | United States | The contrabass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family. It is extremely large (twice the length of tubing of the baritone saxophone, with a bore twice as wide, standing 1.9 meters tall, or 6 feet four inches) and heavy (approximately 20 kilograms, or 45 pounds), and is pitched in the key of EE♭, one octave below the baritone. Approximately 25 examples of this instrument exist in the world today including recently made instruments and a handful of surviving examples from the saxophone craze of the 1920s by Evette-Schaeffer and Kohlert. The worldwide number of existing contrabass saxophones is currently growing by 4 or 5 instruments each year. | |
Contrabassoon | Germany | The contrabassoon, also contrafagotto or double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon sounding an octave lower. The instrument is twice as long as bassoon, curves around on itself several times, and, due to its weight and shape, is supported by an endpin rather than a seat strap. | |
Cor Anglais | Germany | The cor anglais, or English horn, is a double reed woodwind musical instrument. It is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a fifth lower than the oboe (a C instrument), and is consequently approximately one-third longer. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais are essentially the same as those of the oboe. Its sounding range stretches from the E (or, rarely, E flat) below middle C to the C two octaves above middle C. The cor anglais is generally regarded as the alto member of the family, and the oboe d'amore, pitched between the two in the key of A, is the mezzo-soprano member. The term "cor anglais" literally means "English horn", but the cor anglais is neither English nor a horn. | |
Cornamuse | Europe | The cornamuse is a windcap double reed instrument dating from the Renaissance period. It is similar in many ways to the crumhorn and rauschpfeife, although unlike those instruments, the bell of the cornamuse is closed, resulting in a much quieter sound. In Syntagnum Musicum, Michael Praetorius described their sound as "quite similar to crumhorns, but quieter, lovelier, and very soft." However, there are no extant cornamusen from the period, and so all modern reproductions are based on paintings and the description in Praetorius. The image shows an alto cornamuse in F, made of pear wood. | |
Cornet | Europe | The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B♭. It is not related to the medieval cornett or cornetto. The cornet was originally derived from the post horn. Sometimes it is called a cornopean, which refers to the earliest cornets with the Stölzel valve system. | |
Cornett | Europe | The cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. The cornett takes the form of a tube, typically about 60 cm. long, made of ivory, wood, or, in the case of some modern reconstructions of historical instruments, ebony resin, with woodwind-style finger holes. | |
Cornu | Italy | The Cornu was a type of brass instrument similar to the Buccina used by the Roman army of antiquity mainly for communicating orders to troops in battle. It is a Latin word literally meaning horn. The instrument was about 3m (11 feet) long and took the form of a letter 'G'. The instrument was braced by a crossbar that stiffened the structure and provided a means of supporing the instrument's weight on the player's shoulder. | |
Crumhorn | Europe | The crumhorn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, there has been a revival of interest in Early Music, and crumhorns are being played again. The crumhorn is a capped reed instrument. Its construction is similar to that of the chanter of a bagpipe. A double reed is mounted inside a windcap at one end of a long pipe. Blowing into the windcap produces a musical note. The pitch of the note can be varied by opening or closing finger holes along the length of the pipe. The image shows a modern alto crumhorn in f with keys. | |
Daegeum | Korea | The daegeum (also spelled taegum or taegŭm) is a large bamboo transverse flute used in traditional Korean music. It has a buzzing membrane that gives it a special timbre. It is used in court, aristocratic, and folk music, as well as in contemporary classical music, popular music, and film scores. | |
Danso | Korea | The danso (or tanso) is a Korean notched, end-blown vertical bamboo flute used in Korean folk music. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but in the 20th century it has also been made of plastic. The flute has 4 finger holes and one thumb hole at the back. The playing range is two octaves, going from the low G to the high G. | |
Dentsivka | Ukraine | The dentsivka (Ukrainian: Денцівка) is often commonly called a sopilka, however, it differs from the true sopilka in that the dentsivka has a fipple, like the western European recorder. It is thus classified as a duct flute. Usually it is made from a tube of wood approximately 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in.) length. Holes are cut or burnt into the tube and a fipple made at one end. The pipe itself can be made of any material including metal and plastic. | |
Didgeridoo | Australia | The didgeridoo (or didjeridu) is a wind instrument of the Indigenous Australians of northern Australia. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe". Musicologists classify it as an aerophone. It is commonly claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument. A didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or conical in shape and can measure anywhere from 1, 2 and 3 metres in length with most instruments measuring around 1.2 metres. Generally, the longer the instrument, the lower the pitch of the instrument. | |
Didjeribone | Australia | The didjeribone is a sliding didgeridoo made of plastic. It is a musical instrument invented by Australian didgeridoo player Charlie McMahon in 1981. It came from McMahon's desire to expand the potential for the didgeridoo in music. | |
Đing Nam | Vietnam | Đing Nam is a free-reed wind instrument with the register of an octave. Its sound is strong, sonorous and immense. It consists of 6 hornless bamboo tubes of 50-96cm length, 2.6 cm diameter, and a dry calabash. Đing Nam is exclusively played by men in festive days. | |
Dinh Jong | Vietnam | Dinh jong is a woodwind musical instrument of the Gia Rai ethnic group of Vietnam. It consists of 13 hornless bamboo sections open at both ends, 23-199 cm in length and 1.9 cm in diameter. They are bound together into 3 rows arranged from short to long. It is the musical instrument for female. Its sound is misty, whispering and soft as breeze because of the way of air moving on the head of bamboo section. | |
Diplica | Croatia | The diplica is an ancient, clarinet-like, single-reed Shepherds instrument which was played in different forms in many parts of Croatia, but now survives only in the Baranja region of Croatia. Diplica is a precursor of many different kinds of bagpipes. | |
Dizi | China | The dizi (Chinese: 笛子), a bamboo flute, is a major Chinese musical instrument, and is widely used in many genres of Chinese folk music, as well as Chinese opera, and the modern Chinese orchestra. The dizi is held horizontally when played. |
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