Welcome to the Musical instrument Lineup

The Muse Of Music welcomes you to the feature called the Music Instrument Lineup, the place where The Muse explores specific musical instruments fashioned by the hand of man (or electronic substitutes) and played by who knows what means or methods.

In this feature, the contraptions that produce sound may be serious, they may be zany, but they all have one thing in common: man uses them to make music.

the musical Instrument lineup

Each of the instruments in the lineup justifies a feature in its own right and has its own page. Explore them now.

More instrument explorations are on the way. Return here from time-to-time to see additions.

About this feature

Not every device that makes sound can boast of the ability to make music. Think of the sounds your car makes in a crash. Think of the sounds you make when you pay the repair bills after a crash.

What is music? Music is the art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color. The tones or sounds that occur in single line of music (the melody) or in multiple lines (the harmony), become music when they are sounded by one or more voices or instruments, or both. (Yes, although not fashioned by the hand of man in the usual sense, one of the most important musical instruments is the human voice.)

By extension, a musical instrument is a device for producing sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color. A musical instrument is a contrivance that is intentionally made for this purpose or one that, if not intentionally so made, can be put to this use by a musician to make music.

The Muse limits this exploration to those contrivances, slick or crude, complex or simple, subtle or obvious, unskillful or clever, elegant or crude, mellifluous or raspy, that mankind has used or could use to make music.

Restricting this exploration to devices that can make music puts few limits on what constitutes a musical instrument. Man's imagination never ceases to amaze; he has already come up with ways to produce what plausibly passes for music from the most implausible sources, ranging from oil drums to kitchen sinks to wood saws to bicycle pumps.

For practical reasons, The Muse has found it necessary to put the skids on just how far this exploration can go. The Muse limits the scope of this exploration to conventional or experimental instruments that accomplished and serious-minded musicians can (or might) take seriously, and work downward from there.

About the glossary of musical terms

The Muse Of Music offers an extensive automated glossary of musical terms, many of which pertain to musical instruments. With the help of the Glossary you'll be able to tell the difference between a French horn and an English horn; possibly you'll discover lots of other things you might like to know about instruments and how they fit into the musical repertoire.

• Visit the Glossary Of Musical Terms now: click here.

Musical instrument of the week

Each week The Muse Of Music briefly examines a different musical instrument at the page called Instrument Of The Week. Some instruments are commonplace, others rare or unusual. An image of the instrument and a sample of the sound it produces is provided when available.

• Visit the feature called Instrument Of The Week: click here.

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