Research Guides: World Music: Instruments

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Resources

Before exploring some books, it is helpful to become familiar with the Hornbostel-Sachs system of instrument classification. It is used frequently in discussions of instruments from around the world.

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments
The encyclopedia focuses mostly on Western instruments but also includes a section on "Non-Western & Obsolete Instruments."
Musical Instruments of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
This book provides diagrams and descriptions of major instruments from many times and places.
New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments
Like the other resources, this focuses primarily on Western instruments but does cover quite a few non-Western instruments. It also has information about well-known makers and manufacturers.

Images

Ethnomusicology Musical Instrument Collection
University of Washington
Musical Instrument Museums Online
The world's largest freely accessible database for information on musical instruments held in public collections. The database now contains the records of 56404 instruments.

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