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Musical instrument classification
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===East and South-East Asian=== ====Chinese==== {{see also|List of Chinese musical instruments|Chinese orchestra}} The oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is [[China|Chinese]] and may date as far back as the second millennium BC.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Exploring the World of Music: An Introduction to Music from a World Music Perspective|last=Hast|first=Dorothea E.|publisher=Kendall Hunt|year=1999|isbn=0787271543|location=Debuque, IA|pages=144}}</ref> It grouped instruments according to the materials they are made of. Instruments made of [[Rock (geology)|stone]] were in one group, those of [[wood]] in another, those of [[silk]] are in a third, and those of [[bamboo]] in a fourth, as recorded in the ''Yo Chi'' (record of ritual music and dance), compiled from sources of the [[Zhou dynasty|Chou period]] (9th–5th centuries BC) and corresponding to the four seasons and four winds.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/><ref name="Rowell1992">{{cite book|work=Music and Musical Thought in Early India|page=54|first=Lewis Eugene|last=Rowell|date=1992|publisher=University of Chicago Press|title=Three Ancient Conceptions of Musical Sound}}</ref> The eight-fold system of eight sounds or timbres (八音, bā yīn), from the same source, occurred gradually, and in the legendary [[Emperor Shun]]'s time (3rd millennium BC) it is believed to have been presented in the following order: [[metallophone|metal]] (金, jīn), [[lithophone|stone]] (石, shí), [[string instrument|silk]] (絲, sī), [[bamboo musical instruments|bamboo]] (竹, zhú), [[gourd#Uses|gourd]] (匏, páo), [[xun (instrument)|clay]] (土, tǔ), [[membranophone|leather]] (革, gé), and [[woodblock (instrument)|wood]] (木, mù) classes, and it correlated to the eight seasons and eight winds of Chinese culture, autumn and west, autumn-winter and NW, summer and south, spring and east, winter-spring and NE, summer-autumn and SW, winter and north, and spring-summer and SE, respectively.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> However, the [[Chou-Li]] (Rites of Chou), an anonymous treatise compiled from earlier sources in about the 2nd century BC, had the following order: metal, stone, clay, leather, silk, wood, gourd, and bamboo. The same order was presented in the [[Tso Chuan]] (Commentary of Tso), attributed to [[Tso Chiu-Ming]], probably compiled in the 4th century BC.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> Much later, [[Ming dynasty]] (14th–17th century) scholar [[Chu Tsai Yu]] recognized three groups: those instruments using muscle power or used for musical accompaniment, those that are blown, and those that are [[rhythm]]ic, a scheme which was probably the first scholarly attempt, while the earlier ones were traditional, folk [[taxonomy (general)|taxonomies]].<ref>Margaret Kartomi, 2011, Upward and Downward Classifications of Musical Instruments-musicology.ff,cuni.cz)</ref> More usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced (regardless of [[Audio editing software|post-processing]], i.e., an electric guitar is still a string-instrument regardless of what analog or digital/computational post-processing [[effects pedals]] may be used with it). ====Indonesian==== {{see also|Gamelan#Instruments}} {{Refimprove section|date=September 2022}} Classifications done for the Indonesian ensemble, the [[gamelan]], were done by [[Jaap Kunst]] (1949), Martopangrawit, Poerbapangrawit, and Sumarsam (all in 1984).<ref name="Kartomi1990" /> Kunst described five categories: [[Balungan|nuclear theme]] (''cantus firmus'' in Latin and ''balungan'' ("skeletal framework") in Indonesian); [[Colotomy|colotomic]] (a word invented by Kunst, meaning "interpunctuating"), the gongs; countermelodic; paraphrasing (''panerusan''), subdivided as close to the nuclear theme and ornamental filling; agogic (tempo-regulating), drums. R. Ng. Martopangrawit has two categories, irama (the rhythm instruments) and lagu (the melodic instruments), the former corresponds to Kunst's classes 2 and 5, and the latter to Kunst's 1, 3, and 4. Kodrat Poerbapangrawit, similar to Kunst, derives six categories: ''balungan'', the ''saron'', ''demung'', and ''slenthem''; ''rerenggan'' (ornamental), the ''gendèr'', ''gambang'', and ''bonang''); ''wiletan'' (variable formulaic melodic), ''rebab'' and male chorus (''gerong''); ''singgetan'' (interpunctuating); ''kembang'' (floral), flute and female voice; jejeging wirama (tempo regulating), drums. Sumarsam's scheme comprises * an inner melodic group (''lagu'')(with a wide range), divided as ** elaborating (''rebab, gerong, gendèr'' (a metallophone), ''gambang'' (a xylophone), ''pesindhen'' (female voice), ''celempung'' (plucked strings), ''suling'' (flute)); ** mediating ( between the 1st and 3rd subdivisions (bonang (gong-chimes), saron panerus(a loud metallophone); and ** abstracting (''balungan'', "melodic abstraction")( with a 1-octave range), loud and soft metallophones (''saron barung, demung'', and ''slenthem''); * an outer circle, the structural group (gongs), which underlines the structure of the work; * and occupying the space outside the outer circle, the ''kendang'', a tempo-regulating group (drums). The gamelan is also divided into front, middle, and back, much like the symphony orchestra. An orally transmitted Javanese taxonomy has 8 groupings:<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> * ricikan dijagur ("instruments beaten with a padded hammer," e.g., suspended gongs); * ricikan dithuthuk ("instruments knocked with a hard or semihard hammer," e.g., saron (similar to the glockenspiel) and gong-chimes); * ricikan dikebuk ("hand-beaten instruments", e.g., [[kendhang]] (drum)); * ricikan dipethik ("plucked instruments"); * ricikan disendal ("pulled instruments," e.g., [[genggong]] (jaw harp with string mechanism)); * ricikan dikosok ("bowed instruments"); * ricikan disebul ("blown instruments"); * ricikan dikocok ("shaken instruments"). A Javanese classification transmitted in literary form is as follows:<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> * ricikan prunggu/wesi ("instruments made of bronze or iron"); * ricikan kulit ("leather instruments", drums); * ricikan kayu ("wooden instruments"); * ricikan kawat/tali ("string instruments"); * ricikan bambu pring ("bamboo instruments", e.g., flutes). This is much like the pa yin. It is suspected of being old but its age is unknown. [[Minangkabau people|Minangkabau]] musicians (of West Sumatra) use the following taxonomy for ''bunyi-bunyian'' ("objects that sound"): ''dipukua'' ("beaten"), ''dipupuik'' ("blown), ''dipatiek'' ("plucked"), ''ditariek'' ("pulled"), ''digesek'' ("bowed"), ''dipusiang'' ("swung"). The last one is for the bull-roarer. They also distinguish instruments on the basis of origin because of sociohistorical contacts, and recognize three categories: Mindangkabau (''Minangkabau asli''), Arabic (''asal Arab''), and Western (''asal Barat''), each of these divided up according to the five categories. Classifying musical instruments on the basis sociohistorical factors as well as mode of sound production is common in Indonesia.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> The [[Batak]] of North Sumatra recognize the following classes: beaten (''alat pukul'' or ''alat palu''), blown (''alat tiup''), bowed (''alat gesek''), and plucked (''alat petik'') instruments, but their primary classification is of ensembles.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/> ====Philippines==== {{Main|List of Philippine musical instruments}} The [[T'boli]] of [[Mindanao]] use three categories, grouping the strings (''t'duk'') with the winds (''nawa'') together based on a gentleness-strength dichotomy (''lemnoy''-''megel'', respectively), regarding the percussion group (''tembol'') as strong and the winds-strings group as gentle. The division pervades T'boli thought about cosmology, social characters of men and women, and artistic styles.<ref name="Kartomi1990"/>
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