The Hornbostel–Sachs system of musical instrument classification defines idiophones as all instruments in which sound is produced primarily by way of the instrument itself vibrating without the use of membranes or strings.
Idiophones (1)
Struck idiophones (11) Idiophones set in motion by a percussion action: hitting, shaking, or scraping. Also see Struck idiophone.
Directly struck idiophones (111) 111.1 Concussion Idiophones or clappers
111.11 Concussion sticks or sticks of clap Claves
111.12 Concussion plaques or plaque clappers Clapper Guban Paiban Hyoshigi Pak Slapstick
111.13 Concussion troughs or trough clappers Balingbing
111.14 Concussion vessels or vessel clappers Spoons
111.141 Castanets - Natural and hollowed-out vessel clappers Castanets Coconut shells Krap
111.142 Cymbals - Vessel clappers with manufactured rim Chap Ching Cymbals, in pairs Clash Cymbals in pairs Bock-a-da-bock
111.143 Concussion bells
111.2 Percussion Idiophones
111.21 Percussion sticks or bars
111.211 Individual percussion sticks Dhantal Triangle
111.212 Sets of percussion sticks in a range of different pitches combined into one instrument. - All xylophones, as long as their sounding components are not in two different planes. Balafon Gandingan a kayo Glasschord Glass Marimba Kulintang a kayo Luntang or kwintangan kayo Marimba Marimbaphone (also bowed) Pong lang Xylophone Xylorimba
111.22 Percussion plaques
111.221 Individual percussion plaques
111.222 Sets of percussion plaques Crotales Lithophone Metallophones Celesta Fangxiang Gangsa Gendér Glockenspiel Kulintang a tiniok (kulintang a putao, sarunay) Ranat ek lek Ranat thum lek Toy piano Ugal Vibraphone
111.23 Percussion tubes
111.231 Individual percussion tubes. Agung a tamlang Alimba Huari Huiringua Kagul Krin or Kolokolos Mondo Mukoko Slit drum Takuapu Teponaztli
111.232 Sets of percussion tubes. Jegog Tubular bells or chimes
111.24 Percussion vessels. Boungu Cajón Chuk Cymbals Crash cymbal Hi-hat cymbal Ride cymbal Splash cymbal Handpan Hang Kagul or tagutok Slit drums: Slit gong Steelpan or steel drum Tank drum Udu (also an aerophone) Wood block Ghatam
111.241 Gongs - The vibration is strongest near the vertex.
111.241.1 Individual gongs. Babendil
111.241.11 Bossed gongs, flat gongs (with flange) and intermediate types
111.241.12 Gongs with divided surface sounding different pitches
111.241.2 Sets of gongs. Agung or agong Gandingan Kulintang or kolintang Reyong
111.241.21 Sets of bossed, flat gongs (with flange) and intermediate types
111.241.22 Sets of gongs with divided surface sounding different pitches
111.242 Bells - The vibration is weakest near the vertex. Bell tree
111.242.1 Individual bells
111.242.11 Resting bells whose opening faces upward. Cowbell
111.242.12 Hanging bells suspended from the apex.
111.242.121 Hanging bells without internal strikers.
111.242.122 Hanging bells with internal strikers. Bell
111.242.2 Sets of bells or chimes.
111.242.21 Sets of resting bells whose opening faces upward.
111.242.22 Sets of hanging bells suspended from the apex.
111.242.221 Sets of hanging bells without internal strikers.
111.242.222 Sets of hanging bells with internal strikers. Carillon
111.242.223 Sets of bells with attached external clappers.
111.243 Slit Drums
111.244 Percussion troughs Lali (Fiji)
111.25 Percussion boulders Rock gong
Indirectly struck idiophones (112)
112.1 Shaken idiophones or rattles
112.11 Suspension rattles - Perforated idiophones are mounted together, and shaken to strike against each other.
112.111 Strung rattles - Rattling objects are strung in rows on a cord. Sleigh bells
112.112 Stick rattles - Rattling objects are strung on a bar or ring. Jingle bells
112.12 Frame rattles - Rattling objects are attached to a carrier against which they strike. Flexatone Tambourine (the membrane attached to a number of these also makes them a membranophone) Vibraslap
112.121 Pendant rattles.
112.122 Sliding rattles.
112.13 Vessel rattles - Rattling objects enclosed in a vessel strike against each other or against the walls of the vessel, or usually against both.
Hosho Maracas Rainstick
112.2 Scraped Idiophones Washboard
112.21 Scraped sticks.
112.211 Scraped sticks without resonator.
112.212 Scraped sticks with resonator.
112.22 Scraped tubes. Kagul
112.23 Scraped vessels. Güiro
112.24 Scraped wheels - cog rattles Ratchet
112.3 Split idiophones - Instruments in the shape of two springy arms connected at one end and touching at the other: the arms are forced apart by a little stick, to jangle or vibrate on recoil.
Plucked idiophones (12) Instruments set into vibration by plucking. Lamellophones.
In the form of a frame (121)
121.1 Clack idiophones - The lamella is carved in the surface of a fruit shell, which serves as resonator. Cricri
121.2 Guimbardes and Jaw harps - The lamella is mounted in a rod- or plaque-shaped frame and depends on the player's mouth cavity for resonance.
121.21 Idioglot guimbardes - The lamella is of one substance with the frame of the instrument. Đàn môi Genggong Gogona Kubing Mukkuri
121.22 Heteroglot guimbardes - The lamella is attached to the frame.
121.221 Individual heteroglot guimbardes. Jew's harp Morsing Temir komuz
121.222 Sets of heteroglot guimbardes. Kouxian
In the form of a comb (122) The lamellae are tied to a board or cut out from a board like the teeth of a comb.
122.1 With laced on lamellae. Array mbira Agidigbo Ikembe (Eleke, Kisanji) Kalimba (thumb piano) Kasayi Marímbula Mbira (Sansa, Sanza, Kaffir piano, Likembe) Malimbe Mechanical music box Oopoochawa Space Harp (electric thumb piano, Frankiphone) Tom Zimbabwean Marimba
122.11 Without resonator.
122.12 With resonator.
122.2 With cut-out lamellae Comb Mechanical music box
Friction idiophones (13) Instruments set into vibration by rubbing.
Friction sticks (131) 131.1 Individual friction sticks.
131.2 Sets of friction sticks. Nail violin
131.21 Without direct friction.
131.22 With direct friction.
Friction plaques (132) 132.1 Individual friction plaques. Daxophone Musical saw Livika
132.2 Sets of friction plaques. Marimbaphone
Friction vessels (133) 133.1 Individual friction vessels.
133.2 Sets of friction vessels. Glass harmonica (hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica) Glass harp Singing bowl Verrophone
Blown idiophones (14) Instruments set into vibration by blowing or moving air.
Blown sticks (141) 141.1 Individual blown sticks.
141.2 Sets of blown sticks. Aeolsklavier Aeolodion
Blown plaques (142) 142.1 Individual blown plaques.
142.2 Sets of blown plaques.
Piano chanteur (patented by Gustave Baudet of Paris in 1878Piano chanteur. Oxford Reference. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199743391.013.5885.)
Metal sheets (15) The vibrating material consists of a flexible sheet of metal.
151 Played by friction Musical saw (bowed)
152 Directly struck Musical saw (hammered) Theatrical thunder sheet (played with a hammer)
153 Played by shaking Theatrical thunder sheet (played without hammer) Wobble board (Australia)Wobble board, All the Musical Instruments of the World.
Retrieved 8 January 2026.
154 Shaken and indirectly struck Flexatone
Flexed diaphragms (16) A diaphragm is flexed when a string passing through its centre is pulled, before returning to rest. England, modified yoghurt pot or metal watering-can rose mimicking the sound of a clucking cockerel.2011 revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs Classification of Musical Instruments. (MIMO Consortium)
Shaken springs (17)
Thunder tube2017 Addenda to the MIMO Hornbostel Sachs classification of Musical Instruments. (2017, CIMCIM Working Group on Classification)
Singing idiophones (idiophonic mirlitons) (18) The instrument is made to vibrate by speaking or singing through an aperture into the hollowed space between two opposed and close-fitting concave bodies, forming a valve. The instrument does not yield a note of its own but merely modifies the voice.2021 Further Addenda for the (2011) Revision of the Hornbostel-Sachs classification of Musical Instruments by the MIMO Consortium and the (2017) Addenda for the MIMO Hornbostel-Sachs Classification. (2021 CIMCIM Working Group on Classification.)
Unclassified idiophones Idiophones not allocated a number in the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Suikinkutsu, a japanese water zither Waterphone, an arrangement of rods around a central resonating bowl, played by bowing, shaking, or percussively using sticks or mallets with Superballs on the end Shishi-odoshi, a japanese garden ornament
References
External links "Idiophone", Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. "MIMO H-S classification 8 July 2011", Musical Instrument Museums Online. "Musical Instruments: Chapter Three, Idiophones", Rudolf Rasch: My Work on the Internet, Part Three. "SVH Classification", Virtual Instrument Museum. Ethnomusicology Collection of Idiophones - University of Washington Library