Traditional French musical instruments, known as instruments traditionnels in French, are musical instruments used in the traditional folk music of France. They comprise a range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.
Percussion instruments Gumbe — a French Guianan frame drum Kayamb (caïamb/kayanm) — a shaken Réunionnais idiophone Pahu — a French Polynesian drum Pate — a French Polynesian and Wallisian/Futunan log drum Rouleur — a Réunionnais drum Sunaglieri — Corsican mule bells Timpanu — a Corsican triangle
String instruments Cetera — a cittern of 4 to 8 double strings that is of Tuscan origin and dates back to the Renaissance, is the most iconic Corsican traditional instrument. Its most prominent exponent is Roland Ferrandi (also a lutenist). Cythara — a lute Épinette des Vosges — a traditional plucked-string instrument of the zither family from the Vosges region in eastern FranceMéthode d'épinette par Christophe Toussaint. Édition princeps 2004. 2ème édition 2007. Mandulina — a Corsican mandolin Mandore — a musical instrument, a small member of the lute family, teardrop shaped, with four to six courses of gut strings and pitched in the treble range. Tambourin à cordes — a box zither from southern France Ukulele — a small, guitar-like instrument from French Polynesia
Bowed Basse de Flandre — a simple large stringed fiddle (a musical bow) made with a long stick from French Flanders in Hauts-de-France. Bobre — a bowed instrument from Réunion Vielle à roue — a mechanical string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings.
Wind instruments Flutes French flutes are called flûte. There are many traditional flutes. Pu toka — a French Polynesian conch Pu'akau — a French Polynesian flute Pūʻili — a French Polynesian bamboo flute Vivo — a French Polynesian nose flute
Reed Instruments Bombarde (music) — a contemporary conical-bore double-reed instrument (shawm) from Brittany Cialamedda (also cialamella/cialambella) — a Corsican reed instrument, more recently with a wooden box body Graïle (graile) — a vertical wooden oboe (shawm) from Occitania Pirula — a Corsican reed recorder
Bagpipes Binioù kozh — a Breton bagpipe Bodega — an Occitan bagpipe Boha — a bagpipe from Landes of Gascony in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Bousine — a small, droneless bagpipe from NormandyLes architectes odinistes des cathédrales. Les chanoinesses et les évêques odinistes dans les diocèses saxons-normands, Fascicules de I à VII, de Maurice Erwin Guignard, à Bonneval & Chartres. Cabrette — a bagpipe from Auvergne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Caramusa — a Corsican bagpipe made of wood, leather and reed Chabrette — a bagpipe from Limousin in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Cornemuse du Centre — a bagpipe from Central France Loure — an ancient bagpipe from Normandy
Horns Pifana (also pivana) — a type of Corsican gemshorn generally made from a goat horn
Other instruments Boîte à musique — an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or lamellae) of a steel comb. Orgue de barbarie (also orgue à manivelle) — a mechanical musical instrument from the Alsace region of Grand Est consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. Orgue de danse — a mechanical organ from Paris, Île-de-France designed to be used in dance halls or ballrooms. Orgue de rue — an automatic mechanical pneumatic organ from Paris, Île-de-France designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. Limonaire — a pneumatic musical organ from Paris, Île-de-France covering the wind and percussive sections of an orchestra. Perroquette – a mechanical organ from Mirecourt, Grand Est related to the serinette, the merline, and the barrel organ. Pyrophone — a musical instrument in which notes are sounded by explosions, or similar forms of rapid combustion, rapid heating, or the like, such as burners in cylindrical glass tubes, creating light and sound. Ralé-poussé — a Réunionnaise accordion Riberbula — a jaw harp used by the Corsican people Serinette — a mechanical musical instrument from the Lorraine region of Grand Est Urganettu — a Corsican diatonic accordion
See also Music of France French folk music
References