In an orchestra or a band there will be a variety of instruments depending on what sound the musicians are looking to make.  Different sounds rely on different instruments to produce those sounds. It is just like the way different genres will be more likely to use different instruments in their quest to make the sound most appropriate to their tastes. Whatever instrument the musician uses, it is likely to fall into one of the main categories of musical instruments.  These are categories are wind, percussion, string, keyboard, electronic and voice.  Voice is man’s own instrument and it makes a huge variety of sounds.

Wind instruments make music when air is put into them that are able to make a vibration inside that generates a sound. This group of instruments is divided into two types. One is woodwind, which would include the flute and oboe while the other is brass, which includes the tuba or French horn. The difference between these two related instruments is that brass instruments are able to make the vibration by using only their lips. Woodwind instruments use wood in some manner to make the sound.

Percussion instruments, this includes drums, cymbals, triangles and tambourines, make their sound by being hit in some manner. This can be with sticks of some kind or by the hand. The sound is made based on the shape of the instrument, how they are struck and how the music resonates through the instrument.

Stings instruments are very obvious in how their music is made. The strings, which stretch most of the length of the instrument, are either plucked or strummed. The sound that is made depends on the length of the string that is played. This further depends on where the musician’s fingertips are sitting on the strings. The careful placement of the fingers affects the vibration of the string and so the sound that is generated changes as the string is shortened and lengthened.  Examples of stringed instruments include the violin, viola, cello, guitar and sitar. There are also electric stringed instruments. The sound that comes from these is made by the normal means but is then amplified by a pickup device that is placed under the strings. The best known of this type of instrument is the electric guitar.

Keyboard instruments include piano, organ, harpsichord, accordion and synthesizer. These instruments make their music by pressing down a key that is able to make more than one sound depending on what else the musician is doing. With a piano this would mean how they were using the pedals. For an organ it is the stops on it that the change the sound. Sound is also made by vibration in a piano, the strings that the piano is connected to in the body of it move as the keys are depressed and this makes the music. An organ generates its music using air while an accordion makes its sounds by the movement of the bellows on the side. The sound is made by a combination of the way the keys are hit and the air that is passed through the bellows causing the metal reeds inside to vibrate.  A synthesizer makes its music electronically.

All of these, except the electronic ones, have been around for a long time and most are mentioned in the bible, in the Hindu Vedas, which are the oldest books of Hindu teachings and are believed to originate in 1500BC or earlier, as well as in hieroglyphics found in Egypt. In China pieces of instruments believed to be nearly ten thousand years old have been found. Obviously, man has been making music for many thousands of years.