In the field of music, there are a number of ways in which the instruments can be sorted.

A few taxonomies of musical instruments will be presented below

Primary categories of Taxonomy:

 By the way the instrument makes sound

 By how the instrument is played

Secondary categories: (Within the Primary categories)

 By size
 By ethnic culture
 By function within an ensemble
 By the material from which the instrument is made

Sorting By the way the instrument makes sound:

The most formal (and technical) taxonomy for sorting musical instruments is the one
used by museums. It is called the Hornbostel–Sachs system and there are five primary
categories of instruments:

1. Aerophone:  An instrument that uses air to make its sound.  Examples of this
category are the flute, the trombone, and the tuba.
2. Chordophone:  An instrument that uses a string to make its sound.  Examples of this
category are the harp, the banjo, the guitar, and the violin.
3. Membranophone:  An instrument that uses a vibrating membrane (usually called a
“drum head”) to make its sound.  Examples of this category include the timpani, the
tomtom and the snare drum.
4. Idiophone:  An instrument that uses its own vibrating body to create the sound.
Examples of this category include a cymbal, a woodblock, and a xylophone (which is
actually many independent idiophones arranged on a rack so that they can work
together as a keyboard).
5. Electrophone:  An instrument that uses electricity to create its sound.  Examples of
this category include the theremin, the synthesizer, and the laptop computer.

This taxonomy is used by museums and musical-instrument scholars (organologists)

and is a very effective way to categorize instruments. There is, however, some inherent
conflict with the way that most people talk about categories of instruments--especially
outside of academia. In culture, the instruments have functions and are played by
people with specific skill sets. The piano is probably the best illustration of the kind of
confusion that can arise from the Hornbostel–Sachs system.
According to the Hornbostel–Sachs taxonomy, the piano, would be placed in the chordophone
group. (The sound is made by a series of strings that vibrate inside the instrument’s frame.) Few
people--with the possible exception of museum curators--would be comfortable calling the
piano a string instrument (the more colloquial version of “chordophone”). To add to the
confusion, a few people also choose to call the piano a percussion instrument because its
strings are struck by tough hammers made of felt. Percussionists, however, are not the people
who play the piano, so this technically correct categorization is not very helpful when trying to
sort instruments into groups that help to identify the function of the instrument. These
decisions are faced by people who must hire musicians for a concert. They would almost never
hire a string player or a percussionist to play a piano part for their concert, they would hire a
pianist--using a more informal (and separate) taxonomy that considers who will be playing the
instrument. We could say, under this other taxonomy, that pianists are expert KEYBOARD
players.

Keyboard Instruments
Before we begin talking about keyboard instruments, we need to discuss the rationale
behind categorizing instruments by function. The piano (which happens to be the most
prevalent keyboard instrument in our culture), forces us to think differently from
museum curators when separating instruments into groups.
 
Categorizing instruments by function (How it is played and who plays it.)
 
The taxonomy that we are using for these assignments is one of function.  Clarinet,
flute, and saxophone all belong in the Woodwind family because they share many
physical techniques and they play their instruments in similar ways.  When playing a
particular note, for instance, a player on any instrument of the Woodwind family would
need to choose which of nine fingers (all except the thumb of the right hand) would be
pushing buttons.  For example, the combinations of fingers to play a C# would be
similar (and often identical) on any instrument in the family.
 
Because of the similarities, people who play woodwinds often develop the skill to
“double” on other instruments within the family.  A saxophone player who also plays the
flute is said to be able to double on the flute.  Doubling musicians get paid extra money
in some situations for a show (Broadway musicals would be an example of a place
where this would happen.)
 
Instruments of the Brass family (trumpet, tuba, French horn, etc.) share many traits as
well and young students often switch between the instruments in their search for an
individual musical voice.  Although nearly all of the Brass instruments use three fingers
of the right hand and the underlying technique for sound production is common
throughout the family, brass players are less likely than Woodwind players to double.
Doubling in the brass section happens, but it’s rare. The most convincing reason for this
fact is that the muscles and flesh of the Brass player’s lips are vibrating to start the
vibration of their air column.  (On a woodwind instrument, this is done by means of a
sliver of cane or by a process similar to whistling where the moving air is “sliced” by a
wedge of dense material.)  Because of the very specific muscular development of their
face, brass players usually don’t like to switch instruments. They feel that switching
instruments “confuses” the muscles controlling their lips and face.

The Problem Of Classifying The Piano

As we discussed earlier, the piano is a tricky instrument to categorize. It’s clearly not a
wind instrument--at least that part is easy. Museum curators would classify it as a
Chordophone because there are strings that are actually producing the sounds we hear.
The people who play the piano, however, do not consider themselves to be string
players.
 
Because there are felt hammers inside the piano that strike the strings, some people
consider it to be a percussion instrument. People who say this often have a sinister
smile on their face--like they’re daring you to disagree with them.
 
Other instruments in the family of keyboard instruments have similar problems with
classification. A pipe organ is technically an aerophone. A harpsichord, like the piano,
uses strings to create its sounds. A synthesizer is technically an electrophone, but its
notes are usually organized to look like a piano’s keyboard.
 
In the same way that we grouped Woodwind players together based on how they play
the instrument, the category of keyboard instruments consists of instruments that use a
piano-like keyboard to arrange the notes that they are going to play. The “feel” of these
instruments is drastically different from one to another, but the way the notes are
arranged and much of the technique for playing the instruments transfers easily from
piano to pipe organ, etc.
 
The thing that all of these instruments have in common is not that they all make sound
the same way (They certainly do not.), but that the way that the player selects the notes
to be played is by means of a piano-like keyboard.  When a player presses the key that
corresponds to an F#:
 In the piano, a complex machine transfers the downward press of the key into a hammer
stroke that hits one, two, or three strings that were pre-tuned to that particular F#.  
 In a harpsichord, a slightly less complex machine transfers the downward press of a key into
the plucking of one, or more, strings that were pre-tuned to that particular F#.
 In a celeste, the downward press of the key is transferred into a hammer stroke that hits a
metal bar that was pre-tuned to that particular F#.  
 In a pipe organ, the downward press of the key is communicated to a machine (sometimes
in another room) that opens a valve that allows air to flow into a pipe that was pre-tuned to
that particular F#.  The air is “sliced” by a dense wedge similar to the way that a flute creates
its sound.   
 In an accordion, the downward press of the key is transferred to a valve that opens--allowing
air to flow across a reed that was pre-tuned to that particular F#.
 In a synthesizer, the downward press of the key is digitized and an electronic component
(often controlled by some type of computer) controls a speaker--making it vibrate at the
precise frequency of an F#.

The concept of a keyboard is rather simple: organize the control of all the notes that you
want to play onto an easy-to-reach board of touchable keys. It is a testament to the
practicality of this keyboard concept that keyboards are used as controllers for
instruments of such disparate sound-making techniques.
 

Percussion Instruments
In the Hornbostel–Sachs taxonomy, percussion instruments take up the two categories
of Membranophones and Idiophones. For our purposes, we will be defining percussion
instruments as: Instruments that are hit, shaken, or scraped to make their sound.
 
The term “doubling” doesn’t really apply to professional percussionists because they
are expected to play all of the instruments in the percussion family--and nearly any other
instrument that doesn’t already have someone to play it.  If a composer asks for a
starter’s pistol, a popping balloon, or a slide whistle, there’s a good chance that a
percussionist will be the one to play it.
 
There are a number of ways to categorize instruments within the percussion family.
The two most important ways are by the type of music that is played and by the
instrument’s ability to play specific pitches (F#, for example).  Some percussion
instruments can play specific notes, called “Pitched Percussion, and some instruments
cannot play specific notes, called “Non-Pitched Percussion.  Pitched instruments
include the xylophone, glockenspiel, and the timpani.  Non-Pitched instruments include
the triangle, the snare drum, and crash cymbals.
 
The second (and arguably the most useful) way to categorize percussion instruments is
by the type of ensemble in which an instrument plays.
 
Orchestral percussion includes the standard instruments that you would encounter if
you went to see (hear) the St. Louis Symphony.  These typically include:  snare drum,
bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, xylophone, glockenspiel, and timpani.
 
Marching percussion instruments include:  snare drum, tenor drums (played as a set by
one player), marching bass drums (played as a set by multiple players), cymbals, and
various instruments on the sideline--xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, timpani, drum set,
etc. (The collection of sideline instruments varies widely between marching
ensembles.)
 
The drum set is an instrument that crosses ensemble-genre boundaries, but it qualifies
as another type of instrument that must be learned by a serious percussionist.  It is
essentially a group of instruments played by a single player with all four limbs.

1. The right foot plays a bass drum by means of a pedal.  

2. The left foot controls two cymbals called a “hi-hat.”  The foot can crash these cymbals by
itself, but more often it just closes the cymbals for a short “chick” sound.  These cymbals
were originally on the floor, but later technological improvements lifted the cymbals up next
to the snare drum so that they could also be hit by the hand-controlled sticks.  When the foot
holds the cymbals closed, the stick creates a short sound and when it allows the cymbals to
open, a “crashing” long sound is created.  (See the picture below if this verbiage is
confusing.)
3. The two hands use sticks to hit a collection of cymbals and drums.  Sometimes they work
together and sometimes the work independent of each other.

You can probably imagine that learning this instrument takes a considerable amount of
time and it’s even more problematic when you consider that the instrument has an
enormous number of ensembles that call for it. Playing drum set in a jazz big band is
completely different from playing on a classical recital or in a rock band.

Why did you choose this instrument?