This document provides brief descriptions of various musical instruments from different families and categories. It outlines the basic components and features of timpani, cymbals, snare drums, tambourines, bongo drums, xylophones, bass drums, gongs, congas, bassoons, piccolos, clarinets, oboes, transverse flutes, English horns, violins, cellos, basses, harps, and guitars. Key details mentioned include the materials used, such as wood, metal, and skin membranes, as well as playing techniques like striking, blowing, and bowing.

1. Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum,
they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper.
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates
of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture.
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a widely used unpitched percussion instrument. It is often
used in orchestras, marching bands and concert bands, drum corps and many other
applications.
Tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often
of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine
denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all.
Bongo drum
Bongos (Spanish: bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument. The drums are of different
size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra (female) and the smaller the macho
(male). They are membranophones, or instruments that create sound by a vibration of a
stretched membrane.
Xylophone
The xylophone (from the Greek words ξύλον—xylon, "wood"[1]
+ φωνή—phonē, "sound,
voice",[2]
meaning "wooden sound") is a musical instrument in the percussion family that
consists of wooden bars struck by mallets.
Bass drum
A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch.
Bass drums are percussion instruments and vary in size and are used in several musical genres.
Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished.

2. Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a
flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet.
Conga
The conga, or tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum. Although ultimately
derived from African drums made from hollowed logs, the Cuban conga is staved, like a barrel.
These drums were probably made from salvaged barrels originally. They are used both in Afro-
Caribbean religious music and as the principal instrument in rumba.
Bassoon
The bassoon[1]
is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music
written in the bass and tenor clefs, and occasionally the treble. Appearing in its modern form in
the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber
music literature.
Piccolo
The piccolo (Italian for small) is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of
musical instruments. The piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the
standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave
rise to the name "ottavino," the name by which the instrument is referred to in the scores of
Italian composers.
Clarinet
The clarinet is a type of woodwind instrument that has a straight cylindrical tube with a flaring
bell and a single-reed mouthpiece. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and
uses a single reed. A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist or clarinettist.
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to
1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" (French compound word made of haut ("high,
loud") and bois ("wood, woodwind"), "hoboy", or "French hoboy".[1]
The spelling "oboe" was
adopted into English ca. 1770 from the Italian oboè, a transliteration in that language's
orthography of the 17th-century pronunciation of the French name. A musician who plays the
oboe is called an oboist.
Transverse flute
A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The
player blows "across" the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body
length.

3. English Horn
The cor anglais (UK /ˌkɔr ˌɑːŋɡleɪ/ or US /ˌkɔr ɒŋˌɡleɪ/; French: [kɔʁ ɑɡlɛ]), or English
horn (American English), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family.
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the
smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes
the viola, cello, and double bass.
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member
of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double
bass.
Bass
Bass (/ˌbeɪs/ BAYSS) describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched
range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical
roles. Since producing low pitches usually requires a long air column or string, the string and
wind bass instruments are usually the largest instruments in their families or instrument classes.
Harp
The harp is a multi-string instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned
perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of
chordophones (stringed instruments) and has its own sub category (the harps). All harps have a
neck, resonator and strings.
Guitar
The guitar is a string instrument of the chordophone family constructed from wood and strung
with either nylon or steel strings. The modern guitar was preceded by the lute, vihuela, four-
course renaissance guitar and five-course baroque guitar, all of which contributed to the
development of the modern six-string instrument.