CONTEMPORARY

• Musical Instruments found in the Philippines

  • Idiophones
  • Aerophones
  • Chordophones
  • Membranophones
  • Electrophones
• Idiophones


  Instruments that produce sound from the substance of the instrument itself (wood or metal)
• Types of Idiophones


  • Percussion idiophones
  • Shaken idiophones
  • Concussion idiophones
  • Friction idiophones
  • Scraped idiophones
  • Stamping idiophones
  • Plucked idiophones
• Percussion idiophones


  • Bells
  • Steel drums
• Shaken idiophones


  • Maracas
  • Eggs
  • Jingle bells
• Concussion idiophones


  • Castanets
  • Claves
  • Spoons
• Friction idiophones


  • Rubbing a wine glass rim
• Scraped idiophones


  • Guiro
  • Washboard
• Stamping idiophones


  • Tap shoes
  • Stamping tube
• Plucked idiophones


  • Jew's harp
  • Mbira or thumb piano
• Flat gongs


  Single hand-held percussion instrument beaten with a padded stick or tapped by hand or palm of the hand by members of an ensemble in the Cordillera
• Kulintang


  Gong and drum ensemble indigenous to the Sulu and Mindanao islands in the southern Philippines and northern Borneo
• Agung


  Set of two wide-rimmed, vertically suspended gongs used by the Maguindanao, Maranao, Sama-Bajau and Tausug people of the Philippines as a supportive instrument in kulintang ensembles
• Bossed gongs


  Made of bronze in a circular shape with the surface flat or bulging and the rim bent down, usually struck with a soft padded beater but the Kachin use a wooden mallet instead to produce a harder, cymbal-like sound
• Gabbang


  Bamboo xylophone widely used in southern Philippines, commonly played to accompany songs and dances as a solo instrument or accompanied by the biola
• Patatag


  Bamboo xylophone popular among the Kalinga of Mt. Province, made of five bamboo segments mounted individually and can be played by just one person or by a group of five, each to every segment
• Bantula


  Bamboo instrument used by the Matigsalug community, pounded by a solid timber to produce loud sound
• Tagutok


  Bamboo scraper with notches cut on one side and floral images painted using natural dyes on the opposite side, played by two players with one scraping the notches and the other making a beat
• Kagul


  Philippine bamboo scraper gong/slit drum of the Maguindanaon and Visayans with a jagged edge on one side, played with two beaters
• Balingbing


  Idiophone buzzer of the Kalinga and other upland peoples of northern Luzon, used as either a solo or ensemble instrument for entertainment
• Hanunuo kalutang


  Wooden idiophone consisting of a pair of sticks cut from forest trees, struck against each other and played while hiking through forest and mountain trails
• Pattung


  Percussion yoke bar made from a tapered piece of wood and struck with a stick, used in Ifugao ceremonies for the sick, at rites which entail the offering of sacrificial pigs, or at death rituals
• Luntang


  Maguindanao suspended logs with varying lengths hung in order from longest to shortest, one performer strikes the pointed playing ends of each log creating a melody against which another performer beats a drone rhythm on one of the logs
• Aerophones


  Instruments that produce sound from the vibration of air, including flutes, pan-pipes, and reed pipes
• Categories of Aerophones


  • Whistles
  • Blowhole instruments
  • Reed instruments
  • Cup mouthpiece instruments
  • Organ pipes
  • Free aerophones
• Whistles


  Air is blown at a sharp edge in the instrument
• Blowhole instruments


  Air is blown across the sharp edge at the blowhole, can be end-blown or side-blown
• Reed instruments


  Vibration of a reed or reeds begins the air vibration, can be single reed or double reed
• Cup mouthpiece instruments


  Player buzzes the lips against the mouthpiece, causing a sympathetic vibration in the air inside the instrument
• Organ pipes


  Have a sharp edge like a whistle, but the pipes are filled with air from a bellows
• Free aerophones


  Cause vibrations in the air around them rather than inside them, like bull-roarers and toy spinning tops
• Chordophones


  Bamboo or wood stringed instruments that may be struck, plucked, or bowed, including zithers, lutes, and bowed strings
• Types of Chordophones


  • Zithers
  • Lutes
  • Lyres
  • Harps
  • Musical bows
• Zithers


  Strings are stretched across, over, or inside a resonator, or between two resonators, can be struck or plucked
• Lutes


  Strings stretch across the resonator and up a neck, can be plucked or bowed
• Lyres


  Strings leave the resonator at right angles to an edge and run to a cross bar that is held away from the resonator
• Harps


  Strings leave the resonator at a slant up to a neck connected to the resonator
• Musical bows


  String or strings are stretched from one end of a wooden bow to the other, can be plucked or bowed
• Membranophones


  Single and double headed drums found throughout the Philippines, with animal skins as the head(s), beaten with sticks or bare hands
• Types of Membranophones


  • Tubular drums
  • Kettledrums or vessel drums
  • Frame drums
  • Friction drums