Guide to Bandurria

painting of a girl holding a bandurria

The bandurria, or also known as the mandurria, is a stringed music instrument that belongs to the lute family. It has a built and design that is derived from the guitar and cittern. Today, the bandurria is often made with a small and pear-shaped wooden body, it also has a flat back … Read more

Guide to Accordions

different types of accordion

An accordion is a musical instruments that is sometimes referred to as the squeezebox. It is a wind instrument that is played by expanding or compressing the bellows while pressing the buttons or keys to open the pallets and allow the air to flow across the strips of reeds that are made … Read more

Guide to Bombarde

Blackwood bombarde

Bombarde, or also known as the German Pumhart, English bombard or Pommer, is a double-reed wind instrument that belongs to the oboe or shawm family. Just like other shawms, the bombard has a broad and powerful sound that somehow resembles the sound of a trumpet. A person who plays a bombard is … Read more

Guide to Oboe the Family

The oboe is a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Woodwind instruments got their name because they were traditionally made of wood. Today, they are made of different materials. In order to play these kinds of instruments, the player  blows air through the instrument. The oboe, along with its relatives … Read more

Guide to Txalaparta

Five board txalaparta

The Txalaparta is a Baque music instrument that is made from stone or wood. In some places in Basque Country, it is called the zalaparta, which means racket, while in some regions, it is called the txalaparta, which implies the trot of the horse, because the sound that this instrument produces is … Read more

Guide to the Spoon – A Percussion Instrument

Man playing the spoon

Spoons can be an improvised percussion instrument, or it can also be an idiophone, just like the castanets. The spoons are played by hitting them against each other. In the United States, the spoons are associated with minstrelsy, American folk music, as well as jug and spasm bands. While in British folk … Read more

Guide to Flutes

A photo of a woman playing the modern konghou on stage

The first flutes are known to be invented before farming, metalworking, and domestication. Studies show that flutes have existed since 40,000 BC, and back then, they were made with bones of different animals. Aside from that, these flutes not only have mouthpieces, they also have holes to govern airflow throughout the instrument. … Read more

Guide to Vibraphone

Man playing  Musser Vibraphone

A vibraphone is a musical instrument that belonged to the percussion family. This instrument has tuned metal bars, and it is played by holding two to four soft mallets hitting the metal bars. The vibraphone is like a marimbaphone or a steel marimba. The instruments’ significant difference is that the vibraphone’s bars … Read more