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 includes theviola and cello. The violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. The word violin comes from the Middle Latin word vitula, meaning stringed instrument;[1] this word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic "fiddle".[2] The violin, while it has ancient origins, acquired most of its modern characteristics in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries. The cello (pronounced /tlo/ CHEL-oh; plural cellos or celli) 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 the double bass. Old forms of the instrument in theBaroque era are baryton and viol (viola da gamba). The name cello is an abbreviation of the Italian violoncello, which means "little violone", or referring to the violone ("big viol"), the lowest-pitched instrument of the viol family, the group of string instruments that went out of fashion around the end of the 17th century in most countries except France, where they survived another half-century or so before the louder violin family came into greater favour in that country too. Thus, the name carries both an augmentative "one" ("big") and a diminutive "-cello" ("little"). By the turn of the 20th century, it had grown customary to abbreviate the name violoncello to 'cello, with the apostrophe indicating the six missing prefix letters.[1] It is now customary to use the name "cello" without the apostrophe and as a full designation.[1] The word derives ultimately from vitula, meaning a stringed instrument.

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2 (see standard tuning). The double bass is a standard member of the string section of the symphony orchestra[1] and smaller string ensembles[2] inWestern classical music. In addition, it is used in other genres such as jazz, 1950s-style bluesand rock and roll, rockabilly/psychobilly, traditional country music, bluegrass, tango and many types of folk music. A person who plays the double bass is usually referred to as a bassist. It is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family. While the double bass is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments, it also embodies features found in the older viol family. The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffixet (meaning little) to the Italian word clarino (meaning a type of trumpet), as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindricalbore, and uses a single reed. In jazz contexts, it has sometimes been informally referred to as the "licorice stick."

The piccolo (Italian for small) is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has 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. The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature. The bassoon is a non-transposing instrument known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, variety of character and agility. Listeners often compare its warm, dark, reedy timbre to that of a male baritone voice. The saxophone (also referred to as the sax) is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian clarinetist Adolphe Sax in 1846. He wanted to create an instrument that would both be the most powerful and vocal of the woodwinds and the most adaptive of the brass, which would fill the then vacant middle ground between the two sections. He patented the sax on June 28, 1846 in two groups of seven instruments each. Each series consisted of instruments of various sizes in alternating transposition. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrumentthat produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized asedge-blown aerophones. The oboe (English pronunciation: /obo/) is a double reed musical instrument of thewoodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" (French, meaning "high wood"), "hoboy", or "French hoboy".[1] The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca. 1770 from the Italian obo, a transliteration in that language's orthography of the 17th-century pronunciation of the French word hautbois, a compound word made ofhaut ("high, loud") and bois ("wood, woodwind"). A musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist.

The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. Tuba is Latin for trumpet or horn. The horn referred to would most likely resemble what is known as a baroque trumpet.

The tambourine or marine (commonly called tambo) is a musical instrument of thepercussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metaljingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all. Tambourines are often used with regular percussion sets. They can be mounted, but position is largely down to preference. Tambourines come in many different shapes with the most common being circular. It is found in many forms of music: Greek folk music, Italian folk music, classical music,Persian music, gospel

music, pop music and rock music. The word tambourine finds its origins in French tambourin, which referred to a long narrow drum used in Provence, the word being a diminutive of tambour "drum," altered by influence of Arabic tunbur "drum".[1]from the Middle Persian word tambr "lute, drum".[2]