THE 10 MOST COMMON HARMONIC INSTRUMENTS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The harmonic instruments are those capable of emitting two or more sounds at the same time as the piano, guitar, harp and violin. Such sounds meet the requirement of harmony, which in music refers to chords and their construction in "vertical"; that is, in simultaneous notes that are written one over the other in the score. Its basis is the chords.

Harmonic instruments help to give context to the melody and also to evoke the states of mind that the composer intends to generate in his listeners: tension, joy, sadness, love, among others.

How does harmony work in an instrument?

Although when talking about an art such as music, one can think about the artistic and emotional aspects, the truth is that it has a scientific dimension in which mathematics and physics have leading roles.

This is the case of the process behind harmony in instruments, whose sound is nothing more than a set of waves or fluctuations that differ from atmospheric pressure.

That is, for music to be produced in the instrument there must be mechanical energy transmission. That energy is transmitted in the form of vibrations, at stable frequencies.

Examples of harmonic instruments

1- Guitar

This stringed instrument, whose ancestor is torn between the zither and the Arabic lute, consists of a wooden sound box, with a neck with storage room and six nylon strings (which were originally made with animal guts).

Although in its beginnings it had fewer ropes, Spanish artisans added more to it until it reached the current six. This fact changed the sound that was produced, making it a very popular instrument among troubadours and musicians.

The harmony of this instrument depends on the wood used to make it, being the German fir the best quality, although they also use carob.

2- Piano

The piano consists of a resonance box with a keyboard on which steel strings are struck. This percussion generates vibrations that are transmitted to the harmonic table, where its volume is amplified.

The piano is a musical instrument that is classified as a keyboard and stringed instrument. It is a harmonic instrument that was built for the first time around the year 1700. Its inventor was Bartolomeo Cristofori. It is believed to be an evolution of the zither.

It was the first instrument to have a hammer system for loud and soft sounds. In fact, its creator called it "piano forte" (soft and strong).

There are two types of piano:

• Tail
• Wall: with the harp, the string and the hammers perpendicular to the floor.

It is used as the basis for musical composition, and for performing chamber and solo music.

3- Electronic keyboard

It is a keyboard instrument capable of reproducing the sound of other musical instruments. Its predecessor is the Mellotron, built in the 1960s to reproduce recorded sounds. A full electronic keyboard has 88 keys: 36 black and 52 white.

Synthesizers are a type of electronic keyboard.

4- Harp

It is a musical instrument that consists of a series of vertical strings on an almost triangular frame, which is connected to a harmonic table.

It also has seven pedals with which the strings are controlled for each note. Thus, the C pedal controls the C strings; that of re, those of re, and so on.

The harmonic table is small, so the sound produced by the strings is longer than normal, which generates the characteristic loudness of the harp.

The average harp measures almost 1.6 meters.

5- Harmonic

It is one of the woodwind instruments that also belongs to the group of mechanical free reed instruments.

It is built with sheets of cane or synthetic material, superimposed as a sandwich. This way of placing them is due to the ingenuity of Joseph Richter.

When the sheets are assembled, some closed channels remain in the back, which causes that when blowing, the air must escape through the opening of the metal tabs or through the slot of the plate to which it is attached.

The reeds, which are individually tuned, vibrate by the same principle that applies to the springs: they are so thin that they deform with the force of the air of the player's breath, but they quickly recover their original shape.

The notes produced with this instrument depend on the size and internal oral concavity, the position of the tongue and the effects with the hands.

There are several types of harmonicas:

• Diatonic
• Chromatic
• Blues
• Double reed
• Tremolo
• Octaves
• Specials (chords, effects, etc)

6- Mandolin

The mandolin was born at the end of the 16th century. Its creator is the famous violin maker Antonio Stradivari. There are many kinds of mandolins, but they can be grouped into:

• Italian mandolin
• Folk mandolin
• Bluegrass mandolin

The mandolin shape can be concave or flat.

7- Violin

It is the smallest of the string instruments. Like the guitar, it consists of a wooden soundboard, a neck and strings made of metal, gut or synthetic materials.

The lyre and the bow viola are the ancestors of this instrument, which appears in the seventeenth century made of maple and fir wood.

It is an instrument for orchestral and chamber groups. Violins are classified into:

• 4/4
• 3/4
• 2/4
• 1/4
• 7/8 or Lady

8- Flute

It is a wind instrument that consists of a cylindrical wooden or metal tube, with holes and pegs, and a mouthpiece.

The sound in the flute is produced by the vibration generated by the blowing at one end of the cylinder, while the air is distributed, covering and uncovering the holes in the body of the flute.

It is the instrument with the longest history so far. The oldest specimen is one of bone that was found in Germany and is almost 43,000 years old.

Some types of flute are:

• Crossbar
• Plunger
• Sweet
• Clarinet
• Piccolo
• Celtic cross
• Of bread
• Bagpipes
• Shakuhachi
• Bansuri

9- Saxophone

It is a wind instrument that was invented in 1840, believed to be an evolution of the clarinet. Although it is made of brass, it is classified as a woodwind instrument because its sound is produced by the sound waves of an oscillating reed.

It consists of a thin conical tube with 20-23 padded holes and a wide end called a mouth or bell.

Its conical body makes it very similar to the oboe. The body of the saxophone has a u-shaped bend that allows it to generate the bass notes.

Although it was invented by Adolphe Sax, its introduction to orchestral music is due to Jules Massenet.

The types of saxophones are:

• Melodic
• Mezzo-soprano
• Contralto
• Sopranissimo
• Soprano
• Tall
• Tenor
• Bamboo

10- Trumpet

It is a brass instrument that consists of a tube bent in a spiral with valves, and that ends in a flared mouth called a bell.

Its sound is also achieved by the vibration of the air blowing from the mouthpiece. Three of its pistons direct the air through different parts of the pipe, to lengthen or shorten the path of the sound and thus refine it.

It finds its oldest predecessor in the ox horn or mollusk shells, used by ancient man for hunting or as a means of communication.

The types of trumpet are:

• Piccolo 4-piston
• Pocket
• Of rods
• Of keys
• Rotary valve low

References

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