Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy is credited with the invention of this instrument.
Piano
These are the two basic pedals of most pianos.
Damper and Soft
It is the largest and lowest pitched of brass instruments.
Tuba
If you playing an oboe, you blow air into this, usually made of wood.
Reed
The largest and lowest pitched bowed string instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra.
Double bass
Instrument very prominent in nearly all musical cultures, but lost its popularity as it was thought of primarily as a woman's instrument after Marie Antoinette popularised it as a lady's pastime.
Harp
This type of 'high' saxophone is the most popular among classical composers and performers; most classical saxophonists focus primarily on it.
Alto Saxophone
On a guitar, the raised metal stripes across the fingerboard are called this.
Frets
As an organist, if you want to hear a particular sound, you pull out a knob called a stop. If you want a big blast of sound, you pull them all of them - and it gave rise to this phrase meaning no holds barred.
Pulling out all the stops.
Also called a side drum, it is a drum made with strands of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the bottom head.
Snare drum
The music to these instruments is written in a different key that the rest of the orchestra.
Transposing instruments
Eg: Clarinet, Trumpet, Saxophone, French Horn
A classical guitar has these many strings.
6
They are one of the two instrument types that form the modern drum kit, other than the drum.
Cymbals
Also known colloquially as kettle drums, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl commonly made of copper.
Timpani
Instrument consisting of a gearwheel and a stiff board mounted on a handle, which can be freely rotated. The handle is held and the whole mechanism is swung around, the momentum causing the board to click against the gearwheel, making a clicking and rattling noise.
Ratchet
A piano has these many keys, same as the number of constellations.
88
The name of this instrument is the abbreviation of an Italian word meaning 'small double bass.'
Cello
Bowed string players (as well as ballet dancers and baseball pitchers) rub this 'flowery' powder that increases friction on their bow hair so it can grip the strings and make them 'speak.'
Rosin
The most common type of horn is this. The most common type of horn is this.
The double horn
The name of this instrument is Italian for a large trumpet.
Trombone
Hey mister man, the small metal jingles on this instrument are called this 'zils.'
Tambourine
This instrument was developed in the 1840s by Adolphe ___, a Belgian-born instrument-maker, flautist, and clarinetist working in Paris and was named after him.
Saxophone ("Sax")
Instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by string, strongly associated with flamenco music.
Castanet
A violin is usually played using this device consisting of a stick with a ribbon of horsehair strung between the tip and frog (or nut, or heel) at opposite ends.
Bow
This 'King of instruments' has the most extense frequency response and widest dynamic range of all musical instruments conceived by man. Along with the clock, it was considered one of the most complex man-made creations before the Industrial Revolution.
The Pipe Organ
A violin usually has these many strings.
4
In terms of sonic force, this 'elephantine' instrument is the strongest of all orchestral instruments.
Trumpet
This US president is well-known for playing the saxophone.
Bill Clinton
The choice keyboard instrument of the Baroque and the early classical periods.
Harpischord
This instrument is defined as one whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular resonator.
Brass instrument
These are the two standard types of piano.
Grand and Upright
Someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments.
Luthier
Instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber mallets. Listed under 'X' in children's ABC books!
Xylophone
The bow of this instrument is the longest bow in an orchestra.
Viola
It is the largest drum of the orchestra.
Bass drum
The name of this wind instrument in 'little' for Italian.
Piccolo
Paul McCartney holds this instrument that is similar to the oboe on the album cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Show of patriotism, perhaps?
English Horn
From the 16th century onwards, this Italian town is renowned as a centre of musical instrument manufacture, beginning with the violins of the Amati family, and later the Guarneri and the Stradivari whose work is widely considered to be the summit of achievement in string instrument making.
Cremona