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Instrument collections

In a study based on the MEG collection, published in 1919, the anthropologist and doctor Georges Montandon attempted to trace the origins and descent of musical instruments throughout the world. He grouped the instruments in ensembles, presented as plates of photographs and drawings. The study ends with a geographical sketch map showing the distribution of different types of instruments across the world.

As the study was read in scientific circles, the MEG’s instrument collection, classified in this manner, was widely quoted and used by researchers working on rational classification. The diffusionist approach was later abandoned to the benefit of comparative organology and contextual inventories.

Aerophones

The instruments in this class use the vibration of the air to produce sound. The colour of the sound (timbre) and degrees of intensity may differ widely from one type to another. The sound produced by wind instruments (aerophones) comes from a stream of air set vibrating by the lips (horns), air blown against a ridge (flutes and whistles) or reeds (clarinets, oboes, mouth organs). This class also includes free aerophones, which slice the air as they whirl round (bullroarers or rhombus).

Some cultures put taboos on the use of these instruments, either because they are held to the mouth from which the breath of life emanates, or because the vibrating “material”, the air, is invisible.