Folk and World Music Instruments
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Tabala - large Mauritanian camel-skin drum.
Tabl – See tbal.
Tabla - 1. a pair of Indian drums. The smaller, higher-pitched one is called the tabla. The other, larger bass drum is called bayan. Both have a head made from two layers of goat skin. 2. hourglass-shaped Egyptian and Middle Eastern drum, also called darbuka.
Tabla Site. Articles, compositions, and information on the Indian hand-drum known as tabla.
Tabor - double headed rope tension drum from England, often played one handed.
Taegum - large transverse bamboo flute from Korea.
Taganing - a set of fine tuned drums from Toba (Sumatra, Indonesia).
Tahitahi - tiny Malagasy flutes made of wood, gourd or bamboo.
Taiko - General term for Japanese drums.
Tak - Javanese high-pitched drum (Indonesia).
Takare - one string fiddle (Mozambique).
Takebue – Japanese bamboo transverse flute.
Ta-ku – large Chinese barrel drum played with one or two sticks.
Tala - Indian bells.
Ta-lo - large Chinese brass gong.
Tama - talking drum (West Africa).
Tamale - frame drum (Ghana).
Tamani - talking drum (West Africa).
Tambin - three-hole, side blown flute of the Fulani people of the Futa Djalon region of Guinea, West Africa.
Tambor - Spanish term for drum.
Tambora – 1. Dominican drum. Read more about the Dominican tambora.. 2. Large Colombian two-headed bass drum.
Tambores con charchillos - Peruvian drums with vibrating cactus spines underneath.
Tamboril - Spanish double-headed rope tension drum.
Tamboro - a drum from Mozambique.
Tamboura - See tambura.
Tambourine - percussion instrument formed by one or two rings, with jingles or cymbals, covered with flat, stretched skin.
Tambura - 1. Accompanying drone instrument from India. It is a large lute with 4-6 strings. 2. five-string Egyptian lyre. Also known as tamburah. 3. Long-necked fretted lute from Bulgaria, Croatia and other European countries.
Tamburah - see tambura.
Tamburello - tambourine with jingles from southern Italy.
Tamburitza – Croatian lute.
Tambutica - plucked lute from Yugoslavia.
Tammorra - large Italian tambourine with the drum head made of dried sheep or goat skin.
Tanbur – general term for various long-necked fretted lutes of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Tapan – Bulgarian and Macedonian double-headed barrel drum, 50 to 60cm in diameter. , rope strung. Found in Bulgaria.
Tar - 1. A lute type chordophone that is widespread in the Turkish/Azeri/Persian world and the Caucasus. Read much more and see a picture of the instrument. 2. Large Egyptian frame drum.
Tarabuka – a different name for the darbuka.
Taragot - Romanian folk shawm.
Taralila - Malagasy hexagonal concertina.
Tarambuka - Bulgarian &Kosovar Albanian clay drum, similar to the darbuka.
Tarkas – Andean wooden flute with mouthpiece.
Tarogato – Hungarian reed instrument, 30-40cm long.
Tarrañolas - Galician castanets. Can be made our of wood, slate, stone or pork ribs (Spain).
Tavil - Indian bass drum.
Taware - Mozambican term for drums.
Tbal – large North African side drum.
Tbel – See tbal.
Tchikhulu - See Madawewe.
Tchindzomana - small drum from Mozambique.
Tebal - a Saharawi drum of about 60 centimeters in diameter, made of a dug out wooden bowl and leather from the skin of a camel or goat. It is played with the hands, almost exclusively by women, producing a dry and deep sound at the same time.
Tef - Turkish frame drum.
Tejoletas - two wooden sticks that are held by the fingers and slapped against each other, like castanets (Spain).
Televi - Two small gourds filled with seeds and attached to each end of a string (Ghana).
Telenn - Breton harp.
Temir komuz - Kyrgyz metal Jew's harp.
Teponaztli - Pre-Hispanic Mexican hollow drum.
Tetsu-zutsu – Japanese bells.
Texoletas - Galician castanets.
Tham Thap Luc - Tham thap luc is the Vietnamese term for 36, but is also the name for the Vietnamese version of the hammered dulcimer. Now found throughout Asia, the hammered dulcimer was introduced to southern China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and made its way from there to Vietnam (Courtesy of Khac Chi).
Thavil - two-headed Indian drum.
Thimilai - a hand drum from the state of Kerala(India).
Ti - a Chinese bamboo or wooden horizontal flute.
Tidinit - a Saharawi instrument of dug out wood and a leather cover, similar to a four-stringed lute.
Tilpo - Tibetan hand bell.
Timbalitos - a smaller version of the timbales, tuned at higher pitches, and often added to the timbales to make up a set of four.
Timbila - xylophone with resonator (Mozambique).
Timbrel - Latvian tambourine with jingles.
Timple - a small guitar with 5 nylon strings from the Canary Islands (Spain). Some timples in the northern part of the island of Tenerife only had four strings. Similar instruments are found in other parts of Spain and Spanish-speaking America (see Tiple). Also known as guitarrillo.
Tindé - Algerian drum played by a group of women.
T in-whistle - a six-hole whistle made from a tin plate, with a mouthpiece (Ireland).
Tinya - Pre-Hispanic Mexican resonating box with 5 strings.
Tiompán - Irish hammered dulcimer.
Tiple - a small stringed instrument of Spanish origin, derived from the guitar family, and used in Puerto Rico and Cuba's música campesina as well as other types of Latin American music with Spanish roots. The Puerto Rican tiple uses 3,4,5 or 10 metal strings. The Colombian tiple has 12 strings. For similar instruments see Timple and Cavaquinho.
Tischharfe - German table zither. It can be both plucked and bowed.
Tishou - Chinese clappers.
Ti-tze - Chinese transverse bamboo flute.
Tlapitzalli - Pre-Hispanic Mexican small flute.
To - calabash rattle (Ghana).
Tobshuur – Mongolian lute.
To’ere - Tahitian slit log drum. It is played with one stick. -
Tof - Hebrew frame drum.
Toke - canoe shaped iron bell held in palm and struck with an iron beater (Ghana).
Tololoche - Mexican double bass guitar.
Tombak - See Tonbak.
Ton Dhar - small Tibetan drum shaped like an hourglass with two pieces of string at the end of which are small round strikers. The drum is turned rapidly left and right. The strikers whip around and alternately strike each drumhead. Also known as Damaru.
Tongling - Chinese hand bell.
Ton Patala - Burmese iron xylophone.
Topan - Kosovar Albanian percussion instrument. A short wooden cylinder covered at each open end with leather-stretched with rope and is played with two wooden drumsticks.
Totodzi - small open-bottom barrel drum from Ghana.
Tramporgel - Swedish harmonium.
Treshchokti - Russian clapper.
Triangle - percussion instrument made of a rod of steel bent into the shape of a triangle, open at one corner, and sounded by striking with a metal rod.
Trideksnis - Latvian bell tree. It has a wooden handle and three layers of bells made of copper or brass.
Trikitixa - Basque diatonic accordion.
Triple harp - traditional Welsh harp.
Trojka - Croatian triple flute.
Trombita – a long natural trumpet (Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine).
Trompa - Spanish jew's harp.
Trompe - Chilean jew's harp used by the Mapuche Indians.
Trompeta china - a reeded trumpet of Chinese origin, brought to Havana, Cuba during colonial times and played during carnaval.
Tropa - an ensemble of instruments which belong to the same family type and consists of different registers of sizes.
Trstenice - Croatian panpipe.
Trunfa - Italian's jew's harp.
T 'rung - The t'rung is a suspended bamboo xylophone, native to the Jarai people of south central Vietnam. The original instruments were simply made, using a series of bamboo pipes struck with small sticks. The modern t'rung has three rows of pipes spanning three full octaves and is fully chromatic. The t'rung has become a popular instrument in Vietnam because of its ability to imitate the sound of water (Courtesy of Khac Chi).
Tsambal - Romanian hammered dulcimer.
Tsambuna - bagpipe from Crete (Greece).
Tschanggo – Korean and Siberian drum.
Tsikadraha - See sikadraha
Tsimbl - Jewish hammered-dulcimer.
Tsumen - ivory picks used to play the Japanese koto.
Tsuzumi - General term for hourglass shaped drums from Japan.
Ttun-ttun – a Basque and Navarran long resonant block of wood upon which six strings are strung. These strings are struck with a wooden bow to produce a harmonic and rhythmic drone (Spain).
Tugangay - Filipino bamboo buzz stick.
Tulum - double chanter polyphonic bagpipe from Turkey.
Tumbadora -- A Cuban version of an African drum, consisting (originally) of a hollowed, barrel-shaped log or hand-carved trunk of wood with a tacked-on rawhide head. Later, a system of tuneable hardware was added. The tumbadora is also referred to as the conga drum, and its predecessors include the tambores de conga, used in early comparsas, as well as the makuta drums of Yoruba origin.
Popular instrumento de percusión en la música del Caribe, probablemente de origen africano, mejor conocido por el nombre de "congas". Consiste en dos (a veces más) tambores ovalados de unos 120 cm. de largo, colocados en posicion vertical, tocados con las palmas de la mano.
Tulum - bagpipe of Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Tumbi - a single stringed instrument from the region of Punjab. It consists of a dried, hardened gourd with a stick going through it, and a single string. The gourd is sliced and a parchment is stretched across the hole. The string is attached to a bridge, which rests on the parchment. Although the instrument is very simple, it still takes years of practice to master.
Tun - Guatemalan drum.
Tungur - Siberian frame drum.
Tuohitorvi - Karelian wooden trumpet.
Tupan - See Tapan.
Twienshins - Kpanlogo hand drums (Ghana).
Txalaparta – (pronounced chalaparta) ancient Basque and Navarran percussion instrument. The txalaparta is made of one or more planks of wood or steel bars. The players strike the planks, using batons made of wood or iron. One player keeps the basic rhythm while the other fills the gap, creating a rhythm counterpoint (Spain).
Txanbela - (pronounced chanbela) Basque double-reed instrument (Spain).
Txirula - (pronounced chirula) a small wooden flute with a metal mouthpiece (Spain).
Txistu - (pronounced chistu) traditional Basque flute with three finger holes and a metal mouthpiece. Also known as chistu.
Txistulari Association. Dedicated to txistu players. The site is in Basque and Spanish.
Tusselfloyte - a Norwegian flute.
Tzicahuiztli - Pre-Hispanic Mexican scrapers made from human bones.
Tzouras - Greek long-necked lute.
Last Updated Sunday, October 22 2006 @ 02:48 PM EDT|28,091 Hits 
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