Instruments from around the world for kids: ten to hear

Every part of the world has its own instruments. This page has ten to hear, from India, China, Japan, Indonesia, West Africa, Zimbabwe, the Middle East, Scotland, Trinidad, and the Andes. Each one works on a principle a child already knows from the orchestra: a string, a tube of air, a drum skin, or a bar that rings.

Four ways to make a sound

People who study instruments sort them by what vibrates.

What vibrates	Examples from the orchestra	Examples on this page
A string	Violin, harp, and piano	Sitar, erhu, koto, and oud
Air in a tube	Flute, trumpet, and clarinet	Bagpipes and siku
A stretched skin	Timpani and snare drum	Tabla and djembe
The instrument itself	Cymbals and xylophone	Gamelan, mbira, and steel pan

Ten instruments to hear

1. Sitar and tabla, from India

The sitar is a string instrument with a long neck and a round body made from a gourd. The player plucks a few main strings. More strings run under them and ring on their own, which gives the sitar its shimmer.

The tabla is a pair of small hand drums. The player uses the fingers and the heel of the hand, and can make the lower drum’s note bend up and down. The two instruments often play together.

Hear: A recording of Ravi Shankar, who brought the sitar to listeners around the world.

2. Erhu, from China

The erhu is a fiddle with two strings. It stands upright on the player’s lap. The hair of the bow passes between the two strings, so the bow is never taken off the instrument. People often compare its sound to a singing voice.

Hear: Any slow solo for erhu.

3. Koto, from Japan

The koto is a long wooden instrument with 13 strings. It lies flat on the floor or on a stand. Each string has its own small bridge that can be moved to change the note. The player plucks with picks worn on three fingers of the right hand.

Hear: “Sakura,” a well-known Japanese song about cherry blossoms, played on the koto.

4. Gamelan, from Indonesia

A gamelan is not one instrument. It is a whole orchestra of bronze gongs, metal bars, and drums, from the islands of Java and Bali. The players sit on the floor and play interlocking patterns.

In 1889, the French composer Debussy heard a gamelan at a world’s fair in Paris. Its ringing sound stayed with him and found its way into his piano music. Read Debussy for kids.

Hear: A gamelan from Bali, and then “Empress of the Pagodas” by Ravel, which borrows the sound. See the Mother Goose guide.

5. Djembe, from West Africa

The djembe is a drum shaped like a goblet, carved from one piece of wood, with a goatskin head. The player uses bare hands. A hit in the middle gives a deep bass note, and a hit near the edge gives a high, sharp one.

Hear: A djembe group from Guinea or Mali.

6. Mbira, from Zimbabwe

The mbira has a set of thin metal strips fixed to a wooden board. The player plucks the ends of the strips with the thumbs and one finger. It is often placed inside a large gourd to make it louder. Some people call it a thumb piano.

Hear: Mbira music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

7. Oud, from the Middle East and North Africa

The oud is a string instrument with a round back and a short neck with no frets. It has been played for more than a thousand years. The European lute grew from it, and the word “lute” comes from its Arabic name.

Hear: A solo for oud.

8. Bagpipes, from Scotland

A piper blows air into a bag held under the arm and squeezes the bag to push the air through the pipes. One pipe has finger holes and plays the tune. The other pipes each play one long note that never stops, called a drone. Many countries have their own bagpipes. Scotland’s are the best known.

Hear: A pipe band on parade.

9. Steel pan, from Trinidad and Tobago

The steel pan was invented in Trinidad in the 1900s. Makers hammer the end of a steel oil drum into a bowl and shape a set of dents in it. Each dent plays a different note. The player uses two sticks with rubber tips.

Hear: A steel band playing a calypso. Read the steel pan for kids.

10. Siku, from the Andes

The siku is a set of pan pipes from the mountains of Peru and Bolivia. Each pipe is a hollow cane of a different length, closed at the bottom. The player blows across the tops. In a traditional group, two players share one tune, and each plays every other note.

Hear: Pan pipes from the Andes.

Five more to look up

• Didgeridoo. A long wooden tube from the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia. The player buzzes the lips to make a deep drone.
• Kora. A harp with 21 strings from West Africa, built on a large gourd.
• Balalaika. A Russian string instrument with three strings and a body shaped like a triangle.
• Taiko. Large Japanese drums, played with thick sticks by a group.
• Banjo. It grew from instruments that enslaved Africans built in the Americas.

Guest stars in the orchestra

Composers borrow these sounds. A cymbal crash and a bass drum came from Turkish bands. A banjo plays in the Afro-American Symphony by William Grant Still. Ravi Shankar wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra, and the composer Tan Dun writes for Chinese instruments beside Western ones.

Read Asian composers for kids.

Things to do together

Find it on a map. Put a sticker on a world map for each of the ten instruments.

Sort by sound. Play a short clip of each one. Sort them into strings, air, skins, and things that ring.

Guess the family. Play a clip with the screen hidden. Ask what is vibrating.

Make pan pipes. Cut five drinking straws to different lengths, tape them in a row, and blow across the tops.

Hear the drone. Hum one low note without stopping while your child sings a tune over it. That is how a bagpipe works.

Ask a neighbor. Ask family and friends which instruments come from the places their families are from.

Print and play

Use a listening journal page for each instrument. Read musical instruments from A to Z, homemade instruments for kids, and instruments of the orchestra for kids.