Instruments

Since there was no standardized musical terminology in the Middle Ages, the same medieval instrument would often be known by several different names. We have thus grouped instruments here into general categories according to the way in which their sound was produced.

The following notes are based on Jeremy Yudkin, Music in Medieval Europe (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989), pp. 440-53)

Plucked strings

Bowed strings

Mechanically bowed strings

Flutes

Reed instruments

Brass

Horns

Percussion

Keyboards

Further topics -

Music before the Trecento

Music in the Trecento

Listen to music

 

Main: Arts: Medieval Music: Instruments