We all know the names of common musical instruments, but this list of 11 unusual musical instruments with weird names will show you that there are some out there you’ve never seen or heard about. As ...

The similarities between baroque music and jazz are obvious enough: the centrality of improvisation, of course; the freedom given to performers who extrapolate from lead sheets or figured bass lines ...

Since the first of our ancestors discovered that banging a stick on a hollow log makes a jolly sound, we hominids have been finding new and unusual ways to make music. We haven’t come close to tapping ...

Can a single string produce sound? Yes, a single string really can. The Jing ethnic group's single-stringed instrument, through the plucking of its string by the fingertips, weaves the breath of the ...

As you probably heard by now, the great sitar player Ravi Shankar died yesterday at the age of 92. His music arrived in most American ears thanks to George Harrison and the Beatles, whose interest ...

The Ravanahatha is one of the oldest bowed string instruments in the world. It is made from a coconut shell resonator, a bamboo neck, and a horsehair bow. This combination produces a raw, haunting ...