9. There are several instruments belonging to the class of horns, all of which are made of brass or silver. Those of the latter kind of metal are by far the softest in tone, but brass is the material most commonly employed. The chief instruments belonging to this class are the trumpet, the French horn, the bugle, the Kent bugle, the trombone, and the bass-horn. The serpent seems to be the connecting link between the trumpet and the flute.
10. The instruments classed with the flute, are the common flutes of various keys, German flutes, and several kinds of flageolets. Nearly allied to these are the clarionet, the hautboy, and bassoon. The breath is applied to the flageolet through an ivory tube at the end; and, in the three last named instruments, a thin reed, capable of a free vibration, is a part of the mouth-piece.
11. Of the instruments which produce musical sounds by the vibration of strings, there are a great number, of which the following are the principal;—the lyre, the harp, the guitar, the lute, the dulcimer, the harpsichord, the spinnet, the piano-forte, the violin, the violincello, and the base-viol. The strings of the three last are agitated with a bow; but those of this class first mentioned, are vibrated by the thumb and fingers, by some little instrument held in the hand, or by little hammers, moved by keys, as in the piano-forte.
12. The piano-forte is said to be the invention of Gottlieb Schroder, of Hohenstein, in Saxony, born in Dresden, about the year 1717. Before the introduction of this instrument, the clavichord, harpsichord, and spinnet, supplied its place. On all of these instruments complete harmony can be produced by a single performer, and the most difficult series of tones can be executed with rapidity, by means of a simple mechanism.
13. The piano-forte has been gradually improved, until it has become one of the most elegant instruments in the whole compass of musical practice. In firmness and strength of tone, the English piano-fortes formerly surpassed all others; but, within a few years, they have been equalled, and in some respects excelled, by those of American workmanship. The manufacture of this instrument constitutes the most extensive branch of musical instrument-making.
14. The instruments of percussion are the military drum, base-drum, kettle-drum, tabor, tamborine, and the triangle. The kettle-drum has received its name from its conformation. It has but one head, and is used in orchestres, and by the cavalry of modern armies, especially in Europe. The tabor has two heads, about three inches apart, and is beaten with one stick. The tamborine has one head, drawn over a hoop, to which are attached small bells and bits of tin, to make a jingling sound. The time is beaten on the head with the hand.
15. The bag-pipe is a wind instrument of high antiquity among the northern nations of Europe; but it has been so long a favorite with the natives of Scotland, that it may be considered their national instrument. It consists of a leather bag and three pipes. The first of the pipes is that by which the droning noise is produced, the second emits wind from the bottom of the bag, and the third is that on which the music is made.
16. During the performance on the bag-pipes, the bag is placed under the arm, and worked like a bellows, while the notes are modulated as on a flute or hautboy, by stopping and opening the holes, nine in number, with the ends of the fingers and thumb. The bag is filled by means of the breath blown into it through a pipe. In Rome, at the time of Advent, the peasants of the mountains express their veneration for the Virgin by playing on this instrument before her image.