Musical instruments beginning with Z
Zampoña, zarb and zurna produce sound through pipes, a membrane and a double reed respectively. Zither is the English name for a family of string instruments, not one model from a single country.
Instruments beginning with Z and how they work
| Instrument | Family | How to recognise it |
|---|---|---|
| Zampoña | Wind, panpipes | A name used for sets of pipes in Andean traditions. The player blows across the open ends; the arrangement of the pipes varies. |
| Zarb, tombak or tonbak | Percussion, membranophone | An Iranian goblet-shaped drum played with the hands. The skin and different hand movements produce contrasting attacks. |
| Zither | Strings | A family whose strings extend over a supporting body without a separate neck. Depending on the instrument, they may be plucked, struck or bowed. |
| Zurna | Wind, double reed | A conical-bore instrument with a flared bell, found notably in Turkey and neighbouring traditions. It does not produce sound like an edge-blown flute. |
A zampoña is not a quena
A zampoña consists of several pipes, each producing a pitch determined by its length and construction. A quena has a single tube with finger holes. Moving between pipes is a different technique from changing the fingering on one tube. See the quena and quenacho in our French-language Q index.
Zarb, tombak and tonbak: search under different spellings
These names are used for the Iranian goblet drum. When watching a demonstration, listen for the contrast between strokes at the centre, near the rim and lighter articulations. This is neither a tuned-bar percussion instrument nor a string instrument. The Metropolitan Museum bulletin on musical instruments includes a Persian tombak.
Zither: one family, several forms
The koto, qanun and yangqin belong to different traditions, but all have strings stretched over a support without a separate neck. Playing technique remains important: the yangqin is struck, whereas the other two are plucked in the usual forms described here. Zithers can therefore look and sound very different.
The zurna belongs to the double-reed winds. The Getty organological vocabulary classifies it as a double-reed instrument with a conical bore. Compare it with the oboe in our French-language H index.
Looking for a manufacturer or current equipment instead? Our French-language guide to Yamaha instruments is separate from this alphabetical directory.