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An aerophone is any musical instrument which
produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings
or membranes, and without the vibration of the instrument itself adding
considerably to the sound. It is one of the four main classes (class 4) of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. The
other three are idiophone, membranophone and chordophone. A fifth class, electrophone, was added in a later revision.
Hornbostel-Sachs divides aerophones by the fact whether vibrating air is contained in the instrument itself or not.
The first class (41) includes instruments where the vibrating air is not contained by the instrument
itself, such as the bullroarer. Such instruments are called free
aerophones. This class includes free reed instruments, such as the harmonica, but also many instruments unlikely to be called wind instruments at all by
most people, such as sirens and whips.
The second class (42) includes instruments where the vibrating air is contained by the instrument.
This class includes almost all the instruments generally called wind
instruments in the west, such as the flute, the oboe and the trumpet.
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