Idiophones: The Body Itself Vibrates

No string, no membrane, no confined air column — an idiophone's own solid material does the vibrating the moment you strike, shake, scrape or pluck it. It's the oldest and broadest family: if a caveman picked up two rocks and clacked them together, that's an idiophone.

Struck

Xylophones, marimbas, triangles, cymbals, bells, gongs — a mallet, stick, or another idiophone hits it and the material itself rings.

Shaken

Maracas, sistrums, sleigh bells — loose objects rattle against a resonating body or each other.

Scraped

The güiro, the washboard — a ridged surface dragged against a stick produces a rapid series of tiny impacts that reads as one sustained sound.

Plucked idiophones

The mbira (thumb piano) plucks metal tines that vibrate on their own — no separate string under tension required, so it's an idiophone, not a chordophone, despite the plucking motion looking similar.

Case in point: the glass harmonica — rubbed glass bowls ringing from friction — sits in the same family as a cowbell. Wildly different sound, same underlying mechanism: the material itself vibrates.

Cross-reference