350 Instruments at Your Fingertips

The Grinnell College Department of Music launched the second generation of the Grinnell College Musical Instrument Website on May 1, 2015.

The new website documents more than 350 acoustical musical instruments belonging to the College. The collection encompasses the standard Western instruments, plus earlier relatives of many of these instruments and more than 200 non-Western instruments.

Richly illustrated with 1,000-plus images, 400 audio clips and 30 video clips, the site can serve as a supplemental resource for any introductory-level undergraduate course in Western or non-Western music, be it taught at Grinnell or elsewhere. Though the site is targeted to undergraduates enrolled in music courses, “I hope there is something for anyone with any degree of curiosity about musical instruments, how they work and are designed, how they are integrated into social life, and how they have evolved over time," say Roger Vetter, professor of music and author of the site.

Each instrument has a brief essay about its contexts of use, design, and musician-instrument interface, as well as its origins and history. Most have image and audio or video illustrations. Rich links let you explore related instruments based on many aspects, including where they were developed, what they are made of, and how they produce sound. A built-in glossary explains terms that may be unfamiliar.

The site also includes information about standard ensembles, or combinations of instruments, both modern and historical from around the world.

Vetter, who also created the earlier version of the site, conducted nearly three years of research, writing, and technological negotiation to complete the new site. Gaelyn Hutchinson ’12 and Toby Austin ’14 collaborated on the site with Vetter.