Hornbostel-Sachs

A Hornbostel-Sachs is a category of musical instrument created by Erich Mortiz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs. This was all established in 1914 by Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie. Another version of Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie which was translated in english in the Galpin Society Journal in 1961.

Hornbostel and Sachs got the idea by using a system created in the late 19th century. It was created by Victor-Charles Mahillon, who was the musical instrument creator at Brussels Conservatory.

The Hornbostel-Sachs is modeled on the "Dewey Decimal classification." It has four top level classifications, with several levels below those. In total there is a total of 300 basic categories.