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home > collections > musical instruments
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 |  | | Explore the world of music
View instruments from around the world, ranging from ancient times to the late twentieth century. The collection contains over 1,100 instruments and is among the finest in the country.
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Monthly Lecture-Demonstrations
Hear instruments from the collection played live! Join us in the gallery on the first Monday of every month at 11 am, and selected Wednesdays at 6 pm, for an informal lecture and demonstration of instruments from our collection. All are welcome. Free with Museum admission. Learn more.
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Overview of the Musical Instruments Collection
Musical instruments first became a part of the Museum's holdings in 1917. In that year William Lindsey donated 560 instruments from the collection of noted English collector and musical scholar Francis W. Galpin. This collection contains numerous fine European instruments, as well as many Chinese, Japanese, African, Middle Eastern, and Native American examples.
Some exciting recent acquisitions include several historical keyboard instruments from the estate of Edwin M. Ripin, a large collection of pre-Columbian flutes and ocarinas, a complete Javanese gamelan orchestra made in 1840, and an outstanding ensemble of Thai and Burmese instruments.
The department has also increased its focus on instruments manufactured in America, especially from New England. Most recently, the Museum has added numerous early guitars to its collection, including rare examples from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
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Books and Technical Drawings
Books related to the instrument collection can be purchased through the MFA shop.
Full-scale Technical Drawings are also available for selected instruments.
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Hear the Sounds of the Collection
NEW! Listen to audio samples of selected instruments from the collection in these interactive tours
You will need Adobe Flash Player to view these tours. To listen to the audio, Mac users will need Flip4Mac or VLC.
Bowed string instruments
Harps and zithers
Keyboard instruments
Lutes, guitars, and related instruments
Non-Western instruments
Wind instruments
View the Entire Collection
European and American instruments by type
Bagpipes, reedpipes, and capped-reed instruments
Bowed string instruments
Brasswind instruments
Clarinets, saxophones, and related instruments
Flutes, piccolos, and fifes
Harmonicas, accordions, and related instruments
Harps
Keyboard instruments
Lutes, guitars, and related instruments
Oboes, bassoons, and related instruments
Panpipes, end-blown flutes, vessel flutes, and whistles
Percussion instruments
Recorders, flageolets, and other duct flutes
Zithers, psalteries, and dulcimers
Non-western instruments by region
African musical instruments
Chinese musical instruments
Indonesian musical instruments
Japanese musical instruments
Middle Eastern musical instruments
Native Central and South American instruments
Native North American musical instruments
Oceanic musical instruments
South Asian musical instruments
Southeast Asian musical instruments
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