Let's hear it for underrated musical instruments.

Contrabassoon. As a bassoonist, I've never had the opportunity to play one, and it saddens me. I played bari sax for years (among others), and quite enjoy the lower end of the woodwind family.

What would the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy be without the celesta?

The French horn! Lovely instrument, incredibly difficult to play.

More French horn. Simply glorious.

The French horn is not under-rated so what's it doing on this thread?

Here’s a twofer - the Serpent and the Ophicleide:

Love it, R6! Thank you.

Let’s hear it for the euphonium, a brass instrument with the range of a trombone that looks like a miniature tuba. I’m convinced it’s the easiest instrument to play in the high school band because the mouthpiece fits normally to a human embouchure (not tiny like a trumpet or huge like a tuba) and it uses keys to change notes, as opposed to the trombone which has those capricious little slide positions that seemed impossible to master. And for those reasons, I choose you, euphonium.

the most kick ass instrument that went extinct is without a doubt the theorbo

I rocked a bass trombone with a dual axial flow Thayer valve in high school and college. Dunno if I could blow a flat note on one now.

Looked like this, but not exactly. I think this picture is a tenor trombone.

R9 - LOVE the Theorbo!! Wonderful for intimate accompaniments, both for voice and figured bass usage.

It’s cousin, the Archlute, is also an amazing instrument (and Thomas Dunford is easy on the eyes . . . ):

The Appalachian dulcimer.

I love watching it being played. Like a dance for the hands.

The sound makes me think of a harpsichord more than a guitar.

R9 - My bad!! Thomas Dunford is also playing the Theorbo in the video I posted (although I’ve heard him play the Archlute masterfully).

Here is the Archlute:

I play English Horn & Oboe.

The glass harmonica is just eerie. Donizetti originally used it for the mad scene in Lucia di Lammermoor, but it's usually replaced by a flute.

I don't play any instruments, but I have always loved the sound of the clarinet. Here's Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto.

I love the wind quintet in Samuel Barber's Summer Music.

I've played the guitar for 15 years and love the instrument, but I've always secretly wanted to learn to play the harp—it sounds so pure and beautiful. There's a reason it's associated with the heavens. It's very impractical, though, and they're so expensive that most people have to rent them out.

Bass clarinet. Piccolo. Triangle. Last chair in the second violins.

(You left out Me!)

I enjoy a nice rusty trombone.

The tubular bells got a big break, but couldn't sustain the momentum.

The English Horn has the starring role in Sibelius' marvelous tone poem, The Swan of Tuonela.

The French Horn??!! Underrated??!

Jesus.

Listened to, inter alia, the Brahms 1st and 4th lately? The beautiful horn calls for his 2nd Piano Concerto? Tchaikovsky's 5th? Swaths of Mahler and Wagner? Dvorak?

Thank you R14, we’ll make note of that if there’s ever a relevant thread

R18, I wish the harp got its due beyond background noise at aspirational weddings.

I saw this singer/harpist perform at a bar last year, and I was mesmerized.

I’m the bandoneon. So difficult to play, but elegant.

The Hurdy Gurdy - An instrument in a class by itself. It’s like the platypus of the music world:

The autoharp! Our elementary school music teacher played it back in the 60s. She would wheel her cart of instruments and music books from class to class. We learned patriotic songs, military anthems, international folk songs, cowboy songs (this was Texas, after all). We even learned beginning music notation.

I’m a recorder. I’m the basic bitch of musical instruments.

R27 so did Lilimae Clements.

OP - Thanks for starting this thread!

I searched YouTube for other hurdy gurdy performances and found this neat video that demonstrates how timeless its sound is. That which is old is new again:

r26 I have a recording of Schubert's Winterreise on which Matthias Loibner plays hurdy gurdy. I can't find a complete recording online, unfortunately. Nataša Mirković De Ro sings.

The triangle

I play the Skin flute like profesional lady.

R32 - Sometimes the Triangle is irreplaceable:

Glass Harp

I lived in a big house with other students. We cooked communally some nights. And we had a triangle on the back porch we'd ring to call people to dinner in the summer, when people would be outside or next door.

Cheers, OP. Cheers, R14. Another oboist & English hornist here as well!

R24, I love this harpist. He outshines the guitarists, so don't give up right away. I don't think you really see how good he is until about 1:15.

R35 - The Freak Instrument for which Tchaikovsky composed The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy (right after it was invented!).

I think we all need more castanets in our lives.

R39 Never heard that before. Very cool! Kinda creepy.

The Koreans seem very taken with that, r40, if you look at the comments.

R28, I have this feeling that he is secretly trying to signal that his buns are hot.

OP here and enjoying all of your posts! I stand by my posts about the French horn being underrated. They don't get near the recognition that other orchestral instruments get, and in brass sections, the trumpet gets most of the attention! In school band programs, they're often considered a "specialty" instrument.

Here they are being featured in Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. Beautiful. The clarinetist is hot btw, and the conductor has a very unique style.

R22, not to mention the glorious horn parts of Strauss tone poems and songs. I always bust a fat nut at the end of Beim Schlafengehen.

Anyway, my favorite underrated instrument is the Wagner Tuba. Gets me excited for some earth shattering Ring powah!

Another vote for Castanets! This piece wouldn’t be the same without them (and the dancing is a great touch).

She's even wearing a bolero, r46.

Agreed here that the trombone isn't necessarily underrated ("76 Trombones," anyone?). I will say from personal experience, however, that it's easy to fake playing it...I started playing in 6th grade and by 8th grade was completely checked out (but my parents had bought the poor trombone as opposed to renting it, and I was expected to get their money's worth out of it). Of course I could read the music, but was so bored with playing it that I got away most all of that academic year with just faking it. No one suspected a thing because I was going through the motions of sliding back and forth. Needless to say I didn't join the high school band in 9th grade.

Slap bass,

Love this thread so much. The serpent and ophicleide win this hands-down, I think. Fascinating instruments. I only saw a serpent in person once, in Boston, which is a period-instrument haven. I've never seen an ophicleide.

I also love these unusual saxophones, here playing "Lisbon" by Grainger, a piece I love with all my heart. And the military guy leading it is VERY HOT.

The Stroh violin! The only place I've seen or heard one is in [italic]Finding Forrester[/italic].

MORE COWBELL!

I second the vote for the mountain dulcimer. In the right hands, it can move you to tears.

Didn't read all the posts, sorry. I played oboe in the local orchestra; all the other instruments tuned to me. For 30 seconds, I was the most important person in the orchestra. As a high school band member, I couldn't be in the marching band because the reed couldn't take the chill so I was a 'flag bearer'.

R50, I assume you’re a fellow band nerd if you love a movement from Lincolnshire Posy. Like the Holst suites and Elsa’s Procession from Lohengrin, Fennell and the EWE played it in the early 20th century and it’s consistently been one of the most popular concert band pieces around. In my experience every program cycles it in every 10 years or so.

I was an alto sax player and had loads of fun navigating those crazy meter changes in the middle movements. It definitely made me appreciate Grainger and classical music overall tho.

My favorite is the easiest (IMO) movement “The Brisk Young Sailor” as it has lots of fancy woodwind highlights.

When Mama finds herself a nice piece of cage meat her mussy whistles like the Delta Queen calliope on full steam. You can hear it from three counties away.

And smell it, R56!

Here’s David Spillane on the gorgeous Uilleann Pipes from Riverdance the Show (1995).

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has a great series on period instruments that some might find interesting.

here's one on the oboe da caccia.

I'm into Renaissance music and many of the instruments are no longer used except for playing Renaissance music. many of them can be bought today. Of course they are replicas and are tuned to present day A-440 Hz. I have a small collection including Recorders (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and the equivalent of a Fife), Krummhorn, Hirtenschalmei (or shepherd’s shawm), Dulcian, and Rauschpfeife

I enjoy listening to recordings of Renaissance bands which also include other instruments such as Serpent, Rackett, Sackbutt, and the many early string instrument.

I think these are all underrated.

I'm into Renaissance music and many of the instruments are no longer used except for playing Renaissance music. many of them can be bought today. Of course they are replicas and are tuned to present day A-440 Hz. I have a small collection including Recorders (Soprano, Alto, Tenor and the equivalent of a Fife), Krummhorn, Hirtenschalmei (or shepherd’s shawm), Dulcian, and Rauschpfeife

I enjoy listening to recordings of Renaissance bands which also include other instruments such as Serpent, Rackett, Sackbutt, and the many early string instrument.

I think these are all underrated.

The sheng （笙）, an instrument from ancient China, is an acquired taste if there ever was one. I didn't discover it until I did a deep dive into Chinese culture.

R8 I played the euphonium (we used the alternative name of baritone horn) in elementary school and junior high school. The downside of it is that it rarely gets any solid noticeable parts.

Let's hear it for the onde martenot!

The tambourine, bitches.

Viola da gamba. Developed in 15th century Spain from the vihuela. Here played by master Jordi Savall.

Anglo concertina. Played here spectacularly by the handsome Mohsen Amini.

Thanks, R63! That “thing” reminded me of the Theremin:

The saxophone seems like a member of the instrumental demi-monde: it socializes/interacts with the “high brow” members of the orchestra in pieces like this, but seems more at home in burlesque clubs and speakeasies.

I had never heard a Soprano Saxophone until a college friend played this piece for his senior recital; I fell in love with it INSTANTLY. To me, it sounds like one of Henri Rousseau’s lush canvases brought to life:

The harp has numerous solo works created for it, some quite famous (check out Handel and works such as, for example, Debussy's Sacred and Profane Dances, where it features notably) so I don't know why poster upthread said it hasn't "gotten its due" beyond aspirational weddings. The harp also has extensive use in neo-classical ballet, where it introduces many of the most famous solos, waltzes, and pas de deux in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker, to name the most famous. De Falla's Spanish Dance.

And last but hardly least, Mozart's famous concerto for flute, harp, and orchestra.

The clavichord

The sackbut.

I just like the name. It also seems like something eldergays get. As in Oh dear, I hear he's come down with a case of sackbut now.

Sackbut = Trombone’s grandfather

R71 - Your post reminded me of this scene from The Ladykillers (2004 remake):

The nyckelharpa from Sweden, a keyed fiddle with sympathetic strings giving it a drone-like, hypnotic resonance.

Not to brag, r8, but in high school I was the best baritone player in the state two years in a row.

The viola organista designed by Leonardo da Vinci and only recently built.

Marry me, R60.

I would like to proffer, if I may, the rackett (ranket, racketts). (Note that the picture is of krummhorns, which are also very beautiful but not what you're hearing.)

Every so often there is a stealthy thread on DL on a topic that I wouldn’t think was interesting but is fascinating. This thread is that topic. In the midst of Meghan drama, pictures of half naked men, and debates over how to drain pasta, this topic is holding my attention. Well done, OP.

[quote] and the conductor has a very unique style.

Oh, [italic]dear.[/italic]

You can't be 'very unique." "Unique" is an absolute quality.

R79 In this age, EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is considered unique. I see "very unique" becoming "very common."

There's nothing very unique about persnickety grammar police, unfortunately.

I've been a professional editor and writer for 20 years. The CEO of my organization is better than average with language and he has taught me a lesson: people who correct other people's usage in casual conversation are universally reviled assholes. Chit chat and formal written and spoken words are held to different standards.

My grandfather used to play the Saw.

The Armenian duduk.

The waterphone

Tori Amos made really interesting use of the harpsichord on her 1996 album. I absolutely love it mixed with guitar and drums and I don't really understand why she and others haven't continued to use it.

Quills - An African-American panpipe made from reeds

Surprised there's no mention of the zither

R87 - See R27 and R29.

For the poster who mentioned the panpipe - Peter Weir's "Picnic at Hanging Rock" included one in its score:

"The main title music was derived from two traditional Romanian panpipe pieces: "Doina: Sus Pe Culmea Dealului" and "Doina Lui Petru Unc" with Romanian Gheorghe Zamfir playing the panpipe (or panflute) and Swiss born Marcel Cellier the organ. Australian composer Bruce Smeaton also provided several original compositions (The Ascent Music and The Rock) written for the film."

Bump

Blues Harp (harmonica). Nothing "wails" quite like it. It's as close as you can get to the musical equivalent of crying...if it's played just a certain way.

R91 - Not an instrument, but a Sound Effect. Not unlike Celeste Holmes’ observation in the film Road House: “It’s great, if you like the sound of gravel.”

Maracas

[quote] Not an instrument, but a Sound Effect

R92, I pointed out the harmonica's "wailing" feature--what you refer to as a "sound effect" in your gloriously snobby arrogance--because most people think of the 10-hole diatonic harmonica as more akin to a novelty toy rather than an actual musical instrument, which BTW, actually takes a fair amount of practice, effort and technique to master in the blues harp playing style.

You're a condescending, pretentious prick.

The Lowery Organ

Great thread. Will come back to it many times.

R94 - And after all that “wailing” protest, it still sounds likes fingernails on a chalkboard. Accept it.

I like the sound of the güiro.

The flugelhorn

R97 "all that 'wailing' protest"? You make it seem like I went on in a lengthy discourse. Some people are reared as assholes. Accept it.

Anybody know what the name of the percussion instrument that sound like a sack of bbs that you hear in this piece is? It’s the one that the percussionist shakes like a cocktail shaker

R101 - Maracas. See R93.

The "Great Organ" at the Methuen Memorial Musical Hall. Truly underappreciated instrument. Attended a recital there several years ago and the sound was amazing.

The bagpipes as long as they aren't playing the gawdawful Amazing Grace or Scotland the Brave.

Bump

The Oboe for me .

I like this aria transposed for instrumentals only b/c you can hear how difficult coloratura is..

Voces8 did a version of Jesus Bleibet Meine Freudethat had a kickass oboist.

Oh yes R106, I was listening to that yesterday. The entire recording is perfect!

I was playing piano for a performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' "Miss Donnithorne's Maggot" and there was a section where I had to "play" a balloon. I had to scrunch it back and forth to the beat.