Traditional Philippine musical instruments explained

Philippine traditional musical instruments are commonly grouped into four categories: aerophones, chordophones, membranophones, and idiophones.

Aerophones

• Bulungudyong – vertical flute (Pinatubo Ayta)
• Diwas
• Palendag – lip-valley flute (Kalinga)
• Tongali – nose flute (Kalinga)
• Tumpong – bamboo flute
• Tulali – flute with 6 holes
• Bansik – bamboo flute with three holes of the Negrito people in Zambales
• Tambuli – Carabao horn

Chordophones

• Litguit – a three-stringed bamboo violin of the Aeta people
• Butting – a bow with a single hemp 5 string, plucked with a small stick
• Faglong – a two-stringed, lute-like instrument of the B'laan; made in 1997
• Budlong – bamboo zither
• Kolitong – a bamboo zither
• Pas-ing – a two-stringed bamboo with a hole in the middle from Apayao people
• Kudyapi – a two-stringed boat lute from Mindanao

Membranophones

• Dabakan – goblet drum (Maranao)
• Gandang – double-headed barrel drum (Maranao)
• Libbit – conical drum (Ifugao)
• Sulibao – conical drum (Ibaloi)
• Gambal – war drums

Idiophones

• Agung a tamlang – bamboo (slit drum)
• Agung – large gong suspended from an ornate frame
• Bungkaka – bamboo buzzer
• Gandingan – set of four large hanging knobbed gongs
• Kagul – scraper
• Kulintang – set of eight tuned gongs placed horizontally in an ornate frame, tuned pentatonic scale|pentatonically.
• Gabbang – bamboo xylophone (Yakan, Batak, B'laan, Sama-Bajau, Tausūg)
• Luntang – wooden beams hanging from a frame (Maguindanaon)
• Kulintang a tiniok – set of eight, tuned knobbed metal plates strung on a wooden frame (Maguindanaon)
• Babandil – small gong
• Saronay – eight tuned knobbed metal plates strung over a wooden frame (Maranao)
• Tongatong – stamping tubes of the Kalinga people

Sources

• Web site: Canave-Dioquino . Corazon . Philippine Music Instruments . . September 22, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081201002500/http://www.ncca.gov.ph:80/about-culture-and-arts/articles-on-c-n-a/article.php?igm=1&i=155 . December 1, 2008.
• Manuel . E. Arsenio . Towards an Inventory of Philippine Musical Instruments: A Checklist of the Heritage from Twenty-three Ethnolinguistic Groups . Asian Studies . 1978 . September 20, 2023 . . Quezon City, Philippines . 6593501 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230920093949/https://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-14-1-1976/manuel-philippine-musical-instruments.pdf . September 20, 2023.
• Dioquino . Corazon . Philippine Bamboo Instruments . Humanities Diliman: A Philippine Journal of Humanities . October 22, 2009 . 5 . 1&2 . September 22, 2023 . . en . 2012-0788 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110623232045/https://journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/humanitiesdiliman/article/view/1484/1439 . June 23, 2011.