Membranophones

A membranophone is any musical instrument that makes sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. Membranophones are one of the four main groups of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.

The majority of membranophones are drums. The Hornbostel-Sachs system divides drums into three main areas: struck drums, where the skin is hit with a stick, the hand, or something else; string drums, where a knotted string attached to the skin is pulled, passing the vibrations onto the skin; and friction drums, where a rubbing motion produces vibration on the membrane, causing a sound (a common type has a stick passing through a hole in the skin which is pulled back and forth).