This illustrated guide is organized according to families or groups of instruments: strings, woodwind and brass, percussion and keyboards, as well as a shorter section on the voice. Each 'family' is introduced, and its members described: their origins, how they developed over time, and how they are played. Here you should find all the modern orchestral instruments and their relatives, and also an exploration of the rarer and more unusual instruments, including non-Western examples. Within each section, the text provides a wealth of information about how the instruments are played and how they evolved.