23+ Musical Instruments That Start With C

Musical instruments that start with C include the clarinet, concertina, chimes, and cello. Of course there are many more. These are just a few of the most popular ones.

There are also lots of musical instruments beginning with C that are not so well-known such as the cabasa, cor anglais, celesta, and componium.

Whether you’re looking for a new instrument to explore or you want to expand your musical knowledge, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, I have researched and listed a mixture of modern-day and older musical instruments that start with C. Let’s get started.

Instruments That Start With C

If you know of any other instruments that start with the letter C, let me know in the comments box below so I can add them to the list for other readers to discover.

1. Clarinet

First on the list is a musical instrument many people are already familiar with: the clarinet. It is one of the most popular members of the woodwind family and is often featured in jazz and classical music.

2. Cello

The cello is a European bowed string instrument that has been around since the 17th century. It is also known as a violoncello and is a member of the violin family. Being one of the most expressive instruments in existence, playing the cello is very rewarding for many musicians.

3. Cymbals

Typically made from copper alloy, cymbals are percussion instruments often seen on a drum kit and are used to create rhythmic sounds. Although there are different types of cymbals including splash, ride, and crash, they all make a similar sound when striked.

4. Castanets

Used in Spain and many other parts of the world, castanets are another percussion instrument. But they are a lot smaller than cymbals. Traditionally, they are made of shells. You hold them in your hand and clap them together to produce a clicking sound.

5. Cajón

At first glance, the cajón looks like a wooden box. However, it’s actually a percussion instrument. You sit on it and slap the front and side panels with your hand to produce a variety of cool sounds and beats. The sound it makes depends on the technique you use.

6. C trumpet

The C trumpet is exactly what it sounds to be. It is a trumpet designed to play in the key of C. That doesn’t mean you are limited to the key of C when playing it though. It just means this specific trumpet is best used for orchestral music written for a trumpet in C.

7. Celesta

Invented in 1886 by Auguste Mustel, the celesta sounds like a glockenspiel and looks like a small piano. But it has fewer octaves than a piano (three compared to four or five) and it is a transporting instrument, meaning it sounds one octave higher than the written pitch.

8. Clavichord

The clavichord is another piano-like instrument that was very popular in late medieval times and during the classical era. It has a delicate and soft sound with a limited range of two and a half octaves, which is why it was mainly used as a practice instrument.

9. Chromatic Harmonica

As the name suggests, the chromatic harmonica is a member of the harmonica family: a popular musical instrument that needs little introduction. What makes this one unique is that it allows you to play a wider range of notes than a regular diatonic harmonica.

10. Carillon

When you hear the carillon, you will instantly think of church bells because that’s exactly what a carillon is. It is a set of at least 23 tuned bells organized into a scale and housed in a bell tower. To play the bells, you press batons on a wooden piano-like keyword.

11. Calliope

First used on riverboats and in circuses in the 18th century, the calliope is an ancient musical instrument that originally used steam to produce a sound similar to that of an organ. Over time, as the instrument evolved, it was powered by gas, and now air.

12. Charango

From the lute family, the charango is an Andean string instrument developed during post-colonial times. It is made with armadillo shell and wood and typically it has five sets of two strings. It is tuned like a Spanish guitar and used for a variety of music styles.

13. Componium

The componium looks more like factory machinery than a musical instrument. It is built with two barrels that rotate, a flywheel, steel pipes, and a wooden frame. It’s not the type of instrument you would learn to play or buy these days. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, there’s only one of them and that’s in the Brussels Museum of Instruments.

14. Cor Anglais

Known as an English Horn in North America (Cor Anglais is French for English Horn), the cor anglais is a double-reed woodwind instrument belonging to the oboe family with a dark and rich sound in the treble and alto ranges.

15. Cabasa

The cabasa is a percussion instrument made of wood and steel balls from Nigeria and parts of West Africa. When you tap, twist, or shake it, the instrument produces a unique rattling sound often heard in music genres like Latin jazz.

16. Crotales

Crotales are a mini version of the cymbals we discussed earlier. They are little metal discs that produce a beautiful and long ringing sound when you strike them with hard brass or plastic mallets. Typically a set has one or two octaves and they are great for playing melodies.

17. Claves

The claves are another simple percussion instrument consisting of two short wooden sticks. You hold one of the sticks in your hand and gently tap it with the other stick to produce a nice wooden resonant sound.

18. Clavicytherium

The clavicytherium is a rare stringed piano-like instrument. You press keys on a wooden keyword and strings are plucked to create sound. Dating back to the 1400s, the clavicytherium is a museum piece kept in the Royal College of Music in London.

19. Clavicymbalum

A clavicymbalum is a musical instrument belonging to the harpsichord family. Like its modern family the piano and the organ, it has a single keyboard with strings, but when you press a key on the keyboard, the strings are plucked, not struck by hammers.

20. Contrabass Balalaika

The contrabass balalaika is a string instrument from Russia. It has three strings, two of which are tuned to the same key. The third string is tuned four notes higher. It is shaped like a triangle and it has a small fretted neck.

21. Cigar Box Guitar

As the name suggests, the cigar box guitar is a wooden cigar box with strings attached to it. In the 1800s this instrument was a popular DIY alternative for African Americans who couldn’t afford musical instruments like banjos and fiddles.

22. Cornet

Similar to a trumpet, the cornet is a brass instrument with a cup-shaped mouthpiece that produces sound when you blow into it. But it’s smaller than a trumpet and has a more mellow sound. The end of a cornet is also much wider than that of a trumpet.

23. Clapper

The clapper is a very simple percussion instrument mostly made of wood. There are two solid pieces. One has a handle and the other is attached with a springy hinge. When you strike the wooden sticks together it produces a loud clap or whipping sound.

24. Cittern

The cittern is a stringed musical instrument developed in the 16th century. It has four sets of two strings that you pluck with a plectrum. Typically, the strings are made from wire, giving it a bright and twangy sound.

25. Clavinet

Last but not least is the clavinet: an electric keyboard invented by Ernst Zacharias in the 1960s for home use, originally. But by the 1970s it was a popular instrument used on stage in a variety of music genres including Stevie Wonder’s 1972 hit Superstition.

Conclusion

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