Any musical instrument where sound is primarily produced by the actual body of the instrument vibrating, rather than a string, membrane or column of air. This group includes all percussion instruments apart from drums, as well as some other instruments.

Idiophones may be subdivided according to how they are played:

• struck idiophones - whether directly by the hand or another object (e.g. cymbal, xylophone and all metallophones) or indirectly, such as by shaking (e.g. a rattle)
• plucked idiophones - e.g. jew's harp, mbira (also called lamellophones)
• friction idiophones - which are rubbed
• blown idiophones