An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

s, such as shouted

backup vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

s in a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

may refer to instrumentals. The

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

is primarily or exclusively produced using

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

s. An instrumental can exist in music notation, after it is written by a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

; in the mind of the

(especially in cases where the composer themselves will perform the piece, as in the case of a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

solo guitarist or a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

player); as a piece that is performed live by a single instrumentalist or a

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

, which could range in components from a

duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...

or trio to a large

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. In a

that is otherwise sung, a section that is not sung but which is played by instruments can be called an instrumental interlude, or, if it occurs at the beginning of the song, before the singer starts to sing, an instrumental

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

. If the instrumental section highlights the skill, musicality, and often the virtuosity of a particular performer (or group of performers), the section may be called a "solo" (e.g., the

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melodic passage, instrumental section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. In 20th and 21st century traditional music and popular m ...

that is a key section of

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

and hard rock songs). If the instruments are percussion instruments, the interlude can be called a Break (music), percussion interlude or "percussion break". These interludes are a form of Break (music), break in the song.

In popular music

In commercial popular music, instrumental tracks are sometimes renderings, remixes of a corresponding release that features vocals, but they may also be compositions originally conceived without vocals. One example of a genre in which both vocal/instrumental and solely instrumental songs are produced is blues. A

band often uses mostly songs that have lyrics that are sung, but during the band's show, they may also perform instrumental songs which only include electric guitar, harmonica, upright bass/electric bass and drum kit.

Number-one instrumentals

Borderline cases

Some recordings which include brief or non-musical use of the human voice are typically considered instrumentals. Examples include songs with the following: * Short verbal interjections (as in "Tequila (Champs song), Tequila" or "Topsy (instrumental), Topsy" or "Wipe Out (instrumental), Wipe Out" or "The Hustle (song), The Hustle" or "Bentley Rhythm Ace (album), Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out") * Repetitive Non-lexical vocables in music, nonsense words (e.g., "la la..." (as in "Calcutta (song), Calcutta") or "Woo-Hoo (Rock-A-Teens song), Woo Hoo") * Non-musical spoken passages in the background of the track (e.g., "To Live Is to Die" by Metallica; "Desolation of Eden, Wasteland" by Chelsea Grin) * Wordless vocal effects, such as drone (music), drones (e.g., "Rockit (song), Rockit" or "Flying (Beatles instrumental), Flying") * Vocal percussion, such as beatbox B-sides on rap singles * Yelling, (e.g. "Cry for a Shadow") * Yodeling (e.g., "Hocus Pocus (song), Hocus Pocus") * Whistling (e.g., "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" or "Colonel Bogey March") * Spoken statements at the end of the track (e.g., God Bless the Children of the Beast by Mötley Crüe, For the Love of God (instrumental), For the Love of God by Steve Vai) * Non-musical vocal recordings taken from other media (e.g., "Vampires (Godsmack song), Vampires" by Godsmack) * Field recordings which may or may not contain non-lyrical words. (e.g., many songs by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and other post-rock bands.) Songs including actual musical—rhythmic, melodic, and lyrical—vocals might still be categorized as instrumentals if the vocals appear only as a short part of an extended piece (e.g., "Unchained Melody" (Les Baxter), "Batman Theme", "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", "Pick Up the Pieces (Average White Band song), Pick Up the Pieces", "The Hustle (song), The Hustle", "Fly, Robin, Fly", "Get Up and Boogie (song), Get Up and Boogie", "Do It Any Way You Wanna", and "Gonna Fly Now"), though this definition is loose and subjective. Falling just outside of that definition is "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes. "Better Off Alone", which began as an instrumental by DJ Jurgen, had vocals by Judith Pronk, who would become a seminal part of Alice Deejay, added in later releases of the track.

Notes

References

{{Authority control Instrumentals, Music-related lists Musical compositions Song forms

In popular music

Number-one instrumentals

Borderline cases

See also

Notes

References