Cornets, which earlier dominated the brass instrument scene in British and European orchestras. Its sound is mellower and more rounded than the trumpet, which has now overtaken it to the place of leader in brass bands and small orchestral groups. Some wind instruments have a sound fairly close to that of the cornet, so the cornet can replace them as required.
The four types of cornets are: mute cornets, bass cornets, tenor cornets and alto cornets.

Mute cornets are narrow-bore, with a mouthpiece on the top that is conically recessed. Its design is straight and tapering. It is used to produce background sounds of low volume, in conjunction with viols, flutes or recorders.
Bass cornets sound very close to the serpent, trombone and some other wind instruments in that category. It is played a full octave below the range of the treble cornet, and can also produce the low parts of the C tenor clef.
Tenor cornets are also known as lizard cornets. They become very popular during the Renaissance to Baroque period, and have a 2.5 octave range(or greater in the hands of experienced players). They are tuned to the C key, and can play notes as low as the C below middle C.
Lastly, an alto cornet has narrow tubes and flared balls, but wide bores. They are often played in musical ensembles and performances due to their rich, low tones.

The piano, for example, works by striking strings of various lengths with hammers. This is called the “striking” method. The violin requires a bow to be stroked across strings whose pitch of vibration is controlled by the length of the string(i.e. up to where it is pressed by the violinist’s fingers). The guitar is played by plucking the strings with the finger or a plectrum. Thus the violin and guitar belong to the “bowing” and “plucking” class of string instruments respectively.

While playing a string instrument, it is very important to be able to tune it. While pianos and most keyboard-based string instruments require a professional piano tuner to tune them, others like the violin, guitar, lute or mandolin are tuned by the player – usually with reference to a piano. These days, electronic sound samples are also used as references to generate the required pitch. The thumb rule of tuning is that the shorter (or tighter) a string is, the higher the pitch generated. Conversely, a longer, thicker or looser string will generate a low pitch.
The sound quality of a string instrument also depends upon its build and the wood used. So make sure to use proper quality instruments to ensure an excellent playing experience.