The range of a musical instrument or a human voice is the distance from the lowest to the highest pitch it can play or sing. The range of a part is the distance between its lowest and highest notes.
The instrument with the widest range is the pipe organ, often spanning nine octaves. This compares with another wide_ranged instrument, the piano, which has slightly more than seven octaves, extending below the lowest note on a double bassoon and higher than the top note of a piccolo. That is, it contains the entire range of a standard orchestra in a single instrument.
Among wind instruments, the clarinet has the greatest range, with a register of approximately four octaves. The brass instrument with the widest range is horn, extending from lower than a trombone to nearly as high as a trumpet. Among bowed string instruments, the instrument with the greatest usable range is the cello.