Music instruments Families

Characteristics of music: Timbre

Sounds are different from each other because they come from different instruments or materials

Music Instruments families

Big Bangs by Howard Goodall

"All musical instruments are derived from four basic family roots: things you hit (drums); things you blow (wind and brass); things you pluck (guitars), and things you bow (violins). All orchestral instruments started this way, in the bush, in the cave, in the tribal village or in the sacred and ritual gatheringplace. However, Western European music is different from all others in a number of ways. One of these is its tendency to continue inventing new instruments as time goes on. In fact, the development and exploitation of new instruments could be described as something of an obsession.”

The desire to know more about how sound is produced constantly drives musicians to invent instruments that push new boundaries and allow composers to write in new ways. We are constantly adapting our daily objects according to our needs. Musical isntruments are not the exception:How can I make a better sound?How can I play higher/lower?How can I imitate birdsong or other sounds in nature?How can I play louder/softer?How can I imitate the human voice?How can I play lots of notes at once?

• Brass
• French Horn
• Trumpet
• Trombone
• Tuba

• Instruments that you use air in order to produce sound.
• It is divided into two groups according to the mechanism they use to be played:
• Woodwind
• Flute
• Piccolo
• Oboe
• English Horn
• Clarinet
• Bass Clarinet
• Saxophone
• Bassoon
• Contrabassoon

Wind Family

• Instruments that you hit in someway in order to produce sound.
• Some examples:
• Bass Drum
• Castanets
• Chimes
• Conga Drum
• Cowbell
• Cymbals
• Glockenspiel
• Gong
• Guiro
• Snare Drum
• Tambourine
• Tenor Drum
• Timpani
• Triangle
• Wood Block
• Xylophone

Percussion Family

String Family

• Instruments that have have strings to produce sound when you pulse them
• Examples:
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Double Bass
• Harp
• Guitar
• Bass
• Ukelele

• These instruments have a keyboard that you touch in order to play
• Some of these are considered in the other families because of the mechanism they use to produce sound
• Examples:
• Harpsichord
• Piano
• Organ

Keyboards Family

Let's get to know an instrument!

Research about one instrument using the questions here. You should answer these questions on your research.Place your research on a Google Slide.Remember the APA form

• What type of instrument is it? (wind family, percussion or strings)
• When was this instrument invented?
• Who invented it? (It can be a group or civilization)
• What are some earlier forms of this instrument? (how did it look before?)

• How do you play the instrument?
• What can not this instrument do? What limitations does it have?
• Video and picture of the instrument

• French Horn
• Trombone
• Trumpet
• Tuba
• Harpsichord
• Organ
• Piano
• OR ANY OTHER INSTRUMENT

• Snare Drum
• Tambourine
• Timpani
• Triangle
• Xylophone
• Clarinet (and bass clarinet)
• Bassoon (and contrabassoon)
• Cor anglais/English horn
• Flute
• Oboe
• Piccolo
• Saxophone

• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Harp
• Double Bass
• Bass Drum
• Castanets
• Chimes
• Cymbals
• Glockenspiel
• Gong
• Guiro

Let's get to know an instrument!

https://www.mydso.com/dso-kids/learn-and-listen/instruments

Let's get to know an instrument!