INSTRUMENTS

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INSTRUMENTS
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Brass Instruments

• Brass family horns, trumpets, cornets, trombones
  and tubas
• All brass instruments are made of metal and are
  basically hollow metal tubing with a mouthpiece
  and a funnel its the different shapes of the
  instruments that give the each instrument a
  different tone quality which is how you can
  tell between them.

Trombone
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Brass Instruments Continued

• You have to make the air vibrate down the tube to
  get a sound
• You do this by buzzing your lips
• You can squeeze your lips tighter to get higher
  notes

Trumpet
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Brass Instruments Continued

• The instruments use slides or valves to get
  different notes
• On a trombone, moving the slide out makes a lower
  note and vice versa.
• On horns, trumpets or cornets there are three
  buttons connected to valves which open and close
  in different combinations to give the correct
  notes

Tuba
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Brass Instruments Continued

• Mutes change the tone of brass instruments
• They are stoppers put in the bell of the
  instrument which make it quieter
• Different shapes and sizes of mute change the
  tone in different ways

Cornet
French Horn
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Woodwind Instruments

• These are so called because they use air (wind)
  to make a sound and all, at some point, were made
  out of wood.
• The main instruments are flute, piccolo,
  clarinet, saxophone, oboe and bassoon.
• Different notes are made by closing and opening
  combinations of the many holes, buttons and
  levers found on the instruments.

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Woodwind Instruments Continued

• Edge-Tone Instruments
• (i.e. the flute and piccolo)
• Here, air is blown across a hole at the top. The
  edge of the hole splits the air and makes it
  vibrate down the instrument, causing the sound.

Flute
Piccolo
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Woodwind Instruments Continued

• Single-Reed Instruments
• (i.e. clarinet and saxophone)
• Here, air is blown down a mouthpiece which
  includes a reed. The reed vibrates, making the
  air in the instrument vibrate and thus, making a
  sound.

Saxophone
Clarinet
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Woodwind Instruments Continued

• Double-Reed Instruments
• (i.e. oboe and bassoon)
• Here, the air passes between two reeds which are
  tightly bound and squeezed between the lips. When
  the reed vibrates, a sound is made.

Oboe
Bassoon
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Orchestral Strings

• The double bass, cello, viola and violin are
  basically different sized versions of each other.
• They can be bowed or plucked (played pizzicato)
• You have to change the length of the strings by
  pressing down on them with your finger, to get
  different notes. This is called stopping.

Cello
Violin
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Orchestral Strings Continued

• There are certain effects that can be used on a
  string instrument
• Con Sordino a mute placed over the bridge
  making the strings sound softer
• Tremolo the bow is moved quickly to create a
  note which trembles
• Col Legno the wood of the bow is used instead
  of the hair making a scraping sound

Double Bass
Viola
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Orchestral Strings - Harp

• The harp is plucked NOT bowed
• It has 47 strings and 7 pedals which are used to
  enable the player to play sharp and flat notes
• Harps can either play one note ata time, or a few
  notes together chords

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Guitars

• Sound is created in a similar way to orchestral
  strings here. In an acoustic guitar, the hollow
  body gives resonance to the string vibrations.
• There are three types of acoustic guitar
• Classical/Spanish nylon strung
• Acoustic Steel strung
• 12-string has two of each string

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Guitars continued

• Guitar strings are tuned to the notes E-A-D-G-B-E
  and freta are used to indicate where to place
  your finger to create different notes.
• Electric guitars have a solid body and are made
  louder using an amplifier and speaker.

A copy of one of Jimi Hendrixs most famous
electric guitars
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Guitars continued

• The bass guitar only has four strings tuned to
  E-A-D-G
• The strings are thicker and longer and it makes a
  lower sound
• They normally also use frets.

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Guitars Continued

• Guitars can be picked or strummed, however bass
  guitars always pick out individual bass notes and
  are never strummed
• Guitarists often use plectrums for ease of
  playing and they can be useful for picking or
  strumming. A plectrum is simply a small bit of
  plastic.

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Keyboard Instruments

• HARPSICHORDS were around way before pianos. Most
  commonly found in Baroque and early Classical
  music. They have a tiny sound caused by a string
  being plucked inside the instrument when a key is
  played. Because the strength of the pluck is
  always the same, there is no way of varying the
  dynamics.

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Keyboard Instruments Continued

• VIRGINALS are miniature versions of harpsichords
• CLAVICHORDS are small and sound soft. The
  strings are struck with hammers so the dynamics
  can be slightly varied.

Virginal
Clavichord
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Keyboard Instruments Continued

• PIANOS were invented around the year 1700.
• When a key is pressed, a hammer hits a string
  you can vary how hard you hit the key and thus
  how hard the hammer hits the string, meaning you
  can vary the dynamics.
• Pianos have up to seven and a half octaves of
  notes.
• Pianos also have pedals which change the sound
• The soft pedal (left) mutes the strings
• The sustain pedal (right) lets the sound ring on
  until the pedal is released
• Grands have a middle pedal which lets the player
  choose which notes to sustain.

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Keyboard Instruments Continued

• Organs are quite complicated!
• The sound is created by pumping air through pipes
  using the hand, foot or more recently, electric
  pumps.
• Pumps are controlled by keyboards and lots of
  pedals!
• Long pipes make low notes, short pipes make high
  notes
• Electronic organs dont have pipes, but produce
  sound using electricity. This makes them smaller
  and cheaper (and less complicated!)

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Percussion
Tubular Bells
Glockenspiel

• Tuned percussion can play different notes
• Xylophones
• Glockenspiel
• Timpani
• Vibraphone
• Tubular Bells
• Celesta

Xylophone
Timpani
Celesta
Vibraphone
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Percussion Continued
Tambourine
Cymbal

• Untuned percussion are used for rhythm and cant
  play a tune. There are LOADS of them! For
  example
• Bass Drum
• Snare Drum
• Timbale
• Cymbals
• Tambourine
• Bongos
• Maracas
• Triangle
• Castanets

Bass Drum
Bongos
Castanets
Snare Drum
Maracas
Triangle
Timbale
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Voice

• High female voice Soprano
• Low female voice Alto
• Mezzo-Sopranos sing in the top of the alto range
  and bottom of the soprano range
• High male voice Tenor
• Low male voice Bass
• Baritones sing in the top of the bass range and
  the bottom of the tenor range
• When men sing unusually high soprano notes (think
  The Beegees) this is called falsetto singing

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Voice Continued

• High childs voice (same as adult soprano)
  treble
• Low childs voice (same as adult alto) alto
• Boys voices break and become lower when they are
  teenagers. Girls voices dont really change much.
• A choir is a group of singers.
• A mixed voice choir is also known as an S.A.T.B
  choir.
• An all male choir had trebles, altos, tenors and
  basses (so its basically the same as S.A.T.B!
• An all female choir will have 2 groups of
  sopranos and 2 groups of altos.

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Wind Bands

• Consist of woodwind, brass and percussion.
• Doesnt include a string section.
• Military bands are wind bands.

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Brass Bands

• Consist of brass and percussion
• Brass bands are very popular in England
• Contests are organised to find the best. There
  is a league system similar to football where
  bands can be promoted or demoted each year!

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Jazz Bands

• No fixed set of instruments small groups known
  as combos
• Typically could include trumpet, trombone,
  clarinet, sax, piano, banjo, double bass and kit
  but no rule. Combos play in clubs and bars.
• Larger versions are big bands or swing bands
  where instruments are doubled/tripled for a
  larger sound. They were really popular in the 30s
  and 40s in dance halls.
• A large jazz band with strings is a jazz orchestra

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Jazz Bands Continued

• Players are either in the rhythm section or the
  front line
• Rhythm section is responsible for keeping the
  beat and adding harmony
• The front line play the melody and improvise

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Chamber Music

• Years ago, rich people used to pay musicians to
  play in their chambers (rooms at home). The
  music written for these performance is called
  chamber music.
• It is for small groups to play because of the
  limited space in the original performance venues.
• There is no conductor, one of the players leads
  meaning the music is difficult to perform as
  players have to watch and listen really carefully
  in order to keep together

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The Orchestra

• There are 4 sections to a modern orchestra
• Strings (at the front)
• Woodwind (behind the strings)
• Brass (Behind the woodwind)
• Percussion (at the back)
• The positioning of the sections is to do with the
  noise they create quietest at the front loudest
  at the back.

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The Orchestra Continued

• The conductor stands at the front and faces the
  orchestra. It is his job to conduct the music.

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The Orchestra Continued

• The conductor has a full score and is able to
• Control the tempo by beating time with his baton,
• Cue in musicians
• Interpret the music controlling dynamics and
  mood.

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The Orchestra Continued

• Symphony orchestras are the main, BIG orchestras
• String orchestras just used strings
• Chamber orchestras are miniature versions of
  symphony orchestras
• Jazz orchestras contain conventional jazz
  instruments and a string section

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Music Technology

• MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) lets
  you connect different electronic instruments.
• Synthesizers let you make new sounds often
  quite electronic sounding.
• Samplers let you add a bit of a pre-recorded
  piece of music into a new piece.
• Sequencers are used to record, edit and replay
  music.