UNIT 5: INSTRUMENT FAMILIES

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1      Instrument families

There are different ways to classify musical instruments. One way is to group them as they are in a Western orchestra: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.cuerda, viento madera, viento metal y percusión

1.1.      String familiy

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by strings that vibrate. The most common string instruments are violin, cello, viola, double bass, guitar and harp.
All string instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings. The pitch of the sound depends on the length, the thicknessgrosor and the tension of the strings, which is adjusted with tunersafinadores, allows the tuning of the instrument. The body of the instrument then transmits the sound to the surrounding air. They are usually categorized by the technique used to make the strings vibrate. The three most common techniques are bowing, plucking and strikingfrotar, puntear y golpear.

1.1.1.     Bowed string instruments

Bowing is a method used in some string instruments, including the violin, viola, cello, and the double bass. The bow consists of a stick with many hairs stretched between its endsvara con muchas cerdas tensadas entre sus extremos that make the string vibrate.

1.1.2.     Plucked string instruments

Plucking is the method of playing by using a finger or by some type of plectrumpúa on instruments such as the guitar, harp or lute. This category includes keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord, which uses featherspluma (now plastic plectra) to pluck the strings.

1.1.3.     Struck strings instruments

The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments is to strike the string with a hammermartillo o macillo. By far the most well-known instrument to use this method is the piano.

All pianos have two pedals. The soft pedal (the left one) changes the trajectory of the hammers so that they hit the strings softer. The damper pedal (the right one) raises all the dampers so that the strings can continue to vibrate when the keys have been releasedsoltadas. Piano mechanism.

1.2.      Wind familiy

The sound is produced by the vibration of the air column inside the tube of the instrument. In wind instruments, the pitch of sound is determined by the length of the air column and the thickness of the tubesla longitud de la columna de aire y el grosor de los tubos. The longer and thicker an instrument is, the lower the sound is. The shorter and the thinner an instrument is, the higher the sound is. Most wind instruments have different mechanisms (holes, keys, pistons, etc.) which allow the modification of the length of the tubes and, therefore, their tuning.

Within the wind family we distinguish between woodwind instruments and brass instruments.

1.2.1.      Woodwind instruments

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edgebisel (lip plate in the case of the flute) or a thin piece of wood called a reedlengüeta. Most of these instruments were originally made of wood, but some, such as the saxophone and some flutes, are now commonly made of other materials like metals or plastics.

Types of woodwind instruments:

1) Single-reed instruments use just one reed. When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates, creating the sound. Single reed instruments include the clarinet and saxophone families.

2) Double-reed instruments use two small pieces of cane joined together at the base. The air vibrates between the two pieces of cane. Double-reed instruments include the oboe, the cor anglais or the bassoon.

3) Flutes produce sound when air is blown across a hole. Flutes include transverse flutes and the recorder family.

1.2.2.     Brass instruments

A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose tone is produced by the vibration of the player’s lips into an "embouchureembocadura". Modern brass instruments generally come in one of two families: valved brass instrumentsInstrumentos de válvulas o pistones which use a set of valves to change the pitch and slide brass instrumentsInstrumentos de varas that use a slide to change the length of tubing. The main brass instruments are the horn, the trumpet, the trombone and the tuba.

1.4.      Percussion instruments

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implementinstrumento, shaken, rubbed, scrapedto shake: agitar;to rub: frotar; to scrap: rasgar?, or by any other action which makes the object vibrate. When classifying instruments by function it is useful to note if a percussion instrument makes a definite pitch or indefinite pitch. For example, some percussion instruments (such as the marimba and timpani) can produce pitched notes and, therefore, can perform melodies. Other instruments (such as drum and crash cymbal) produce unpitched sounds and, therefore, they can only perform rhythms, not melodies. Some of the main percussion instruments are the drum, the timpani, the xylophone, the vibraphone, the marimba or the triangle.

1.5.      Electrophones

Finally, electrophones are instruments that keep their acoustic resonators but are also amplified and altered electronically, for instance the electric guitar.

2.      The orchestra

An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. A smaller orchestra (of about fifty musicians or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra. A full size orchestra (about 100 musicians) may sometimes be called a symphony orchestra. Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by using visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors.

Simon Rattle conducting Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten.

Virtual orchestra
Instruments storage room!
        Practice

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