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Instrumental Timbre What causes different timbres?

• Different instruments
• Shape of sound waves
• Trumpet Vs. Violin

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CHORDOPHONES
Instrument Classification
• Instruments that produce sound by vibrating strings
• Classified by method of sound production • i.e. piano, violin, viola, 'cello, bass, guitar, mandolin, harp,
• Classified as: banjo, etc.
• CHORDOPHONES
• AEROPHONES
• MEMBRANOPHONES
• ELECTROPHONES AEROPHONES
• IDIOPHONES
■ Instruments that produce sound by vibrating columns of the wind
■ i.e. flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon

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Membranophones Idiophones
• Instruments that produce sound by vibrating membranes • Instruments that produce sound by vibrating themselves
• i.e. snare drum, timpani, bass drum, bongos • i.e cymbals, claves, guiro and castanets, xylophone

Electrophones
■ Instruments that produce sound by electronic means
■ i.e. synthesizer, electric guitar, electric bass

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Orchestra Symphony
• Definition: a group of performers on various musical • consists of a group of 50 to 100 musicians.
instruments, including especially stringed instruments of the • It contains string, brass, woodwind and percussion instruments.
viol class, clarinets and flutes, cornets and trombones, drums, • The average size of a full orchestra is about 80 players. A modern
and cymbals, for playing music, as symphonies, operas, popular orchestra may consist of nine woodwind instruments, 10 brass
music, or other compositions. instruments, 12 percussion and 50 to 60 string instruments.
• Symphonies play various types of music from classical to film scores
• Types: and jazz.
• Symphony • They are always led by a conductor
• Chamber
• String

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Chamber Orchestra
Concertmaster • A chamber orchestra is a smaller version of a symphony and
• the leading first-violin player in some orchestras has less than 50 musicians.
• he/she sits in the first chair, next to the conductor’s podium. • The name means the orchestra is small enough to fit in the
chamber room of a private home or public hall.
• Roles:
• leads the orchestra in its tuning prior to the concert
• customarily plays all of the violin solos within pieces
• marks the orchestra’s scores with the appropriate bowings – so all the
violinists are moving and playing in unison.

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Instrument Families in an Orchestra

String Orchestra
• The smallest orchestra is the string orchestra, which is • String Family
comprised solely of string instruments such as the violin, viola
and cello. • Woodwind Family
• The size of a string orchestra averages eight instruments, • Brass Family
though it can reach 12 to 18 with the addition of more violins
• Kalinnikov – Serenade for String Orchestra
• Percussion Family
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXsEJ6ZRTqI

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String Family
• 4 main string instruments
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Double Bass
• Small instrument – higher pitched
• Large instrument – lower pitched
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String Family
• The Viola
• older sister or brother of the violin
• You play the viola the same way as
you do the violin, by resting it
between your chin and shoulder.
Your left hand holds the neck of the
viola and presses down on the
strings to change the pitch, while
your right hand moves the bow or
plucks the strings.
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String Family
• The Double Bass
• grandfather of the string family
• You produce sound just like on a
cello, using the left hand to change
pitch and the right to move the bow
or pluck the string.
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String Family
• The Violin
• the baby of the string family, and like
babies, makes the highest sounds.
• You play the violin by resting it between
your chin and left shoulder. Your left hand
holds the neck of the violin and presses
down on the strings to change the pitch,
while your right hand moves the bow or
plucks the strings
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String Family
• The Cello
• looks like the violin and viola but
is much larger (around 4 feet
long), and has thicker strings than
either the violin or viola
• he body of the cello rests on the
ground and is supported by a
metal peg. You play the cello in a
similar manner to the violin and
viola, using your left hand to press
down on the strings, and your
right hand to move the bow or
pluck the strings.
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How are STRINGS played? Plucking or Bowing
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Woodwind Family Woodwind Family

• All used to be made of wood, which gives them their name. • The Flute
• Today, they are made of wood, metal, plastic or some • oldest of all instruments that produce
combination pitched sounds (not just rhythms), and
• You play them by blowing air through the mouthpiece (that's
the "wind" in "woodwind") and opening or closing the holes was originally made from wood, stone,
with your fingers to change the pitch. Metal caps clay or hollow reeds like bamboo.
called keys cover the holes of most woodwind instruments. • You play the flute by holding it
• Reed – a piece of wood most woodwind instruments have sideways with both hands and blowing
this.
• Single Reed Instruments: Clarinet and Saxophone across a hole in the mouthpiece, much
• Double Reed Instruments: Oboe and the Bassoon like blowing across the top of a bottle.
• The woodwind family of instruments includes, from the Your fingers open and close the keys,
highest sounding instruments to the lowest: the piccolo (no which changes the pitch
reed), flute (no reed), oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon.

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Woodwind Family Woodwind Family

• The Oboe
• The Piccolo
• a 2 foot long black cylinder with metal
• A shorter version of the flute is called keys covering its holes, and its
the piccolo, which means small in
mouthpiece uses a double reed, which
Italian. At half the size of a standard vibrates when you blow through it.
flute, piccolos play the highest notes of
all the woodwinds; in the orchestra • To play it, hold the oboe upright, blow
one of the flute players will also play through the double reed in your
piccolo if that instrument is required. mouth, and use both hands to press
down on the keys to open and close
the holes and change the pitch.

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Woodwind Family Woodwind Family

• The English Horn
• Despite its name, it isn't English and it
isn't a horn. The English horn is
actually closely related to the oboe,
also uses a double reed, and is played
in the same manner. It's longer than an
oboe and its tube is a bit wider.
• The Clarinet
• The clarinet could easily be mistaken
for an oboe, except for the
mouthpiece, which uses a single reed.
• You play the clarinet as you do an
oboe, by holding it upright, blowing
through the reed, and using your
hands to change the pitches by
opening and closing the keys with your
fingers.

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Woodwind Family Brass Family

• The Bassoon
• The bassoon is a long pipe, doubled in
half, made of wood, with many keys.
The bend in the pipe makes it possible
for musicians to play it comfortably.
• usually play lower harmonies, but you
will sometimes hear their hollow low
notes featured in a melody.
• this family of instruments can play louder than any other in the
orchestra and can also be heard from far away
• essentially very long pipes that widen at their ends into a bell-like
shape.
• like the woodwind family, brass players use their breath to
produce sound, but instead of blowing into a reed, you vibrate
your own lips by buzzing them against a metal cup-shaped
mouthpiece.
• The brass family members that are most commonly used in the
orchestra include the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and the
tuba.

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Brass Family Brass Family

• The Trumpet • The French horn
• Throughout history the trumpet has • does originally come from France
been used to sound alarms, gather and is unquestionably a horn
people together, as a call to war, and • To play the French horn, hold it with
to add luster to parade music. the bell curving downward and buzz
• You play the trumpet by holding it into the mouthpiece. Your left hand
horizontally, buzzing your lips into plays the three valves and you can
the mouthpiece, and pressing down change the type of sound you make
the three valves in various by the way you place your right
combinations to change pitch. hand in the bell.

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Brass Family Brass Family

• The Trombone • The Tuba
• the only instrument in the brass • This is the grandfather of the brass
family that uses a slide instead of family
valves to change pitch • the largest and lowest brass
• You play the trombone by holding it instrument and anchors the
horizontally, buzzing into the harmony not only of the brass
mouthpiece, and using your right family but the whole orchestra with
hand to change pitch by pushing or its deep rich sound
pulling the slide to one of seven • you blow and buzz into a very large
different positions mouthpiece and use your hand to
press down on the valves which
changes the sound

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Percussion Family Percussion Family

• The Piano
• Percussion instruments include any instrument that makes a sound
• It is a tuned instrument, and you
when it is hit, shaken, or scraped. can play many notes at once using
• Some percussion instruments are tuned and can sound different both your hands. Within the
notes, like the xylophone, timpani or piano, and some are untuned orchestra the piano usually
with no definite pitch, like the bass drum, cymbals or castanets. supports the harmony, but it has
another role as a solo instrument
• Percussion instruments keep the rhythm, make special sounds and (an instrument that plays by
add excitement and color. itself), playing both melody and
harmony.

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Percussion Family Percussion Family

• The Timpani • The Xylophone
• They look like big polished bowls
or upside-down teakettles, which • The xylophone originally came
is why they're also called from Africa and Asia, but has a
kettledrums. They are big copper
pots with drumheads made of Greek name that means "wood
calfskin or plastic stretched over sound." The modern
their tops. Timpani are tuned xylophone has wooden bars or
instruments, which means they
can play different notes. keys arranged like the keys of
• The timpani player must have a the piano, which the player hits
very good ear because he/she with a mallet.
usually needs to change the
pitches of the drums during
performances.

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Percussion Family Percussion Family

• Cymbals • Snare Drum
• are the biggest noisemakers of • a smallish drum made of wood
the orchestra or brass with drumheads made
• they are two large metal discs, of calfskin or plastic stretched
usually made of spun bronze. over both ends of a hollow
• cymbals can be used for drama cylinder.
and excitement, to accent the • It is often used in military
rhythm or create delicate music and is a central part of
sound effects. any marching band. Snare
drums are used to keep the
rhythm and make special
sounds, such as drumrolls.

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Percussion Family
• Bass Drum
• is the biggest member of the
percussion family and
therefore makes the lowest
sounds.
• It can produce a lot of different
sounds from roaring thunder to
the softest whispers.

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