A World of

Sounds
 Contents
• 1. Sounds • 5. How we hear sounds.

• 2. Wind Instruments • 6. Brass Instruments

• 3. String Instruments • 7. The violin

• 4. Percussion Instruments • 8. Shake, rattle and roll.

End
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 Sounds
• Sounds are created by something
vibrating (moving very fast). The
vibrations set up sound waves in the
surrounding air.
• Sounds move like waves in water but
much faster.
• Sound waves are detected by the air in
the ears.
• Instruments make sounds:
Wind instruments
String instruments
Percussion Instruments
 Wind Instruments

• The player’s breath makes the sound in

a wind instrument.
• The breath flows through or across
a hole
or an edge
or causes a reed to vibrate.
 String Instruments
• String instruments use tightly stretched
string or wire to make a sound.

• The player

plucks

hammers

or strokes the string to make a sound.

 Percussion Instruments
• Percussion is the name given to
instruments that create sound by being

scraped

shaken

hit or struck
 How we hear sounds
• Sound waves reach the
outer ear and makes the
ear drum vibrate.
• This makes 3 little bones
move inside the inner ear.
• The fluid in the snail-
shaped organ moves.
• Tiny hair cells inside also
detect the movements.
• Signals are sent to the
brain by the auditory
nerve.
 Brass Instruments
• This is a trumpet.
• A trumpet is a valved,
wind instrument.
• All notes in the trumpet’s
range can be played using
a combination of three
valves.
• Pressing on the valves
changes the length of
tubing that the air flows
through.
• The shorter the tube, the
higher the note.
 The violin
• The violin is a string
instrument.
• A bow is used to slide back
and forth across the
strings.
• The player changes the
pitch of the strings by
holding his fingers against
the strings.
• The player can also pluck at
the strings.
 Shake, rattle and roll
• These are all untuned
percussion instruments.

• The pitch cannot be

altered.

• A percussion player has to

learn to play all kinds of
instruments.

• Evelyn Glennie is a famous

percussionist. She ‘feels’
the sounds as she is deaf.