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The Orchestra's 4 Instrument Families
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WOODWINDS
*Woodwind instruments are often made of wood, but some are made of metal.
*Woodwind instruments can be played by blowing through them.
*Except for the flute and piccolo, which have a blow hole, woodwind instruments are played by blowing over or into a little piece of wood called a reed.
Single Reed
*All flutes used to be made of wood, but many flutes you see today are made of metal.
*To play the flute, one must blow air over the blow hole. To make the pitch go up and down, push down and lift up keys.
Piccolo
*The piccolo is like a small version of the flute. Since it is smaller, the sound is higher.
Clarinet
*To play the clarinet, one must attach a reed to the mouthpiece and blow between them. This causes vibration.
Oboe
*Oboe looks similar to the clarinet, but it does not have a mouthpiece. You insert a double reed into the top of the instrument and vibration happens when air passes between the two reeds.
Saxophone
*The saxophone, like the clarinet, has a mouthpiece with a single reed attached to it.
Bassoon
*The bassoon, like the oboe, is another double reed instrument.
PERCUSSION
*Instruments you play by hitting, shaking or scraping them.
*Bass Drum
*The bass drum is a large drum so it sounds very low.
Timpani
*One special thing about timpani is that they are pitched. They usually have to be tuned before each performance.
*The timpani are sometimes called kettle drums.
Snare Drum
*The snare drum is a smaller drum, so it will sound higher.
Marimba
*The marimba is a lot like the xylophones we have in music class but much bigger.
Cymbals
*Cymbals are made of metal and you crash them together.
BRASS
Trumpets
*Three valves
*Small mouthpiece
Trombones
*Has a slide instead of valves
French Horns
*French horns have 3 valves.
*French horns have a large bell that the musician actually have to cup his/her hand into to hold the instrument.
*If you unwound all the tubing on a french horn, it would be 16 ft long.
Tubas
*Since the tuba is a large instrument, it has a very low sound.
*The tuba usually has 3 valves but can sometimes have 4.
STRINGS
*String instruments in the orchestra have 4 strings that can be either plucked or played with a bow.
*This is a bow. Bows slide across the strings to make the sound. Professional bows are made with hair from horse tails.
Violin
*The violin is the smallest, highest pitched string instrument in the orchestra.
Viola
*The viola is a little larger than a violin, so it sounds a little lower.
Cello
*The cello must be placed on the floor with an endpin and the musician playing it usually sits in a chair with the neck over the player's shoulder.
Double Bass
*The double bass is the largest, lowest sounding string instrument.
*Like the cello, the double bass sits on an endpin on the floor. Musicians usually stand up or sit on a high stool to play it.
Start at minute 28
Double Bass
Flute
Double Reed