A World of Sounds

Contents

• 1. Sounds

• 2. Wind Instruments

• 3. String Instruments

• 4. Percussion Instruments

• 5. How we hear sounds.

• 6. Brass Instruments

• 7. The violin

• 8. Shake, rattle and roll.

End Show

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.