Instruments (Tone Colour) - Student Workbook

Instruments

Name:

Class:

Instruments

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Contents4 Name that sound

5 Orchestral families

6 What is tone colour?

7 Tone colour

8 Instruments of the orchestra

10 The violin family

11 The percussion family

12 The woodwind family

14 The brass family

16 Describing tone colour

17 Synonyms

18 Adjectives

19 Antonyms

20 Mood

21 Orchestral timbre

23 Soundscapes

25 Instrument categories

26 Hornbostel-Sachs - Instrument

categories

27 Guitar

30 The Drum kit

31 Song Analysis

32 Song Analysis

33 Methods of sound production

34 Name these instruments

37 Mood

39 Peter and the wolf

42 Instrument identification

44 Instruments of the world

45 How does sound start?

48 Find-a-word

50 Find-a-word

52 Crossword

54 The instrument alphabet

55 Definitions

4 - Instruments

Listen to the following aural examples. List the sound and write a brief description of how that sound is made.

Sound Description

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Name that sound

Copyright S. Forrester - 2012

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6 - Instruments

What is tone colour?Tone colour is the aspect

of sound that allows us to identify the sound source. (NSW, music syllabus). What

does this mean? To gain a better understanding of the definition for tone colour define each of the circled

words. Once you under-stand their meaning find a synonym for each word and rewrite the sentence.

What is a synonym? Synonyms are words with identical or similar meanings.


Tone colour is the aspect of sound that

allows us to identify the sound source.In music what would the sound sources be?

Write your sentence below.

Tone colour is the aspect of sound that allows us to identify the sound source. For example, when you hear the sound of a familiar voice you are identifying the tone colour of that persons voice. Tone colour is the as-pect of sound that is unique to an instrument, voice or object. Even when two dif-ferent instruments play the same pitch they can be identified separately via the unique tone colour that each instrument produces.

When we talk about tone colour we refer to the qual-ity of sound. This is deter-mined by several factors; the material of the instrument or voice, the techniques employed in producing the sound, the layers of sound and the effects the sound has on the music.

A synonym for the term tone colour is timbre (tam-ber).

Tone colour is the concept of music associated with describing sounds and mood in music.

Tone colourOne of the six concepts of music, tone colour is an essential element in creating mood.

Techniques

Sound

Combining sound sources

Sound sources

Describing

Tone Colour

The elements of tone colour

Remember: Timbre is another word for tone colour

Instruments - 7Copyright S. Forrester - 2012

Questions

1. What is it that allows us to recognise the difference between peoples voices?

2. What are the factors that determine the quality of sound?

3. List five types of material that instruments are built from?

4. What is a synonym?

5. What is a synonym for the term tone colour?

6. Referring to the diagram above, what are the six elements of tone colour?

How sound starts

Describing tone colour

Number of instruments and role

Performing media The way sound is produced

Combinations of instruments to create mood

Galettis, H. 2009. Musical concepts : music 1 aural skills preliminary and HSC course. 1st ed. Jacandra Plus.

8 - Instruments Copyright S. Forrester - 2012

1st violins

2nd violins

French horns

Strings: 1st Violins

2nd Violins

Violas

Cellos

Double basses

Woodwinds: 2 Flutes

2 Oboes

2 Clarinets

2 Bassoons

Brass: 2 French horns 2 Trumpets

Percussions: 2 Timpani

Instruments of the orchestraOrchestras have four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The classical or-

chestra consisted of the following instruments:

This diagram demonstrates the layout of a classical orchestra


Violas

Cellos

FlutesOboes

Clarinets BassoonsTrumpets

Timpani

Conductor Double basses

2nd violins

10 - Instruments

The violin family of musical in-struments was developed in Italy, in the 16th century. The standard modern violin family consists of the violin, viola, cello, and double bass. The playing ranges of the instruments in the violin family overlap each other, but the tone quality and physical size of each distinguishes them from one an-other. Both the violin and the viola are played held under the jaw. The viola is the larger of the two instruments. The cello is played sitting down with the instrument between the knees. The double bass is played standing or sitting on a stool and is the largest

All instruments are typi-cally played using a bow. A bow is a piece of wood that is strung typically with horse hair. This is scraped against the strings to produce sound. Alternatively these instruments can be played pizzicato; meaning to be played with the fingers. The double bass is commonly played this way in jazz music.

Questions1. How many different instru-

ments form the string sec-tion of an orchestra?

2. List the instruments of the string family in order of size.

3. Do the ranges of the instruments of the string family overlap?

4. How is the violin and viola played?

5. How is the cello held when played?

6. What are the two methods that are used to create sound on the instruments

of the string family?7. What does pizzicato

mean?8. What is a bow made

from?9. In what style of music

other than classical may you see a double bass?


Viola

Doublebass

Cello

Violin

String instruments of the orchestra

The violin family

A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounds when struck or scraped by a beater (in-cluding attached or en-closed beaters or rattles), struck, scraped or rubbed by hand, or struck against another similar instrument.

Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Pitched percus-sion instruments; these pro-duce notes with an identifi-able pitch, and unpitched percussion instruments; these instruments produce sounds without an identifi-able pitch.

Percussion instruments are found in the majority of mu-sic ensembles, including the orchestra. Since the Classi-cal period (1750 - 1820) at least one pair of timpani has been included. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, other percussion instruments were added to the percus-sion section of the orchestra. The use of percussion instru-ments became more fre-quent in 20th century music.

Questions1. What is a percussion in-

strument?2. Percussion instruments

are often divided into two categories, what are the two categories?

3. Are percussion instru-ments commonly found in ensembles?

4. In what period of music did the timpani become part of the orchestra?

The percussion family


Conga Timpani Bass drum

Cymbals Tambourine Bongo drums

Xylophone Gong

12 - Instruments

A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed. This makes the air with-in the instruments resonator vibrate. Many of these instru-ments are made of wood, however, these instruments can be made from other materials, including a variety metals and plastic.

Subcategories:Flutes produce sound

when air is blown across an sharp edge. Flute type instru-ments fall into two sub-fam-ilies: open flutes and closed flutes.

1) The open flute fam-ily. Instruments of the open flute family are instruments where the players lips form a stream of air that directly flows across the sharp edge of the instruments mouth piece. Transverse flutes and end-blown flutes are members of the open flute family. Ancient flutes were made from tubular sections of plants, such as grasses, reeds, and hollowed-out tree branches. Later, flutes were made of metals; includ-ing, tin, copper and bronze. Modern concert flutes are usually made of high-grade metal alloys, often contain-ing nickel, silver, copper, and/or gold.

2) The closed flute fam-ily. Instruments of the closed flute family have a channel to form and direct the air stream over an edge. This family includes devices such as whistles and the musical recorder family.

Reed instruments. Single-

reed instruments use a reed; a thin-cut piece of cane or plastic that is held against the aperture of a mouth-piece with a ligature. When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed vibrates, creating sound. Single reed instru-ments include the clarinet and saxophone families.

Double-reed instruments, use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane joined to-gether at the base. The fin-ished, bound reed is inserted

into the top of the instrument and vibrates as air is forced between the two pieces. There are two sub-families: Exposed double-reed instru-ments, where the reed goes between the players lips. This family includes the oboe, cor anglais (also called Eng-lish horn) and bassoon.

Capped double-reed instruments, where the player blows through a hole in a cap that covers the reed. This family includes the crum-horn and the cornamuse.

The woodwind family


ClarinetPiccolo Flute

Bagpipes can have a single or double reed. These are functionally the same as capped reed instruments as the reeds are not in contact with a players lips.

Free reed woodwind instruments are instruments that produce sound as air flows past a vibrating reed in a frame. Air pressure is typi-cally generated by a play-ers breath (e.g. harmonica) or with bellows (e.g. accor-dion).Questions1. What does a woodwind

player do to create sound

on a woodwind instru-ment?

2. Are woodwind instru-ments exclusively made from wood?

3. What materials can woodwind instruments be made from?

4. In the past, what materials have flutes been made from?

5. What are modern flutes made from?

6. Woodwind instruments have two sub-groupings,

what are they?7. What is a reed?8. How do reed instruments

make sound?9. Name two single reed

instruments?10. What is a double reed?11. Name three double reed

instruments?12. What is a cap? What does

it do?13. What is a free reed wood-

wind instrument? Name one.


BassoonOboe Saxophone

14 - Instruments

A brass instrument is a mu-sical instrument that produc-es sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the players lips. Brass instruments are any instrument that is con-sidered to be a lip-vibrated instrument.

There are several factors involved in producing differ-ent pitches on a brass instru-ment:

1. the alteration of the players lip tension, or embouchure in asso-ciation with the players control of air flow;

2. the slides or valves that are used to change the length of the tubing, thus changing the pitch of the instrument.

The term brass instrument is defined by the way an instrument produces sound and not by the material

that the instrument is made from. Therefore, instruments that require lip vibration to produce sound are consid-ered to be brass instruments.

These instruments can be made of wood, like the alphorn, the cornett, the ser-pent and the didgeridoo..

Modern brass instruments generally come in one of two sub-groupings: valved brass instruments and slide brass instruments.

Valved brass instruments use a set of valves (typically three or four but as many as seven or more in some cas-es) operated by the players

fingers that introduce addi-tional tubing, or crooks, into the instrument, changing its overall length. This family includes all of the modern

brass instruments, (the trum-pet, horn (also called the French horn), euphonium, and tuba, as well as the cor-net, flgelhorn, tenor horn (alto horn), baritone horn, sousaphone, mellophone, and the old saxhorn) except the trombone.

Slide brass instruments use a slide to change the length of tubing. The main instruments in this category are the trombone family,

The brass family


Trumpet

Trombone

though valve trombones are occasionally used, espe-cially in jazz. The trombone familys ancestor, the sack-but and the folk instrument, bazooka are also in the slide family.

Questions1. What must the player of

a brass instrument do in order to produce sound?

2. What is the principle characteristic of a brass instrument?

3. What is the proper term for the lip tension of a brass player?

4. Do instruments need to be made of brass to be considered a brass in-strument?

5. What other materials could a brass instrument be created from?

6. What are the two sub-groupings that brass instruments are divided into?

7. What are valves? What do they do?

8. Name three instruments that have valves.

9. What does a slide on a trombone allow the player to do?


Tuba

French horn


Describing tone colourAfter identifying a sound

source in a listening excerpt, the next step is to describe the sound in terms of tone colour. Adjectives are used in this instance to describe the various tone colours that might exist. Below are some examples of adjectives that are often used to describe the tone colour of the instru-ments or vocal sounds in a piece of music.

airy

animated

bending

booming

brassy

breathy

bright

brilliant

buzzing

clear

clicking

coarse

comical

dark

deep

distorted

dramatic

eerie

fiery

flutter-tonguing

fuzzy

gruff

harmonic

harsh

haunting

high-pitched

hollow

jingling

light

lush

majestic

melancholy

mellow

metallic

muddy

muffled

muted

nasal

percussive

piercing

pizzicato

plucked

powerful

pure

rattling

raucous

reedy

resonant

rich

ringing

rough

rumbling

rustic

sad

scraping

screechy

shaken

shimmering

shrill

slithery

smooth

solemn

sombre

sonorous

strong

sweet

thin

tinkling

velvety

vibrating

warm

Syno

nym

s

Da

rk

Coa

rse

Exc

ited

Sha

rp

Ha

pp

y

Smoo

th

Hot

Scar

ed

Ho

llow

Sad

Thic

k

Swe

et

War

mSt

rong

Writ

e sy

nony

ms f

or th

e fo

llow

ing

wor

ds.



Ad

jec

tive

s

Ant

onym

s

Brig

ht

Lig

ht

Exc

ited

Sha

rp

Cle

ar

Smoo

th

Hot

Scar

y

Ho

llow

Sad

Thic

k

Swe

et

War

mSt

rong

Writ

e an

tony

ms f

or th

e fo

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wor

ds.


20 - Instruments

Mo

od


1. Alto saxophone

2. Double bass

3. Bass clarinet

4. Bassoon

5. Celeste

6. Cello

7. Clarinet

8. Contrabassoon

9. Cymbals

10. Cor Anglais

11. Flute

12. French horn

13. Harp

ActivityWatch the DVD and describe;1. the tone colour of each instrument2. the materials the instrument is made from3. the type of instrument it is (aerophone, chordophone, electrophone, idiophone or mem-

branophone)

Orchestral timbre


22 - Instruments

Activity continued


14. Harpsichord

15. Oboe

16. Organ

17. Piano

18. Piccolo

19. Snare drum

20. Soprano Saxophone

21. Tenor Saxophone

22. Timpani

23. Trombone

24. Trumpet

25. Tuba

26. Viola

27. Violin

28. Xylophone

The term soundscape refers to both the natural acoustic environment, con-sisting of natural sounds, in-cluding animal sounds, the sounds of weather and other natural elements; and envi-ronmental sounds created by humans, through musical composition, sound design, and other ordinary human activities

The term soundscape can also refer to an audio recording or performance of sounds that create the sensation of experiencing a particular acoustic environ-ment, or compositions cre-ated using the sounds of an acoustic environment. This can be either exclusively or in conjunction with musical performances.

Questions1. What is a soundscape?2. What sounds would you

consider to be naturally occurring environmental sounds? Give 5 exam-ples.

3. Give examples of five different soundscapes.

4. Can a soundscape be composed by a compos-er?

5. What might a composer create a soundscape for?

Soundscapes

Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. What you are hearing is a soundscape.

Soundscapes are part of our everyday world.

You have been asked to create a soundscape for a horror movie, The haunted house. Using the sound effects on the keyboard create a soundscape and narration of a hor-ror scene for this movie. Your soundscape is to be no longer than two minutes. Follow the steps bellow to create your soundscape.

Steps1. Find the available sounds on the keyboard and write down the sound-bank

number and the key for that sound.

Sound description Soundbank NoteExample - Screaming 119 C2

Activity


24 - Instruments

Sound description Soundbank Note

2. Write your narration with details of when the key is to be pressed.

3. Rehearse your soundscape.

4. Record your soundscape.


The modern, standard method of instrument classification was introduced in 1914 by Curt Sachs and Erich von Hornbostel. Sach and Hornbostel were two musi-cologists who believed that the current system at the time was not inclusive of instruments other than those that were played in Western orchestral music. As a result they collaborated on the creation of a method to categorise all musi-cal instruments by the way that they produce sound. Their method became known as the Sach-Horn-bostel instrument classification.

This method of instrument classification grouped all musical instruments into five broad catego-ries according to the way in which they produce sound. The five families are: Instruments in which air is the

primary vibrating medium for the production of sound are called aerophones.

Instruments in which a string (chord) is the primary vibrating medium are called chordo-phones.

Instruments whose own substance vibrates to produce sound are called idiophones.

Instruments that emit sound by the vibration of a stretched membrane are called membra-nophones.

Instruments in which the initial sound is produced by elec-tronic means or is convention-ally produced (as by a vibrating string) and then electronically amplified are called electro-phones.

Curt Sachs and Erich Hornbostel created the modern way that instruments are categorised.

Instrument categoriesCan you think of the five different ways that musical instruments produce sound?

List five instruments that belong to each category

Aerophones

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Chordophones

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Idiophones

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Membranophones

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Electrophones

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.


Aero

phon

e:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Chor

doph

one:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Elec

trop

hone

:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Idio

phon

e:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Mem

bran

opho

ne:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Ho

rnb

ost

el-S

ac

hs -

Inst

rum

ent

ca

teg

orie

s

Aero

phon

e:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Chor

doph

one:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Elec

trop

hone

:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Idio

phon

e:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Mem

bran

opho

ne:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. The guitar is a plucked,

stringed musical instrument that originated in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The early guitar was narrower and deeper than the modern guitar.

The guitar originally had four courses (strings); by the late 18th century a fifth and sixth course was added.

The 19th-century innova-

tions were largely the work of Antonio Torres. The in-strument that resulted was the classical guitar, which is strung with three gut and

three metal-spun silk strings. Nylon is now used in place of gut.

Among variant forms of the guitar are the 12-string acoustic guitar, or double-course, guitar; the Mexican jarana and the South Ameri-can charango, both small five-course guitars. Other forms of the guitar include the steel-string guitar played

with a plectrum in folk and popular music; the arch-top guitar, with a violin-type bridge and tailpiece, often used in jazz and blues; the

Hawaiian, or steel, guitar, in which the strings are stopped by the pressure of a metal bar, producing a sweet, gliding tone; and the electric guitar, in which the tone depends not on body resonance but on electronic amplification.

Throughout its existence lu-thiers have built guitars from a variety of different mate-rial, including, steel, plastic, carbon graphite and fiber-glass. However, wood has

remained the most popular material that guitars are built from. The wood chosen for a guitar is determined by the tonal qualities of the timber.

The guitar is one of the most popular instruments in the world.

Guitar


In its 500 year existence the guitar has become a global instrument, embraced by many cultures.

Tuners

Fretboard

Pick-upsInput jack

Toggle switch

BridgeHeadstock

This diagram shows the parts of an electric guitar

Volume control

28 - Instruments

Questions - Write and answer the following questions in your book

1. What century was the guitar originally developed?

2. How many strings did the guitar originally have?

3. The changes made to the guitar during the 19th century are attributed to what person?

4. What materials can the strings of a guitar be made from?

5. Name five different types of guitar.

6. In design, what instrument is the archtop guitar similar to?

7. How does the steel guitar make sound?

8. How does an electric guitar make sound?

9. What materials are guitars built from?


Frets

Pick guard

Soundboard

Bridge

Sound holeTuners

This diagram shows the parts of an acoustic guitar

Label the different parts of the two types of guitars below.


Tuners

30 - Instruments

The Drum kitLabel the different parts of the drum kitNext to each name write whether it is an idiophone or a membranophone as well as an adjective to describe the timbre of each instrument.


Song name:

What is the composers / performers name? (Circle)

What instruments do you hear?

Is there a singer? (Circle) Yes No

What gender is the singer? (Circle) Male Female

Choose words that you think best describe the singers voice: (Circle)

Warm Harsh Rough Sweet Thin Gravelly

Rich Stressed Nasal Strong Weak Clear

Were there effects added to the singers voice? (Circle) Yes No

Are there sounds that you cannot identify? (Circle) Yes No

If yes, describe these sounds:

Can you identify the use of sound effects on any of the instruments?

How does this piece make you feel?


Song Analysis

32 - Instruments

Song name:

What is the composers / performers name? (Circle)

What instruments do you hear?

Is there a singer? (Circle) Yes No

What gender is the singer? (Circle) Male Female

Choose words that you think best describe the singers voice: (Circle)

Warm Harsh Rough Sweet Thin Gravelly

Rich Stressed Nasal Strong Weak Clear

Were there effects added to the singers voice? (Circle) Yes No

Are there sounds that you cannot identify? (Circle) Yes No

If yes, describe these sounds:

Can you identify the use of sound effects on any of the instruments?

How does this piece make you feel?


Song Analysis

Hit:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Blow

:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Scra

pe:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Shak

e:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Pluc

k:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Me

tho

ds

of s

oun

d p

rod

uctio

n


V

D

C

H

P

E

B

G

Name these instruments


B

F

C

O

R

S


T

F

T

T

E

S

H

Composers choose certain instruments specifically for their tone colour. Some can create the precise musical effect intended by the com-poser. For example, compos-ers of film scores write music to fit the mood or setting of a scene in a movie. Compos-ers do this by combining the specific tone colours of cer-tain instruments to create the

desired effects. Below are some words to

describe the musical effect that composers may de-velop in their music through tone colours.

adventurous aggressive calm energetic euphoric exciting

futuristic happy majestic melancholic mellow sad scary sombre spiritual stimulating tense uplifting

Mood

Piece Mood1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.


38 - Instruments

Piece Mood9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.


Instrument Instrument family

Written in 1936, Peter and the Wolf is a composition by Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953), a Soviet composer. The com-position was commisioned by the Central Childrens Theatre in Moscow as a way of intro-ducing the instruments of the orchestra to children. Prokof-iev completed the composi-tion and narration in four days.

Peter and the Wolf features a narration that is accompa-nied by an orchestra consist-ing of: flute, oboe, clarinet in A, bassoon, 3 French horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, castanets, snare drum, bass drum and strings.

Each character in the story has a particular instrument and a musical theme:

Bird: flute Duck: oboe Cat: clarinet Grandfather: bassoon Wolf: 3 French horns Hunters (gunshots): timpani

and bass drum Peter : string instruments

Walt Disney produced an animated version of the work in 1946. This version makes sev-eral changes to the original story:

In 2006, Suzie Templeton directed a modernised, stop-motion animated adapta-tion, Peter and the Wolf. This interpretation did not feature the narration, only music and periods of silence.

Peter and the wolfQuestions1. What country was Sergei Prokofiev from?

2. Who commissioned the composition, Peter and the Wolf?

3. List the instrumentation and the instrument family that it belongs to.


40 - Instruments

Instrument Instrument family

4. How many characters are there?

5. How are the characters represented?

6. Why do you think that Prokofiev chose the particular instruments for his composition?

7. Describe the theme of each character and the tone colour of the instrument used to represent this character.


8. Write a synopsis of Peter and the Wolf. Outline how each character is introduced and describe each characters theme



Song

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AC

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AC

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AC

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Idio

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and

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Song

In

stru

men

tsIn

stru

men

t typ

eD

escr

ipti

on o

f tim

bre

(Tic

k th

e co

rrec

t col

umn)

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

AC

EI

M

A =

Aer

opho

ne, C

= C

hord

opho

ne, E

= E

lect

roph

one,

I =

Idio

phon

e, M

= M

embr

anop

hone

44 - Instruments

Instruments of the world


Instrument Country of origin

Accordion Germany

Bagpipe Scotland

Bandonen Argentina

Bodhrn Ireland

Bouzouki Greece

Cajn Peru

Caxixi Western Africa

Conga Cuba

Cretan Lyra Crete

Cuatro Puerto Rico

Damaru India

Digeridoo Australia

Guqin China

Hurdy-Gurdy Hungary

Kalimba Africa

Karnay Uzbekistan

Lyre Greece

Mandolin Italy

Marimba Mexico

Nose flute Polynesia

Oud Iraq

Saxophone Belgium

Shamisen Japan

Sitar India

Tabla India

Talking drum Western Africa

Tres Cuba

Yangqin China

Questions1. How does sound start?2. What are the five methods used to produce sound?3. Draw a diagram that shows the process of how sound is created through to the point

that it is heard by a human ear?4. Does the thickness of the strings on an instrument determine the pitch that is produced

by these strings? How?5. Explain the unit of measurement, Hertz.6. Draw a Sine wave.7. What does the height of a soundwave determine?8. What does the length of a soundwave determine?9. What is the range that the human ear can hear?

How does sound start?All sound initially starts with

a vibrating sound source. This sound source vibrates due to one of five possible methods;

hitting blowing shaking scraping pluckingThe vibrations of a sound

source move as soundwaves through air particles. This soundwave is sensed by our ear and transmitted via nerves to our brain where it is processed as sound (dia-gram 1).

Sound is measured in a unit of measurement called a Hertz (Hz). In music Hertz

is the measurement of the amount of cycles a sine wave repeats per second (diagram 2).

The pitch and volume of a soundwave depends on the length and height of the soundwave. The length of a soundwave, otherwise known as the frequency of a soundwave determines the pitch of a sound. If the repeating rate of a sound-wave increases the pitch of this sound will become higher. If a soundwaves fre-quency doubles the pitch of the sound will be an octave higher (diagram 3).

This is easily observed with stringed instruments. Thick

strings on a musical instru-ment vibrate slowly and therefore have a low sound. Thin strings have a fast vibra-tion and therefore produce a high sound.

The height of a sound-wave, otherwise known as the amplitude determines the volume of the sound. The higher the height of a sound-wave the louder the volume.

Humans can hear sounds between 20Hz to 20000Hz. However, sounds exist be-low and above the range that humans can hear. For example, elephants commu-nicate at much lower sounds whilst dogs can hear far higher sounds than humans.

1 Hertz (Hz) = 1 Sine wave per second

Frequency (pitch)

Amplitude (volume)

1 second

Diagram 2

A s

ound

is c

reat

edTh

e so

und

wav

e tr

avel

s th

roug

h ai

r pa

rticl

es

The

soun

d w

ave

is s

ense

d by

ou

r ea

rTh

e so

und

wav

e is

pro

cess

ed b

y ou

r br

ain.

Dia

gram

1

The

pro

ce

ss o

f so

und

cre

atio

n a

nd id

ent

ific

atio

n.

Dia

gram

3

In m

usic

the

fre

que

ncy

and

pitc

h o

f a n

ote

do

uble

s e

very

oc

tave

(8

note

s).

Low

Hig

h

C#/

Db

C

D#/

EbF#

/G

bG

#/ AbA#

/Bb

C#/

Db

CC

CC

C

Pitc

h

(Fre

que

ncy)

2x(F

req

uenc

y)

4x(F

req

uenc

y)

8x(F

req

uenc

y)

ACOUSTIC

AEROPHONE

AMPLIFIER

BANJO

BASSOON

BLOWING

BONGO

BRASS

CELLO

CHOIR

CHORDOPHONE

CLARINET

CLAVE

CONGA

CONTRABASSOON

CYMBAL

DJEMBE

DOUBLE BASS

EFFECTS

ELECTRONIC

ELECTROPHONE

GUIRO

GUITAR

HARP

HITTING

IDIOPHONE

KEYBOARD

MANDOLIN

MEMBRANOPHONE

METAL

OBOE

OUD

PERCUSSION

PLUCKING

SAXOPHONE

SCRAPING

SHAKE

SHAKING

SITAR

SKIN

STRINGS

SYNTHESISED

TAMBOURINE

TIMPANI

TONE COLOUR

UKULELE

VIOLA

VIOLIN

VOICE

WOOD

WOODWINDS

XYLOPHONE

Find-a-word

E F F E C T S C B L A A R D O Q P E S U

A T C U K U L E L E R O M O A B L T Y I

W O L C G U I R O C H O N U D A U Y N A

S N A M A W H A K H A R P B A W C A T S

A E R O P H O N E O A K I L J A K J H L

N C I Y U G H O Q I A C D E R Z I V E B

H O N T M B V C D R V F L B M N N I S T

G L E E D A C I A W S I T A R A G X I Q

A O T E H N H E A X I D M S V Z A Y S T

S U S A F J O E N K D N E S E E I L E I

B R A S S O R E O B O E D Q X H J O D M

A R H T E M D E H A H V J S A S J P T P

S S E R G A O U P I O E R T A A E H D A

S E C I D N P C O N T R A B A S S O O N

O A E N S D H D N H T R A V E A S N E I

O N D G D O O S A K T E D J E M B E I A

N G C S E L N L R C E S A R E E H G C B

D V E A S I E Z B G O Y R A S T I U O M

B O L I V N A L M Z C U B E R A I O N O

J L L I O I N V E S E E S O A L U E G P

K O O K S A O R M C A T E T A M A E A O

Y L T W P O M L T A T U M L I R I L L B

A B V Z I K G U I T A R M I L C D E S E

S E E Y D N S K I N A E O H J A N W U B

H I T T I N G E A S C R A P I N G O E Y

A T A M B O U R I N E S T S H A E O I D

K V O I C E E D R I E N O H P O I D I F

E Y U L O O P A M P L I F I E R A E S T

D X D E L E C T R O N I C G N I K A H S

50 - Instruments

ACCORDION

BAGPIPE

BANDONEN

BANJO

BASSOON

BLOWING

BODHRN

BONGO

BOUZOUKI

BRASS

CAJN

CAXIXI

CELLO

CHOIR

CLARINET

CLAVE

CONGA

CONTRABASSOON

CRETAN LYRA

CUATRO

CYMBALS

DAMARU

DIDGERIDOO

DJEMBE

DOUBLE BASS

GUIRO

GUITAR

GUQIN

HARP

HURDY-GURDY

KALIMBA

KARNAY

KEYBOARD

LYRE

MANDOLIN

MARIMBA

METAL

NOSE FLUTE

OBOE

OUD

SAXOPHONE

SHAMISEN

SITAR

SYNTHESISER

TABLA

TALKING DRUM

TAMBOURINE

TIMPANI

TRES

UKULELE

VIOLA

VIOLIN

XYLOPHONE

YANGQIN

Find-a-word


C O A G U I T A R S I S A V O I D A Y O

B A G P I P E R H I H A R I S V I O L A

D C A S E D F G E K U X U O W E D U S R

E C L A V E N U S A R O L L D S G Q E C

C O N G A N E Q U L D P S I A R E W O C

O R N E C A X I X I Y H S N M A R E E L

N D W B A Y A N D M G O N E A D I Z X A

T I E D J E M B E B U N N I R W D E A R

R O D K O A Q V C A R E B O U Z O U K I

A N O E N O D N A B D T A R D R O F S N

B T U L I J P L A A Y E S T A E S M Y E

A Y B R E N H Y V G M V S C S S F J N T

S W L E H A R P N P A L O D C T S P T B

S Z E P O B C H O I R S O L L E C B H B

O P B G U I R O S P G H N A E R G S E T

O G A G D Y E S E E K B L O W I N G S S

N P S I Q P T S F A B O N G O S E E I A

A T S S E A A H L A M D N B V D F A S E

T A B L A D N A U S T H U K U L E L E S

E S T A B F L M T O U R D D J K F C R E

S K A R N A Y I E C U A R T O W E D S N

R E H J E M R S I Y U N Z K L I F T Y I

L Y R E S E A E D M F E I T R E S A R R

A B Z V E T E N A B E Y A N G Q I N S U

L O U D S A I L M A R I M B A E E Y M O

M A N D O L I N A L X Y L O P H O N E B

H R E U B E D S A S I T A R U I O T R M

I D S M O T A L K I N G D R U M N A E A

A U N T E A R T I M P A N I S R T A U T


52 - Instruments

ACROSS1. The aspect of sound that allows us to

identify the sound source.2. Aerphones use this to produce sound.3. These are often added to electric gui-

tars to change the sound.4. Percussion instruments that do not

have skin are collectively catego-rised as this.

5. The motion of a bow of a string.6. a stringed instrument that is held be-

tween the legs and played with a bow.7. The trumpet, tuba and trombone be-

long to this family of instruments.8. The clarinet, bassoon, flute, piccolo

and oboe belong to this category of instruments.

9. A popular type of African drum start-ing with D.

10. Instruments that use electricity are collectively categorised as this.

DOWN1. This instrument consists of a number of

small cymbals and skin. It is played by being shaken and hit.

2. Instruments that use air are collective-ly categorised as this.

3. This instrument is a precursor to the guitar and is one of the oldest known string instruments.

4. This instrument originated in Portugal, however, it is now commonly associ-ated with Hawaii.

5. This instrument is a large, tuned per-cussion instrument that is a common member of orchestras. It is also known as a kettle drum.

6. Instruments that produce sound with strings are collectively categorised as this.

7. Membranophones and idiophones are these type of instruments.

8. The body of a violin is made from this.9. This instrument is played with a bow

or pizzicato (with the fingers). It is the lowest string instrument in pitch and is commonly found in orchestral music and jazz.

10. This instrument is from Latin America. It is a percussion instrument that is of-ten shaped like a fish and played via a scraping motion with a stick.

Crossword



4

2

1 3

9

5

2 7

3

6 5 10

4

7

8

9

10

54 - Instruments

The instrument alphabet

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Using each letter of the alphabet create a list of instruments.


DefinitionsTone Colour:

Orchestra:

Aerophone:

Chordophone:

Electrophone:

Idiophone:

Membranophone:

Graphical notation:

Performing media:


Documents

Instruments (Tone Colour) - Student Workbook