Summative Assessment 1 Strings: There are numbers of ways that the string instruments are played. Some are played with a bow, the resin in the strings causing the vibrations. The strings are made of nylon, steel or sometimes gut. The strings are the largest family in the orchestra and they come in four sizes: the violin which is the smallest, viola, cello, and the biggest, the double bass, sometimes called a contrabass. The smaller the instrument the higher the pitch, the bigger the instrument a low rich sound. They are usually shaped in a curvy way.

Brass: The brass is the most loudest instruments in the entire orchestra family. Brass instruments are essentially very long pipes that widen at their ends into a bell like shape. This instrument has been twisted and shaped in a way so its easier to hold and play! Brass players use their breath to produce sound. Most brass instruments have have valves attached to their long pipes; the valves look like buttons. The brass instruments are the most commonly used in the orchestra.

Woodwind: Before the woodwind instruments were made of just wood but now they are made of wood, metal, plastic or some combination. They are all basically narrow cylinders or pipes, with holes, an opening at the bottom end and a mouthpiece at the top you play them by blowing air in the mouthpiece. Just like the recorder or flute you open and close the holes with your fingers. The mouthpiece of some woodwinds, use a thin piece of wood called a reed,which vibrates when you blow across it. The clarinet uses only a single reed, while the oboe and bassoon uses double pieces of reed. Just as with the stringed instruments, the smaller woodwinds play higher pitches while the longer and larger instruments play the lower notes. The woodwind family of instruments includes, from the highest sounding instruments to the lowest, the piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon and contrabassoon.

Percussion: The percussion family is the most largest instruments in the orchestra. The percussion family is the largest in the orchestra. Percussion instruments include any instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken, or scraped. It's not easy to be a percussionist because it takes a lot of practice to hit an instrument with the right amount of strength, in the right place and at the right time. Some percussion instruments are tuned and can sound different notes, like the xylophone, timpani or piano, and some are untuned with no definite pitch, like the bass drum, cymbals or castanets. Percussion instruments keep the rhythm, make special sounds and add excitement and color. Unusual:

Random Armonica

Also known as “armonica,” “bowl organ” or “hydrocrystalophone,” glass harmonica is a musical instrument that uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce a broad range of musical tones through friction.

Jew’s Harp or Gewgaw is a lamellophone musical instrument that belongs to the group known as plucked idiophones. It consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue that is attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the mouth of the performer and is plucked with the finger to produce a note.

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