Sounds of Musical Instruments

Sounds of musical instruments vary from instrument to instrument.

What are the different ways that we play musical instruments?

• Blowing
• Plucking
• Scraping
• Shaking
• Banging
• Crashing

All sounds of musical instruments make the air vibrate. This is why we can hear sounds of musical instruments as music.

Making sounds of musical instruments louder

1)   Loop an elastic band over a door handle.

2)   Pluck it and make it vibrate.

3)   You can hear a little musical sound, because the air around the elastic band vibrates.

 OR

1)   Put the elastic band around an open box.

2)   Pluck it and make it vibrate.

3)   You can hear a much louder sound, because the box vibrates making a lot of air around it vibrate.

Musical instruments

Musical instruments can be grouped as follows.

• Stringed instruments
• Wind instruments
• Percussion instruments

Stringed instruments

What are stringed instruments?

Musical instruments with strings which make sounds when plucking or bowing the strings.

What are the examples for stringed instruments?

• Guitar
• Violin

Guitar

What is a guitar?

A guitar is a specially shaped box with strings fixed on to it. At the end of the fingerboard of guitar there are pegs which can be turned to tighten the strings. Each string on a guitar is a different thickness.

How is it played?

We can pluck its strings and play it. A guitarist makes the strings shorter by pressing on them immediately before plucking them.

How does a guitar make sounds?

When we pluck the strings of a guitar they vibrate. The vibrating strings make the box vibrate. The vibrating box makes a lot of air vibrate and makes richer and louder sounds.

How can a guitarist make a high pitched note?

A guitarist can turn the pegs at the end of the fingerboard and tight the strings to make a high pitched note.

* The tighter the strings on a guitar, the higher the pitch of the note.

How can a guitarist make a low pitched note?

A guitarist can pluck the thicker strings to make a low pitched note.

* The thicker the strings on a guitar, the lower the pitch of the note.

What is used to vibrate the strings of a violin?

A bow

Wind instruments

What are wind instruments?

Musical instruments with one or more pipes played by vibrating air by blowing into the pipes.

What are the examples for wind instruments?

• Trumpet
• Flute

How are wind instruments played?

The player covers or uncovers holes in the instrument and blow into it.

How does a wind instrument make sounds?

When air is blown into a wind instrument, the air vibrates inside the instrument and it makes a musical sound.

How can we make high and low pitched notes from wind instruments?

By covering or uncovering holes in the instrument and altering the length of the column of air the instrument contains.

How can we make a high pitched note from a wind instrument?

Short pipes make high notes.

* The shorter the vibrating column of air, the higher the note produced.

How can we make a low pitched note from a wind instrument?

Long pipes make low notes.

* The longer the vibrating column of air, the lower the note produced.

What instrument has a separate pipe for each note?

Pan pipes

Percussion instruments

What are percussion instruments?

Musical instruments that are hit or struck to make sounds are called percussion instruments.

What are the examples for percussion instruments?

• Drum
• Cymbal
• Tambourine
• Triangle

Pitch of percussion instruments

Most percussion instruments make sounds of one pitch. But we can change the notes of some percussion instruments.

What are the percussion instruments that make sounds of one pitch?

• Tambourine
• Cymbal

What are the percussion instruments which we can change the notes?

Drums

How can we change the notes made by percussion instruments?

By turning screws on the side to tighten or loosen the skin.

* When the skin is tightened, the notes played become higher.