1. INSTRUMENT FAMILIES
INSTRUMENT FAMILIES
September 20, 2012
Dana Whitman

2. Four Families of Instruments
• Woodwinds
•Brass
•Strings
• Percussion

3. • Originally made of wood
FLUTE • Played by blowing across
OBOE or into the tube of the
instrument
CLARINET • Air column inside tube is
BASSOON set in vibration and tones
are produced
• Different pitches are
created by changing the
length of the column of
air
• Pitch is low if column of
air is long, high if column
of air is shorter

4. Woodwinds

5. BRASS
TRUMPET
TROMBONE
FRENCH HORN
TUBA

6. BRASS
 Consists of a long metal tube with a mouthpiece and a bell-
shaped opening
 To produce sound a player buzzes his lips into the mouthpiece
and causes the air inside to vibrate
 Player blows air into mouthpiece to create the tone
 The bell helps to make the tone louder and create quality of
tone
 Pitch is low if tube is long, high if tube is short
 Trumpet/French horn – 3 valves
 Trombone uses length of slide
 Tuba – 4 valves

7. Strings
VIOLIN
VIOLA
CELLO
BASS
HARP

8. STRINGS
 Made from woods, fingerboard on long neck and four strings
 Special bow made of wood and fine horse hairs
 Tone produced by vibrations or motion of strings pulling the
bow across or plucking the strings – pizzicato
 Low pitch – string long and heavy
 High pitch – string short and lighter

9. PERCUSSION
 Timpani / kettledrums/ snare drums
 Xylophones
 Orchestra bells/ Chimes
 Cymbals
 Tambourine/ triangle
 Maracas/ claves
 Woodblock/ sand block
 Castanets/jingle bells
 Piano

10. PERCUSSION
Played by being:
Struck
Shaken
scraped

11. PION

12. FINALE’

13. RESOURCES
• www.mymusictheory.com
• www.sfskids.org
• www.orsymphony.org
• www.ehow.com