Arts Appreciation

MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS

Adano, Debbie Mae

AB Psychology IV
PIANO

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in

Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is
uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using
a keyboard,[1] which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer
presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to
cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word piano is a shortened
form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the
instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte[2]
and fortepiano. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft"
and "loud" respectively,[3] in this context referring to the variations in
volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or
pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater
the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of
the note produced and the stronger the attack. The first fortepianos in
the 1700s had a quieter sound and smaller dynamic range.
UKULELE

The ukulele is a member of the lute family of instruments; it

generally employs four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.[2][3]
Some strings may be paired in courses, giving the instrument a total of
six or eight strings.
The ukulele originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian adaptation of
the Portuguese machete,[4] a small guitar-like instrument, which was
introduced to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants, mainly from Madeira
and the Azores. It gained great popularity elsewhere in the United
States during the early 20th century and from there spread
internationally.
The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction.
Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and
baritone.
VIOLIN

The violin, also known informally as a fiddle, is a wooden string

instrument in the violin family. It is the smallest and highest-pitched
instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments
are known, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are
virtually unused in the 2010s. The violin typically has four strings tuned in
perfect fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across
its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the
fingers (pizzicato). Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of
musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical
tradition and in many varieties of folk music. They are also frequently
used in genres of folk including country music and bluegrass music and
in jazz. Electric violins are used in some forms of rock music and jazz;
further, the violin has come to be played in many non-Western music
cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music. The name fiddle is
often used in reference to folk music, particularly Irish traditional music
and bluegrass, but this nickname is also used regardless of the type of
music played on it.
GUITAR

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six

strings.[1] The sound is projected either acoustically, using a hollow
wooden or plastic and wood box (for an acoustic guitar), or through
electrical amplifier and a speaker (for an electric guitar). It is typically
played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers, thumb or
fingernails of the right hand or with a pick while fretting (or pressing
against the frets) the strings with the fingers of the left hand. The guitar
is a type of chordophone, traditionally constructed from wood and
strung with either gut, nylon or steel strings and distinguished from other
chordophones by its construction and tuning. The modern guitar was
preceded by the gittern, the vihuela, the four-course Renaissance
guitar, and the five-course baroque guitar, all of which contributed to
the development of the modern six-string instrument.
SAXOPHONE

The saxophone (also referred to as the sax) is a family of

woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and
played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet.[2]
Like the clarinet, saxophones have holes in the instrument which the
player closes using a system of key mechanisms. When the player
presses a key, a pad either covers a hole or lifts off a hole, lowering or
raising the pitch, respectively.
ACCORDION

Accordions (from 19th century German Akkordeon, from

Akkord"musical chord, concord of sounds"[1]) are a family of box-
shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone
type, colloquially referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the
accordion is called an accordionist. The concertina and bandonen
are related; the harmonium and American reed organ are in the same
family.
TRUMPET

A trumpet is a blown musical instrument commonly used in

classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the
instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpet-like
instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or
hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they began to
be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th
century.[1] Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in
orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular
music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips
(called the player's embouchure), producing a "buzzing" sound that
starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument.
Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of
brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.
CELLO

The cello or violoncello is a bowed, and sometimes plucked,

string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The strings from
low to high are generally tuned to C2, G2, D3 and A3, an octave lower
than the viola. It is the bass member of the violin family of musical
instruments, which also includes the violin, viola and the double bass.
The cello is used as a solo musical instrument, as well as in chamber
music ensembles (e.g., string quartet), string orchestras, as a member
of the string section of symphony orchestras, and some types of rock
bands. It is the second-largest and second lowest (in pitch) bowed
string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, the double bass
being the largest and having the lowest (deepest) pitch.
CLARINET

The clarinet is a musical-instrument family belonging to the group

known as the woodwind instruments. It has a single-reed mouthpiece,
a straight cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore, and a flared
bell. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist (sometimes
spelled clarinettist).
DRUMS

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical

instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a
membranophone.[1] Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a
drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either
directly with the player's hands, or with a drum stick, to produce sound.
There is usually a resonance head on the underside of the drum,
typically tuned to a slightly lower pitch than the top drumhead. Other
techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as
the thumb roll. Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous
musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually
unchanged for thousands of years.