That's because, just like in human families, the instruments in a particular family are related to each other. They are often made of the same types of materials, usually look similar to one another, and produce sound in comparable ways. Some are larger and some are smaller, just as parents are bigger than children. Experience a fun and unique video series from the Oregon Symphony designed for pre-K through elementary aged children and their families to experience popular story books.
A couple of times every week, enjoy one-minute videos created for you, by your Oregon Symphony musicians. A slide, or three or four valves, help the instruments get different notes, but players rely heavily on the harmonic series of their instruments to get the full range of notes.
Please see Wind Instruments: Some Basics for more on the subject. The orchestral brass instruments are the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba. As with the woodwinds, the number of each of these instruments varies depending on the size of the orchestra and the piece being played.
There are usually two to five each of trumpets, horns, and trombones, and one or two tubas. The trumpet is the smallest, highest-sounding orchestral brass instrument.
Trumpets may read in C or may be B flat transposing instruments. The cornet , which is more common in bands than in orchestras, is very similar to the trumpet and the two instruments are often considered interchangeable.
The cornet has a more conical, gently-flaring shape and a slightly mellower sound. The French horn, or horn , is much more conical than the trumpet and has a much mellower, more distant sound. It has a wide range that overlaps both the trumpet and trombone ranges, and in the orchestra is often used to fill in the middle of the brass sound. It is a transposing instrument that usually reads music in F. The trombone is the only valveless brass instrument in the modern orchestra.
One section of its tubing — the slide — slides in and out to specific positions to get higher and lower pitches, but, as with the other brass, it uses the harmonic series to get all the notes in its range. Its range is quite a bit lower than the trumpet, but it also has a brassy, direct cylindrical-shape sound.
There are a few instruments in the middle and low range of the brass section that are commonly found in bands, but very rare in the orchestra. The baritone and euphonium play in the same range as the trombone, but have the more cylindrical shape and a very mellow, sweet sound. In marching bands, the horn players often play mellophone and the tuba players play the sousaphone.
The mellophone is an E flat or F transposing instrument with a forward-facing bell that is more suitable for marching bands than the French horn. The sousaphone was also invented for use in a marching band; its tubing is wrapped so that the player can carry it on the shoulders.
The tuba is the largest, lowest-sounding orchestral brass instrument. It is a conical brass instrument, with a much mellower, distant sound than the trombone. Its bell and the bell of the baritone and euphonium may either point straight up or upward and forward. In a Western orchestra or band, anything that is not classified as strings, woodwinds, or brass goes in the percussion section, including whistles.
Most of the instruments in this section, though, are various drums and other instruments that are hit with drumsticks or beaters. Here are some of the more common instruments found in an orchestra percussion section. Timpani are large kettledrums drums with a rounded bottom that can be tuned to play specific pitches. An orchestra or wind ensemble will usually have a few tympani of various sizes. Other common drums do not have a particular pitch.
Therefore you will find it listed under the Percussion section later on this page. Instruments in the woodwind family used to all be made of wood, hence the name, but now they can be made of wood, metal, plastic or some combination of materials. They are all tubes with an opening at one end and a mouthpiece at the other end. They each have rows of holes that are covered by metal caps called keys.
Pressing on different keys produces different musical notes — the sound changes depending on where the air leaves the instrument through one of the key holes or out the far end. There are three ways in which the woodwind family creates sound: by blowing air across the edge of or into the mouthpiece flute or piccolo , by blowing air between a single reed and a fixed surface clarinet and bass clarinet , or by blowing air between two reeds oboe, English horn, bassoon, and contrabassoon.
The flute is a narrow metal tube about two feet long, with a row of holes covered by keys. Early flutes were often made of wood. The player blows air across the small hole in the mouthpiece to produce a sound that can be either soft and mellow or high and piercing. Like the violin, the flute may often carry the melody line as it is easy to hear above the other instruments.
The piccolo , usually made from metal or wood, is like a small flute. Because the length of the instrument is shorter than the flute, the pitch is higher, but it operates the same way.
It is more of a specialty instrument, used when the part to be played is especially high. The oboe does not have a mouthpiece like the flute and the piccolo. It is a double-reed instrument, with two reeds tied together for the mouthpiece. When the player places the reeds between her or his lips and blows air through them into the oboe, the reeds vibrate and produce the sound.
Many oboists make their own reeds, or at least tailor them to suit their specific playing style. The oboe is made of wood. It has a more mellow sound than the flute, but still has a bright treble sound and is often expected to carry the melody in an orchestral work.
The English horn cor anglais is a perfect fifth below the oboe, which requires it to be one and one-half times as long! It also has a curved metal neck for the reed and a bulbous bell. The fingering and playing techniques are very similar to the oboe, and many performers play both instruments. It is thought to have a more mellow sound than the oboe.
Another wooden instrument, the clarinet , produces a fluid sound when air is blown between a single reed and the mouthpiece. As air passes through, the reed vibrates and creates sound.
It has a large range of nearly four octaves so is a very versatile instrument. The tone quality can vary greatly depending on the musician, the instrument, the mouthpiece, and the reed. The bass clarinet is a larger, lower relative of the clarinet. Most bass clarinets today are straight instruments like a clarinet but with a small upturned silver-colored metal bell and a curved metal neck.
The bass clarinet has a usable range of over four octaves, quite close to the range of the bassoon, and many bass clarinetists perform works originally intended for bassoon or even cello. The bassoon is a large double-reed instrument with a sound that is deeper than the other woodwind instruments. When the player blows air between the reeds, the vibrating column of air inside the instrument travels over nine feet to the bottom of the instrument, then up to the top where the sound comes out!
Luckily, the bassoon comes apart into pieces for easy transport. There is a complex key work system to allow this large instrument to utilize its three-octave range with considerable agility. The contrabassoon is twice as long as the standard bassoon, curves around on itself twice, and, due to its weight and shape, is supported by an end pin.
It is a very deep-sounding woodwind instrument. The contrabassoon is mainly a supplementary rather than a core orchestral instrument and is most frequently found in larger symphonic works. The saxophone , while made of brass, is actually a woodwind instrument! It uses a single-reed mouthpiece much like the clarinet. It is more powerful than most woodwinds, and more versatile than most brass instruments. The saxophone is used extensively in jazz, as well as in military, marching, and concert bands.
There is also chamber and symphonic music written for sax, though it is less common. Still, there are some wonderful orchestral works that use the sax, so you will probably find a sax in our midst at some point every season! Brass instruments are essentially very long pipes that widen at their ends into a bell-like shape.
The pipes have been curved and twisted into different shapes to make them easier to hold and play. Most brass instruments have valves attached to their long pipes. When the player presses down on the valves, they open and close different parts of the pipe, increasing or decreasing the length of the pipe when played and creating a lower sound.
In addition to the valves, the player can select the pitch from a range of overtones or harmonics by changing his or her lip aperture and tension known as the embouchure.
The mouthpiece can also make a big difference in tone. Brass musicians can also insert mutes into the bell of their instrument to change the timbre of its sound. The trumpet has been around since about years BCE!
Air travels through six and a half feet of tubing bent into an oblong shape. The modern trumpet has three valves to change pitches, added in the early 19th century. The trombone has a more mellow sound than the trumpet. Instead of valves or keys, the trombone uses a slide with seven positions to change the length of its approximately nine feet of tubing in order to reach different pitches. The longer the column of air, the lower the pitch.
It also has a short tuning slide to adjust intonation.
0コメント