Classical Instruments

Four Major Categories Of Instruments:

     Most musical instruments fall into one of four groups, all of which are represented in an orchestra. Woodwind, brass, stringedand percussion are the four types and each category contains an array of varied examples. The sounds and notes created by the different types of instruments are often combined by skilled orchestras to create wide-ranging musical performances.

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(1)Stringed Instruments:                                           

         Generally, stringed instruments have a wooden body with a hollow center and are strung with strands of nylon, steel or gut. When the strings are plucked with fingers or a bow is pulled across them they vibrate and the sound is amplified within the body of the instrument.

           Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string.

With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings.

Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the Classical music orchestra (violin, viola, cello).All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called "pizzicato".

A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar, including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even "tapping" on the fingerboard.

               In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it. The vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow. Some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body.

(2)Woodwind Instruments:

Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, saxophone, and bassoon. Woodwind instruments are hollow cylindrical pipes made out of wood, plastic or metal. A mouthpiece at one end typically contains a single or double strip of thin wood -- a reed -- which vibrates when air is blown across it. Sound is produced through an opening at the other end. Musicians cover holes located along the instrument with fingers or keys to create specific notes. 

There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed instruments (otherwise called reed pipes). The main distinction between these instruments and other wind instruments is the way in which they produce sound. All woodwinds produce sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. Despite the name, a woodwind may be made of any material, not just wood. 

(3)Brass Instruments:

Brass instruments are long hollow brass pipes with a bell-shaped opening at one end through which sound is produced. These pipes are curved and bent into various shapes to make them easier to hold and play. Brass instruments also work by blowing into a mouthpiece and most have small valves which can be pressed down to create different notes. 

Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin and Greek elements meaning 'lip' and 'sound'.

There are several factors involved in producing different pitches on a brass instrument. Slides, valves, crooks (though they are rarely used today), or keys are used to change vibratory length of tubing, thus changing the available harmonic series, while the player's embouchure, lip tension and air flow serve to select the specific harmonic produced from the available series.

Brass instruments include trumpets, tubas, trombones and French horns.

(4)Percussion Instruments:

Percussion instruments comprise a wide-ranging category including any instrument that has to be struck, shaken or scraped to produce a sound, such as drums, cymbals, chimes bells, maracas and xylophones to name but a few. Pianos also classified as percussion because pressing the keys makes small hammers strike tightened strings to produce notes. Percussion instruments in orchestral and other settings are typically used to help keep rhythm.

Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: Pitched percussion instruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch, and unpitched percussion instruments, which produce notes or sounds in an indefinite pitch.

         

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