Different types of Musical instrument

I've developed my interest in music since I was in junior. I joined the wind assemble band. And, the first class I was taught is recognizing different types of musical instrument.There are a various kind of musical instruments. Each of them has their own way of making sound and belongs to different instrument families. For instance, there are string, keyboard, woodwind, brass and percussion. Different type of sound would lead into quality of sound.

Piano, organ and harpsichord are keyboard family. They have a row of keys which each key correspond to each pitch. The characteristic of keyboard is that they can produce abundant chords, so they are always chosen as a solo instrument.

There are two of the groups belong to string family. One of the string groups consist of violin, viola, cello and double bass, which make sound by bowing string. Another is harp and guitar, which are plucking the string. It features the tender and constant sound. String player doesn’t need to take a breath like wind instrument player. String instruments always have a resonance box to make and enlarge their sound.

Woodwind instrument are divided into three groups which categorized by the reed. Flute is the non-reed instrument. It produces sound by the vibration inside the instrument. Its sound quality sounds bright and slight. Clarinet and saxophone are single reed instruments. They have the quality of thick and mellowed. Oboe and Bassoon are the double reeds instruments. By blowing the reed to make the reeds vibrate, they sound more withered.

The brass instruments are characteristic of the horn and the mouthpiece. The horn is to enlarge and reinforce the sound so it can be transmit farther. The sound is made by vibrating player’s mouth. The feature of the sound is big and bright.

Percussion consists of two groups; one is the definite instrument, another is the indefinite instrument. The definite means that the instrument is tuned and has pitch, vice versa. Timpani, xylophone and bells are the tuned instruments; Snare drum, bass drum, cymbal and tambourine are untuned instruments. Percussion instruments are played in many ways, such as beating, shaking, scraping and turning. They are used to enforce the rhythm or imitate a unique sound.

By using different way of playing, instruments sound different.

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