STUDY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

CLASSIFICATION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Musical instruments are classified as follows:

Table of Contents

AEROPHONE FAMILY: Musical instruments that belong to the aero phone family arewind instrument. They include: flute, oboe, piccolo, recorder, CorAnglais ,clarinet ,bassoon and English horn.Musical instruments of the aero phone family are played by blowing air while the fingers are in full operation.
CHORDOPHONE FAMILY:Musical instruments that belong to the chordophone family are stringed instruments .The musical instruments are played by bowing, hammering and plucking. Examples include violin, viola, guitar, harp, goje ,lute, cello (short form of violin cello) , zither and double bass .
MEMBRANOPHONE FAMILY: Musical instruments that belong to the membranophone family are called percussion.Examples include drums like tom tom drum, bass drum, gangan (hour glass),igba(Igbo), snare drum and kettle drum or timpani, tambourine, xylophone, cymbals, bells.
IDIOPHONE FAMILY: Musical instruments that belong to the idiophone family are self sounding musical instruments. They produce sound by the vibration of their body when struck or shaken by the player. They are likened to the percussion instruments of the Western world. Musical instruments of the idiophone family include pot drum , thumb piano, sekere, rattles ,double metal gong, medium slit drum (Ufie)
ELECTROPHONE FAMILY: Electrophone refers to any class of musical instruments (such as synthesizer or electric organ) whose sound is generated electronically.

EVALUATION

List the four categories of musical instruments.
State two musical instruments that belong to each category of musical instruments.

TYPES OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

WESTERN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

They are usually under three main headings:stringed, wind and percussion.

STRING INSTRUMENTS: These include the instruments in which sound is produced by the vibration of stretched strings and are into three groups : bowed , plucked and hammered. These include violin ,viola ,cello ,double bass .The sound is usually produced by bowing strings with the bow while the pitches are “stopped “ with the fingers of the left hand on the finger board PLUCKED INSTRUMENTS: These include harp, guitar, lute, zither,banjo,lyre and mandolin. The sound is produced by plucking the strings with the fingers or with a plectrum.
HAMMERED INSTRUMENTS: Theseare instruments whose sound is produced by hammered strings. e.g. piano.
WIND INSTRUMENTS: These are usually divided into two main classes such as wood and brass.The sound production is by the vibration of air in the tube either directly by the player or indirectly by bellows. The pitch of the sound produced depends on the length of the tube. (a)WOOD WINDFAMILY: The musical instruments in this family are flute, oboe, piccolo, recorder, coranglais, clarinet, bassoon and English horn. They are played by blowing.
(b) BRASS FAMILY: The brass instruments include trumpet, cornet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, and French horn. Saxophones can be grouped in this family, although they are not regarded purely as orchestral instruments.They are played by blowing.
PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT: These are musical instruments (such as drum, xylophone or maracas) sounded by striking, shaking or beating. They are either definite pitched or indefinite pitched instruments .There are many instruments in this group like drums(snare drum),bass drum, timpani (kettle drum), cymbals ,bells, celesta ,triangle ,gong, tambourine ,xylophone.

CLASSES OF RECORDER

They include:

Descant recorder
Treble
Tenor
Bass

EVALUATION

State the four types of musical instruments.
Write short notes on any two types of musical instruments.
List all the classes of recorder and explain any one you know.

GENERAL EVALUATION/ REVISION QUESTIONS

Define music.
State two indigenous forms of music in Nigeria.
State two effects of music on the human race.
State two functions of music.
What sub-branch of non-visual art does music belong?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

………..……is a typical example of a stringed musical instrument.(a) Guitar (b) Piano (c) Sekere (d) Trumpet
A brass musical instrument that is played by blowing air to make regular sounds is …….(a) Trumpet (b) recorder (c) Flute (d) Gong
A musical instrument that belongs to the aerophone family is ….……(a) violin (b) viola (c) trumpet (d) harp
………….…….is a stringed instrument that is played by plucking.(a) Harp (b) Trumpet (c) Violin (d) Saxophone
What musical instrument is played by bowing the strings with a bow? (a) Violin (b) Trumpet (c) Saxophone (d) Flute