Musical instruments

STRINGS
String instruments have tightly stretched strings that vibrate to produce sound. The shorter the string, the higher the note. On all string instruments except the harp the player shortens the strings by pressing them down onto a fingerboard with one hand. Meanwhile, the other hand produces the sound by bowing, plucking or strumming the strings. String is the largest section in the orchestra, and uses 60 to 70 musicians to create a good, strong sound in the modern orchestra. In the string section there are five groups of players-the first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses-as well as the harp and piano. There are two sorts of strings: those that are bowed and those that are plucked. Bowed instruments are played by stroking the strings with a bow, a piece of wood with a bunch of hair stretched tightly between its ends. Positioned to the left of the conductor, the first violins sit closest to the audience, and the second violins are right behind them. The violas and cellos are to the right of the conductor, with the cellos in front and the violas behind them, though sometimes this is reversed. The double basses are behind the violas also.

The violin and viola are held between the players chin and shoulder. The cello is gripped between the players knees and has a spike to stop it slipping. The double bass is the largest and deepest string instrument. Plucked instruments are played by plucking and strumming (or occasionally hitting) the strings. Sometimes this is done with a small piece of hard material called a plectrum, instead of with the fingers. The most common plucked string instruments are the different types of guitar. The harp has 47 strings and seven pedals that alter the length of its strings. The smooth harp glissando is often used for magical or special effects. The harpists sit to the left of the conductor in the back behind the second violins.

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WOODWIND
Wind instruments produce sound by vibrating a column of air inside a tube. Changing the length of the tube produces different notes. The longer the tube, the deeper the note. Woodwind instruments were originally made of wood. They are really just tubes with holes in, but the different shape and materials of each instrument help create its unique sound. Opening and closing the holes with the fingers or the keys alters the length of the tube. Woodwinds also vary in how they are played. The flute and piccolo have a hole that the musician blows across. This wind vibrates trough the flute creating a sound. The other instrument in this section use a reed. A reed is a narrow strip of cane that vibrates when a player blows on it, creating sound. The clarinet and saxophone have single reeds. The oboe, cor anglais and bassoon have double reeds. Because the woodwind tone carries well and can be easily heard when there are lots of other instruments playing, this section is located in the center of the orchestra. In this section there will usually be two flutes, a piccolo, two oboes, a cor anglais, two clarinets, two bassoons and occasionally, in more contemporary woks, a saxophone.

The piccolo is a small flute that sounds very high and shrill. The clarinet has a rich, mellow sound. There are many concertos written for it. One of the best is by Mozart. The oboe makes a very plaintive sound. The saxophone was invented in 1846 and named after its inventor, Adolph Sax. The bassoon is over 3 metres in length, but is folded back on itself to make it easier to hold.

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BRASS
The instruments in the brass section are usually made of metal, often brass. They are played with the air of the player and so they, too, are wind instruments and somewhat similar to the woodwinds. The difference between the two sections is that the musician who plays brass must use his or her lips, instead of the reed, to make the vibrations that make the sound. Tensing his or her lips against the mouthpiece (which varies in design, depending on the instrument) and blowing through them, the musician makes his or her lips vibrate just like the double reed in an oboe does. This makes the air in the brass instrument vibrate and the tone differs depending upon how tense the players lips are: tight lips vibrate quickly and produce high notes. Brass instruments are really just long metal tubes that flare at one end. They are actually quite long, so the tubes are bent and folded into more compact shapes that are easier to hold. This portability, combined with their loudness and the fact that their tone carries a long way, is the reason why brass instruments are often used in marching bands. Members of the brass family that play in the orchestra are the trumpet, the horn, the trombone and the tuba. Because of the strong sound this section creates it is in the back of the orchestra. Usually, an orchestra has one or two of each of these instruments, sometimes more.

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PERCUSSION
The section with the greatest variety of instruments in it is the percussion section. Included here are instruments that make a sound when banged, tapped or shaken. There are hundreds of different percussion instruments, and different regions of the world have their own types of instruments, often made from local materials. Although it might seem as if there would be a bunch of musicians here playing all of these different sorts of percussion instruments, there actually arent. A percussionist may play many different instruments during a concert. In the percussion section, the triangle player usually doubles as tam-tam player and the bass drum player can play the snare drum, but the cymbalist only play cymbals and the timpanist only plays timpani. Nowadays, theres occasionally someone called the utility percussionist who will play anything other than timpani. This works because the percussion instruments usually do not play at the same time. Although the percussion section is found in the back of the orchestra, the rhythmic and colorful sounds it creates are able to carry out, over and through the sound made by the rest of the sections. Instruments found in the percussion section are really of two basic types. The simplest type, like the gong, is untuned and produces a note of indeterminate pitch. Tuned instruments, like the xylophone, are capable of playing melodies. Instruments found in these two groups of percussion instruments are the timpani, bass drums, snare drums, tubular bells, glockenspiels, gongs, triangles and xylophones.

The kettledrums used in a modern symphony orchestra are called the timpani. They can be tuned to different notes by using a pedal that alters the tension of the plastic drum surface. The drum kit often accompanies pop and jazz groups. One player is able to play several different drums and cymbals, and other instruments can be kept within reach.

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THE HUMAN VOICE

The oldest musical instrument is the human voice. The voice produces sound when air from the lungs vibrates the vocal chords in the throat. The air in the hollow spaces of the chest, throat and mouth vibrates and amplifies the sound of the voice. The vibrations of the vocal chords resonate in the cavities of both the chest (in the lower register) and the head (in the upper register). Loose vocal cords produce low notes, and tight vocal cords produce high notes. The singer automatically adjusts the shapes and sizes of these cavities to produce the required notes. As the singer is his or her own instrument, the voice is never altogether distanced from the personality. Vocal ranges. There are four basic types of voice: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Mens voices are deeper than womens because their vocal chords are longer. As a boy gets older, his vocal cords grow and his voice changes from high to low. When men and women sing together, men usually sing an octave lower: the normal range of womens voices is in the treble clef, and the mens is in the bass clef. Each voice has its own natural range of pitch. The highest womans voice is the soprano, and the lowest the contralto, or alto. With the mezzo-soprano lying between the two extremes. These pitches are also within the range of boys voices, known as trebles. The lowest male voice is the bass and the highest is usually the tenor, with the baritone between them. Some male singers have a natural extension at the top of their range which allows them to sing in the alto, or countertenor range.