Families of Musical Instruments

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Families of Musical Instruments
By Genevieve 1st Grade
Musical instruments are grouped into families by
the type of sounds they make!
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Families of Instruments
Strings Woodwinds Brass
Percussion Keyboards
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Strings
Sound is made by plucking, bowing, or hitting the
strings.
String instruments are any instrument that have
strings!
String instruments include
Violins
Violas
Guitars
Cellos
Bass
Harps
And other less known instruments mandolin,
lute, dulcimer, sitar, the Japanese koto, and the
balalaika
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Woodwinds
Sound is made by blowing through the instrument,
either across a sound hole (like on the
flute),vibrating a reed (clarinets and
saxophones), or blowing between two reeds (oboes,
bagpipes).
All woodwinds used to be made out of wood, but
today, many of them are made out of brass like
the saxophone.
Some woodwind instruments include
clarinet
Flute and Piccolo
Bagpipes
Saxophone
Bassoon
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Brass
Brass instruments used to all be made out of
brass, but today many are also made out of wood,
shell and other materials.
Sound is made on brass instruments by buzzing
air through the mouthpiece of the instrument.
Unlike woodwinds, brass players dont blow into
their instruments, but instead make a puckered
shape with their mouth.
Trombone
French Horn
Tuba
Trumpet
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Percussion
Percussion instruments are any instruments that
you would strike.
Drum Set
Xylophone
Tambourine
Handbells
Sound is produced in a few different ways. Drums
are struck and the sound vibrates inside the
drum. Other instruments like xylophones or bells
have certain pitches that they play when struck.
Other instruments include cymbals, rattles, wood
blocks, spoons, chimes, marimbas, gongs,
triangles, rhythm sticks and many other types of
drums.
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Pianos and Keyboards
Keyboards are so versatile that they are hard to
classify into just one family. They have strings
inside which could put them as part of the string
family, but they also have hammers that strike
the strings which could make them a percussion
instrument as well.
On pianos, the sound is produced by a hammer
hitting a string inside the piano. Electric
keyboards can produce any sound that is
programmed into it.
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Sources
www.college.columbia.edu/core/ experience/about/mh
.php
www.livejazznorthwest.co.uk/
http//www.purplewoods.com/
ase.tufts.edu/tuwe/members/
www.chunterritchie.org/ woodwindfamily.html
www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/jb3/ y-okawa/piano/E-pia
no.html
www.uchile.cl/facultades/ artes/mcdp/bronces.htmlw
ww.cssymphony.org/ bassoon.htm