Instrument Families

Woodwinds

So I am showing my inner geek this week with theme songs from my favorite movies. This is a flute piece playing the Jurassic Park theme song. The flute is an example of the woodwinds family because sound is made by blowing across a surface. If you look at the musicians mouth she is blowing across the mouthpiece directing her air into the instrument producing sound. 

Brass

 

Trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, and French horn are part of the brass family. Brass instruments make sound when the musician’s lips buzz with air against the mouthpiece producing sound. If you look closely at the musicians mouth you can see that his mouth is held completely different than the flute players. He is making the buzzing need to produce sound on this instrument.

Strings

String instruments include a guitar, harp, banjo, violin, or even a cello. The strings produce sound by being plucked or bowed. In this video the musicians is using a pick and producing sound.

Percussion

This video is Travis Barker from Blink 182 playing a marching snare drum. The last family and my personal favorite is the percussion family. Examples from this family include the timpani, triangle, drums, cymbals, tambourine, or even the glockenspiel. Sound from these instruments are made by hitting, striking or even rubbing the instruments. The above video shows Travis Barker using drumsticks to produce the sound.