Musical Instruments

Fact 5

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An orchestra is a large group of musicians. A typical orchestra is made up of four sections of instruments: string, brass, woodwind and percussion. The musicians usually sit in the same positions. The following chart shows where each musician with his or her instrument sits.

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A conductor in an orchestra, is the person who stands up in front of the musicians to lead them and guide them during their performance.

A conductor can be a man or a woman, and its main job is to keep everyone in time with each other. The conductor does this, by using a baton as well as hand gestures, as you can see in picture A. One of the most famous orchestra conductors is Alondra de la Parra who you can see in picture B. She is Mexican and the first female principal conductor of an Australian symphony orchestra. De la Parra is also an official Cultural Ambassador of Mexico. Glossary

baton: (n.) a thin stick used by a conductor to direct an orchestra or choir.

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These are the Brass instruments.

Glossary

horn: (n.) a device in a car that makes a sound to warn about something. The trumpet is the smallest member of the Brass family. Hundreds of years ago people used a trumpet-like instrument to sound alarms and call soldiers to war. Can you imagine using a trumpet nowadays to call on somebody’s attention? Well, some people like to have this sound as their car horn. When on the street, pay attention and you may hear this sound once in a while, especially when walking or riding on busy streets in big cities.

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The modern trumpet is a narrow pipe with three attached valves.

The pipe is curved and bent into long loops.

You play the trumpet by blowing into the mouthpiece. There are 2 to 4 trumpets in an orchestra. Glossary

bent: (v.) forced into the shape of a curve or angle.

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Here we can see a tuba.

The tuba is the biggest and heaviest of the Brass instruments and has a very low sound. Tubas come in different sizes. The longer they are, the lower they sound.

One has to be very strong to carry a tuba, it is seen in the typical football bands that perform at games.

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To play the tuba in an orchestra it is better to play it sitting down. Once you sit on your chair, you hold the tuba with the bell facing up. You blow into a very large mouthpiece and use your hand to press down on the valves. Doing this, changes the sound. It takes a lot of breath to play the tuba! Glossary

Breath: (n.) the air you take and expel from your lungs.

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Now, let’s take a look at the French Horn and the Trombone. These two instruments are the last ones in the group of the brass instruments.

The French horn consists of a very long brass tube, which curls round and round. The player puts their hand in the bell end to change the sound of the instrument, and gets different notes by pressing down valves, which block off holes.

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The trombone is great fun to play. The musician holds the instrument with one hand while the other hand moves the slide backwards and forwards.

The trombonist has to do three things at the same time to make different notes come out of the trombone: change the shape of their lips, blow hard through the mouthpiece and move the slide back and forth. Doing all this at the same time sounds difficult but it is a lot of fun... that’s what trombonists say!

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Glossary

bow: (n.) -in this case- a long, partially curved rod with horsehair strings used for playing the violin and other stringed instruments. These are string instruments you find in an orchestra. The violin is the smallest one and produces the highest sound. It has four strings. You play it with a bow. A person who plays the violin is called a violinist.

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This is a Stradivarius. A Sradivarius is a violin built by members of the Italian family Stradivari during the 17th and 18th centuries. Their most important characteristic is the sound they produce because of the way they are built. Those built by Antonio Stradivari are especially valuable. They can cost more than 18 million dollars. This is really expensive!!

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The percussion family is the largest in the orchestra. Percussion instruments include any instrument that makes a sound when you hit, shake or scrape it. Percussion instruments keep the rhythm and make special sounds. A percussionist will usually play many different instruments in one piece of music. The most common percussion instruments in the orchestra include: the drums, xylophone, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, maracas, gongs, chimes and piano.

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What about instruments that you do not find in a European orchestra? There are hundreds! This is a balafon. A balafon is a wooden percussion instrument. It comes from West Africa. You play it with padded sticks. Glossary

pad: (n.) a piece of material that feels like a thin cushion and guards from impacts.

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Other original and strange instruments that we don’t see in modern orchestras are the following:

This is a Guqin. It’s a string instrument from China. These alphorns are from the wind family. They are from the Alps in Europe.

Do you want to hear what all these instruments sound like? Check out the sounds on the internet! These are some Websites you can surf to hear how these instruments sound:

https://blogs.transparent.com/chinese/chineseinstruments-guqin-or-chinese-harp/ https://vimeo.com/30692760

Go to page 114 in your Activity book and discuss the question about how music transforms moods with your group.

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