Friday 27 January 2012

Maracas

  • Used in Latin American music
  • In its original form, maracas consist of a dried calabash, gourd or coconut shell filled with seeds or dried beans.
  • They are sometimes called shakers because you shake them

Congas

  • I think you play the conga with them
  • They are five strokes to play them
  • You hit them with a stick

Bongos

  • They are an afro-cuban instrument
  • Bongos are characterised by a striking reddish-brown coat
  • These are drums of different sizes

Cymbals

  • They are often used in march band
  • They are quite loud
  • They have different sounds , depends on the model

Tom Tom

  • There is a GPS named like that
  • It is a drum with no snare
  • It is a term for a toy

Tam Tam

  • It's an Asian instrument
  • You hit it with a mallet
  • There is a lot of types of them

Thursday 26 January 2012

Wood Block

  • Small piece of a slit drum
  • You strike it with a stick
  • East Asian musicians use a variety of them

Snare Drum

  • Used in musical styles from classic to pop
  • Originally called side drum
  • Shaped like a cylinder

Bass Drum

  • It is the biggest drum in the orchestra
  • It is used in march bands
  • It has a pedal

Tambourine

  • Mentioned in "Dancing Queen" The hit of ABBA
  • A Medieval instrument
  • Commonly called 'marine' or 'tambo'

Catanets

  • Used in Flamenco dances
  • They were once banned in Spain ( couldn't play them in public)
  • Known to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks

Triangle

  • It is made from a small, round, steel tube
  • It is a Medieval instrument
  • It is hit with a metal beater

Celesta

  • The word means "heavenly" in French
  • It is also spelt celeste
  • It is resembling a small, upright piano

Vibraphone

  • It uses aluminium bars instead of wood ones
  • A dampening pedal is used to let the sound chime and a motor to speed up or down the sound of the vibes
  • Some players use two mallets in each hand instead of one

Tubular Bells

  • Known also as chimes
  • Each bell is just a metal tube
  • They originated in the 1800's

Glockenspiel

  • From German 'glocken' = "bell", 'spiel' = " play"
  • It emitts a bell sound
  • It resembles a small xylophone

Timpani

  • It is in the classical orchestra since the late 1600's
  • Originated in the Middle East
  • Once Johann Fischer wrote a symphony, in which the player had to play eight drums at the same time!!! ( Like the impossible song from Guitar Hero!)

The Percussion family - Xylophone

My favourite instrument, just love the sound... Ok, now to the facts...
  • From Greek 'xylo' = "wood" , 'phone' = "sound"
  • It is from East Asia
  • You strike it with a hard mallet

The Percussion family - Introduction

Now, before I start I must warn you it will take me a while as it has got 18 instruments there, with 3 facts on each so just to say, be prepared...

French Horn

  • It is used in Jazz
  • It was once used in hunting
  • It's the only brass instrument that is played left-handed

Tuba

  • It is the largest brass instrument
  • It is the lowest pitched
  • The most common tuba is called BB flat

Trombone

  • They are sometimes made of copper
  • You use 7 lip positions to play
  • You should clean it once a month

The Brass family - Trumpet

  • The trumpet keeps the melody
  • Pizzy Gillespies has a trumpet that is slanted at the top
  • It was invented in 1815

Double Bassoon

  • Also called the Contrabassoon
  • It's over 16ft long
  • Beethoven used it for special effects

Oboe

  • There are 4 types of it
  • It is known from 2800 B.C
  • It is usually made from wood

Bass Clarinet

  • It took a while to evolve
  • Giles Lot invented it
  • It has barely made it as a standard orchestral instrument

Bassoon

  • It is the longest and the lowest in the family
  • It has 7 feet of tubing
  • It was first made in Berlin

Cor Anglais

  • It is also known as the english horn
  • It has a double reed
  • You play it the same as the oboe

Clarinet

  • It is the most recent addition to the woodwind family
  • Julia Roberts played the clarinet when she was in a school band
  • A cane reed needs a diameter of at least 2.5 cm to be in a clarinet

Flute

  • Leonardo da Vinci played the flute
  • The flute is the ancestor of the piccolo
  • They are made of wood, metal or plastic

The Woodwind family - Piccolo

  • It's a name from the Italian word small
  • It is the highest instrument in the orchestra
  • Now only manufactured in C, piccolos were once made in D, as well

Harp

  • Red strings are the note C , and the blue strings are F
  • It weighs about 125 pounds!!!
  • It's one of the world's most ancient and universal instrument

Double Bass

     
  • It is often heard in jazz bands
  • It can also be called string bass
  • It is the largest and the lowest sounding instrument of the family

Cello

      
  • The most important part of your body when you play is your ear
  • The plural of Cello is Celli
  • The actual word 'cello' is short for the word Violoncello

Viola

      
  • It was developed in Italy around the 15th century
  • It has a melancholy timbre which has been little exploited in solo or orchestral music
  • Jimi Hendrix began his musical career playing the viola

The String family - Violin

Let's start with the string family.
  •   The violin used to be known as "kit" in Italy
  •   Playing the violin burns 170 calories an hour
  •   To play it you need a bow with rosin