Rooms or concert halls emphasize and de-emphasize pitches {acoustics}|.
Woodwind or brass players use lips and tongue {embouchure}|.
Woodwind or brass instruments have apparatus {mouthpiece, instrument} into which people blow air.
Musical instruments make fundamental-note harmonics {tone color}, as does human voice.
Instruments {musical instrument class} {instrument class} have sounds produced by vibrating strings or air columns or by percussing wood, metal, or skin membranes.
Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs [1914] {Sachs-Hornbostel system} {Hornbostel-Sachs system} classed instruments. Instruments {idiophone, Sachs-Hornbostel}, such as xylophone, can vibrate. Instruments {membranophone}, such as drum or kazoo, can have vibrating membranes. Instruments {chordophone}, such as piano or cello, can have vibrating strings. Instruments {aerophone}, such as pipe organ or oboe, can have vibrating air columns. Instruments {electrophone}, such as theremin, can be electronic.
Instruments {brass instrument}| {horn instrument} can use mouthpieces into which breath blows through vibrating lips to vibrate air in variable-length tubing. Brass includes alpenhorn, alto horn, baritone, bugle, French horn, trombone, tuba, cornet, trumpet, cornet, mellophone, and sousaphone.
Instruments {percussion instrument}| can use stick, mallet, or fingers. Percussion instruments can have definite pitch: bells, carillon, celesta, chimes, cimbalon, clavichord, steel drum, glockenspiel like xylophone, harp, harpsichord, marimba, piano, player piano, tuning fork, kettle drum or tympani, vibraphone, and xylophone. Piano can be grand, baby grand, spinet, and upright. Percussion instruments can have no pitch: block, castanet, cymbal, bass drum, bongo drum, snare drum, gong, maraca, tambourine, timbale, tom-tom, and triangle.
Instruments {wind instrument}| can use holes into which or over which air blows into variable-length tubing. Winds include concertina, fife, flute, harmonica, Jew's harp, kazoo, ocarina, piccolo, pipes, pan pipe, pitch pipe, soprano recorder, alto recorder, tenor recorder, bass recorder, slide whistle, and whistle.
Instruments {reed instrument} {woodwind}| can use flexible reed or cane wedges, over which breath blows into variable-length tubing. Woodwinds include bassoon, clarinet, bass clarinet, English horn, oboe, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. Oboe and bassoon use reed with two sides, through which air blows {double-reed instrument}, while others use only one reed, over which air blows {single-reed instrument}.
Instruments {string instrument}| can use metal, nylon, or animal sinew strings. Orchestral string instruments are violin, viola or violin cello, viol, bass viol, cello, and double bass or bass. Other string instruments include balalaika, banjo, dulcimer, gamelan, guitar, Aeolian harp, autoharp, lute, lyre, mandolin, sitar, steel guitar, ukelele, and zither.
Drawing a flat horsehair layer {bow, music}, rubbed with rosin, across strings can make sound.
Sounding-board lower-front wood piece {bridge, guitar} raises strings away from instrument body.
Sounding-board lower front has center hole or two f-shaped slits {f-hole}.
String tighteners (peg) pull strings up long, thin part {fingerboard} {neck, instrument}.
Fingerboard can have thin bars {fret} across it.
Plucking strings with a plastic wedge {pick, music} can make sound.
Instruments can have a lower-front wood panel {sounding board, instrument} {sound box}.
Instruments {accordion} can use squeezed air.
Instruments {bagpipe} can use squeezed air.
Orchestra leaders use a stick {baton} to keep time.
Medieval instruments {caps} can have hard metal caps struck to make tone.
Baroque period had harpsichords {clavichord} {clavier}.
Vietnamese one-stringed violins {dan bau} can use a stand.
People play Vietnamese flat stringed instruments {dan tran} with a pick.
People play Indonesian flat stringed instruments {gamelan} with a pick.
People play West-Indies African drums {grand tambour} {tambour} with sticks.
Instruments {idiophone, instrument} {autophone} with no strings or membranes can vibrate. Metal instruments {metallophone} with no strings or membranes can vibrate. Struck idiophones {concussion idiophone} include triangle, bell, marimba, as well as scraped or shaken idiophones, such as maracas, flexatone, and bell. Plucked idiophones include jew's harp, music box, thumb piano, and mbira. Blown idiophones include Aeolsklavier. Instruments {friction idiophone}, such as glass harmonica, daxophone, styrophone, musical saw, and nail violin, can have metal or wood pieces rubbed with bows.
Players can bow Persian one-stringed violins {kamancheh}.
Players can use a pick to play Japanese flat stringed instruments {koto}.
Idiophone instruments {lamellaphone} can have large or small thin metal keys {tongue, key}, attached to wood, that vibrate when pushed and let go. They include thumb piano, Jew's harp, marimbula, music box, sanza, kisanji, likembe, mbira, mbila, and kalimba.
Players can pluck Greek six-stringed harps {lyre} with fingers.
Mexican bands {mariachi band}| can have two violins, two trumpets, Spanish guitar, higher-pitched five-string guitar {vihuela}, and small bass guitar {guitarron}, with no singer.
origins
The sound {son, Mexico} derives from Spanish theatrical orchestras, African music, and Native-American music. Mariachi started in Jalisco {son jalisciense}. Example is La Negra.
In Veracruz, harp replaces guitarron {son veracruzano} {son jarocho}. Example is La Bamba.
Southeast Mexico adds flute {son huasteco} {huapango}. Examples are La Malague-a and Serenata Huasteca.
dance
Mariachi music is for dancing. In Jalisco and Veracruz, dances {zapateado} feature hard pounding by boot heels, to make fast syncopated rhythms. In Guadalajara, Mexican hat dances {jarabe tapatio} have man wearing Jalisco cowboy {charro} clothes and woman wearing shawl and colorful blouse with sequins.
French bagpipe {musette}.
Instruments {organ, instrument} can use air pipes or simulated air pipes. Organs include barrel organ, calliope, glockenspiel, hurdy-gurdy, melodeon, Moog synthesizer, synthesizer, and reed organ.
Percussion instruments {piano, instrument} {pianoforte} can have key levers that bounce felt hammer off string and raise damper off strings. Wood slab beside strings is sounding board. Piano can have two or three pedals. Left pedal keeps all dampers half down. Middle pedal keeps all dampers down. Right pedal keeps all dampers up. Harpsichords use plucking.
Chinese lute {pipa}.
Medieval picks {plectrum} plucked stringed instruments.
Persian hammered 72-string dulcimer {santour}.
In Trinidad, oil drums make xylophone-like instruments {steel band}.
Players pluck Persian three-string guitars {tar, guitar} with fingers.
People play Persian ceramic drums {tombak} with fingers.
Human instruments {voice, singing} can use lungs for energy, vocal chords for frequency, throat as air cavity, head and neck for resonance, and tongue, lips, and mouth for articulation.
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Date Modified: 2022.0225