978-0393602517 Chapter 10

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CHAPTER 10

Western Musical Instruments

OVERVIEW

This chapter provides an introduction to the four major instrument families: strings, woodwinds,

brass, and percussion. The chapter covers all of the main representative instruments and provides

information about their construction and performance techniques.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To gain familiarity with members of the string family of instruments and understand the

various techniques musicians employ to play these instruments

2. To gain familiarity with members of the woodwind family of instruments and understand

the techniques musicians employ to play these instruments

3. To gain familiarity with members of the brass family of instruments and understand the

techniques musicians employ to play these instruments

4. To gain familiarity with members of the percussion family of instruments and understand

the techniques musicians employ to play these instruments

5. To gain familiarity with keyboard instruments and understand the techniques musicians

employ to play these instruments

LECTURE SUGGESTIONS

1. Live performance is an effective way to introduce the members of the instrument families to

your class. This is especially true for instruments that require more complex methods of tone

production, such as the reed and brass instruments. Featuring live performers also allows the

class to ask the performers questions about their instruments in person. Recruiting students

majoring in music education to demonstrate for your class provides those students an

opportunity to teach a group while providing your students a more intimate introduction to

the instrument families than they might otherwise have. You might alternatively consider

reaching out to solo performers and chamber groups in your school who are looking for

opportunities to perform in public. Invite these individuals and groups to perform for your

class and follow the performance with a Q&A about the instruments, performance technique,

and so on. This may be mutually beneficial for your class and for school performers who are

preparing for recitals or performance juries.

2. Consider using YouTube for class demonstrations on playing various instruments as well as

for documentaries on designing and building instruments. BBC Radio 3 maintains a YouTube

channel featuring an introduction to the instrument families with members of the BBC

National Orchestra of Wales: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL90EFD72EDE19629D.

Many major instrument manufacturers have made short and informative documentaries

about instrument building and design. Here are a few videos that take you into the workshop

to see how these instruments are built:

▶ On the making of a Steinway piano, with narration by the late John Steinway (1917–

1989): http://youtu.be/jAInt7hIZlU

▶ On trumpet-making (from the Yamaha Corporation), featuring Jens Lindemann, former

first trumpet of the Canadian Brass: http://youtu.be/uIqDhO1iddo

▶ On making a violin, from the Höfner luthiers (no narration):

http://youtu.be/DY5qC42MO0k

▶ On building and installing Cornell University’s Baroque organ (2010), featuring

members of the Cornell University community: http://youtu.be/KsWbHgdNE6w

ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS

1. Explore the playlist videos that demonstrate the playing of instruments from the various

instrument families. What connections do you see between the materials of the instruments

and the sounds they produce? When you think of the materials from which they were made,

did any instrumental sounds surprise you or seem out of place? Do any musical instruments

seem to fall outside the categorical framework of the instrument families as outlined in the

textbook? If so, can you devise an alternative way to categorize musical instruments?

2. “What is this hubbub? What are these dances? It is song that the Muse made queen: let the

aulos dance after it, since it is a servant.” (Pratinas, c. 500 BCE, quoted in Andrew Barker,

“Public Music as ‘Fine Art’ in Archaic Greece,” in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed.

James McKinnon [Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990], 56.)

This quote by the ancient Greek playwright Pratinas sums up the ambivalence many

cultures have had throughout history about the value of instrumental music. (The aulos was

a flutelike instrument in ancient Greece.) Why do you think Pratinas ranked vocal music

above instrumental music? Does something about instruments and instrumental music

naturally lead us to Pratinas’s conclusion? Does this ambivalence have any resonance in our

present world?

TEACHING CHALLENGES

Introducing all of the instruments covered in Chapter 10 in one class period poses a substantial

challenge for teaching this material. Keep in mind that this content overlaps somewhat with that of

Chapter 11. You might consider integrating these chapters over the course of two or three lecture

periods.

SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baines, Anthony. The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments. New York: Oxford University

Press, 1992. A standard dictionary of musical instruments. Includes entries on both Western

and non-Western instruments.

Campbell, Murray, Clive Greated, and Arnold Myers. Musical Instruments: History, Technology,

and Performance of Instruments of Western Music. New York: Oxford University Press,

2004. A comprehensive survey of musical instruments of the Western art tradition, with a

focus on design, historical development, and performance techniques. The chapters are

arranged by instrument family. Includes a glossary of terms and many illustrations. An

authoritative account designed for specialists and lay readers alike.

Monatgu, Jeremy. Origins and Development of Musical Instruments. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow

Press, 2007. A broad and authoritative work on the history of instruments from around the

world. Features eight interludes that address shifts in technological advancement and their

effects on instrument-making throughout world history.

Nettl, Bruno, James Porter, and Timothy Rice. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. 10

vols. New York: Garland, 1998–2002. The leading scholarly encyclopedia of world music,

featuring many entries on non-Western musical instruments.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Western Musical Instruments (Chapter 10)

I. String Instruments (Chordophones)

A. Bowed

1. violin, viola, violoncello (cello), double bass (contrabass, bass viol)

2. bow held in right hand, left hand fingers press down strings

3. special effects:

a. legato: smoothly, connected

b. staccato: notes short, detached

c. pizzicato: plucking the strings with a finger

d. vibrato: rapid wrist-and-finger movement, slightly alters pitch

e. glissando: left hand slides along the string

f. tremolo: rapid repetition of a tone

g. trill: rapid alternation of two adjacent tones

h. double-stopping: playing two strings at once, creates harmony

i. mute: attachment over the bridge, muffles the sound

j. harmonics: lightly touching the string, high-pitch tones

B. Plucked

1. harp: one of the oldest instruments

a. pitches changed by pedals

b. arpeggios: chords in broken form

2. guitar: dates back to Middle Ages

a. acoustic: wood, fretted fingerboard, nylon strings

b. electric: electronically amplified

c. banjo, mandolin: related to the guitar

II. Woodwind Instruments (Aerophones)

A. Sound produced by air, finger holes change pitch

1. not necessarily made of wood

2. flute family: blow across a mouth hole

a. flute (metal), piccolo

3. oboe and bassoon families: double reed

a. oboe, English horn (alto oboe), bassoon, contrabassoon (lowest tone of the

woodwinds)

4. clarinet and saxophone families: single reed

a. clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone (metal)

III. Brass Instruments (Aerophones)

A. Cup-shaped mouthpiece attached to metal tubing, flares at end into a bell

1. pitch changed by slide or valves, pressure of lips and breath

a. embouchure: oral mechanism of lips, lower facial muscles, and jaw

2. trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba

a. trumpets and horns: prevalent in ancient world

3. other brass: concert and marching bands

a. cornet, bugle, fluegelhorn, euphonium, sousaphone

IV. Percussion Instruments (Idiophones and Membranophones)

A. Pitched

1. timpani, kettle drums: large copper bowls, stretched calfskin or plastic heads

a. pitch changed by pedals

2. xylophone, marimba: tuned blocks of wood, struck with mallets

a. vibraphone: metal blocks with resonators, exaggerated vibrato

3. glockenspiel (“set of bells”): tuned steel bars, struck with mallets

a. celesta: glockenspiel operated by a keyboard

4. chimes/tubular bells: tuned metal tubes suspended from a frame, struck with a

hammer

B. Indefinite pitch

1. snare drum (side drum): two heads, taut snares (strings) run across lower head

2. bass drum: large drum played with large soft mallet

3. other instruments: tom-tom, tambourine, castanets, triangle, cymbals, gong, tam-tam

V. Keyboard Instruments

A. Piano: strings struck with hammers

B. Organ: wind instrument

1. airflow to pipes controlled by keyboards and pedal board

C. Harpsichord: quills pluck metal strings