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24
a. struck, scraped or shaken, plucked
b. steel drums, rattles, mbira
4. membranophones: sound produced from tightly
stretched membranes
a. drum- type instruments
OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the vari ous human voice types and
instrument families. The striking diversity of timbres that one
hears among musical instruments is due to the size and shape
of each instrument, the materials from which it is made, and
the technique(s) used to produce vibration.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand timbre, or tone color, as the quality of
sound generated by vari ous types of musical instruments
and voices
2. To understand how the human voice and musical instru-
ments are classified according to their sound quality and
method of tone production
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Bring to class an example of each musical instrument
type (aerophone, chordophone, idiophone, membra-
OUTLINE
I. Musical Timbre
A. Tone color, sound quality
1. timbre influenced by:
a. size, shape, proportions of an instrument
b. material from which instrument is made
c. manner in which vibration is produced
2. instrument: mechanism that generates musical
vibrations
3. register: melodic range (lowest to highest note)
of an instrument or voice
II. The Voice as Instrument
A. Vocal ranges: highest to lowest
1. soprano
2. mezzo- soprano
3. alto (contralto)
4. tenor
5. baritone
6. bass
B. Human voice: model for instrument builders,
composers, players
1. lyric beauty, expressiveness
2. vibrato: throbbing effect
III. The World of Musical Instruments
A. Instruments categorized by sound generation
1. aerophones: sound produced by air
a. flutes, whistles, horns, bagpipes
2. chordophones: sound produced from vibrating
string stretched between two points
a. bowing, plucking, striking
CHAPTERfi9 Voices and Instrument Families
Voices and Instrument Families | 25
TEACHING CHALLENGES
As with the previous “ele ments” chapters, students with pitch-
recognition difficulty or no previous musical experience
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Explore the YouTube videos below— each of which features
a dif fer ent family of instruments— and group them accord-
ing to the following categories: aerophone, chordophone,
idiophone, or membranophone. Why did you select that par-
tic u lar category?
4. Cavaquinho (Brazil)
Model response: Membranophone; the player is striking a
drumlike instrument with tightly stretched membranes.
and a small drum (with a beater.) After defining the
instrument classifications, play each instrument (or
ask for a volunteer from the class) and ask the class
which instrument belongs to which classification
type. If students are reluctant to sing, ask them to try
to identify their spoken voice range first, then move
to speaking “low” or “high” at uncomfortable ranges
as a way to more precisely mea sure their vocal range.
Next, on the basis of their assessments, group the stu-
dents according to voice type, and have them test their
voice designations by singing or speaking in what they
feel to be their low, middle, and high ranges. After the
test, ask students to change groups if they feel the
Handel: Messiah, “O thou that tellest good tidings to
Zion”
2. How does the makeup of a typical rock band reflect the
musical instrument classification system (aerophone,
chordophone, idiophone, membranophone)? Consider the
