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Instrument Families Orchestra

An orchestra is comprised of four families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The string family includes instruments like the violin, viola, cello, and double bass that are played by drawing a bow across strings or plucking the strings. The woodwind family derives its name from early instruments being made of wood and includes woodwinds like the flute, clarinet, and oboe that are played by blowing air through a reed or mouthpiece. Brass instruments like the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba are made of brass and produce sound by buzzing into a mouthpiece. Percussion instruments are anything played by hitting, shaking, or scraping and

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Cristopher Saraum Benegian
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236 views8 pages

Instrument Families Orchestra

An orchestra is comprised of four families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The string family includes instruments like the violin, viola, cello, and double bass that are played by drawing a bow across strings or plucking the strings. The woodwind family derives its name from early instruments being made of wood and includes woodwinds like the flute, clarinet, and oboe that are played by blowing air through a reed or mouthpiece. Brass instruments like the trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba are made of brass and produce sound by buzzing into a mouthpiece. Percussion instruments are anything played by hitting, shaking, or scraping and

Uploaded by

Cristopher Saraum Benegian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Introduction to Orchestras: Introduces the concept of an orchestra, explaining it as a group of musicians organized into different families of instruments.
  • The String Family: Describes the instruments in the string family, their materials, and characteristics, highlighting instruments like violin and cello.
  • The Woodwind Family: Details the woodwind family, explaining the origins of the instruments, how they make sound, and listing the main woodwinds.
  • The Brass Family: Explores the brass family, covering how the instruments produce sound and describing key instruments like trumpet and tuba.
  • The Percussion Family: Examines the percussion family, explaining how these instruments create rhythm and sound, and mentions major instruments like timpani and cymbals.
  • Orchestra Seating and Additional Instruments: Discusses the seating arrangement of an orchestra and mentions additional instruments like the piano and bass clarinet.

Families of the

Orchestra
What Is An OrchestrA?
♪ An orchestra is a group of musicians playing different
musical instruments under the direction of a conductor.
It can be large or small, depending on the pieces that are
performed.
♪Orchestras are comprised of instruments from four
different sections or families.
Why are they called families?
Answer: Because the instruments in each family share
the same characteristics like: how they make their
sounds, how they are constructed, and the materials that
are used to make them.
♫
The String Family
The string section makes up more than half of the
orchestra.
♫ All of the instruments in this section are made of…you
guessed it…
…STRINGS!
♫ The strings are made of gut, steel, or nylon.
♫ Stringed instruments are played by drawing a horsehair
bow across the stings, or by plucking or tapping the
strings to make them vibrate.
♫ All of the strings (except the harp) have curvy, hollow,
wooden bodies and long necks.
♫ The strings are stretched from the pegs at the neck,
through the body and down to the tailpiece.
♫ The four main instruments in the string family are the:

Violin
Viola
Cello
Double Bass
Harp
The woodwind Family
How did they get their name?
Answer: A long time ago, all of the instruments in the family
were made of wood. Today the instruments are made of either
wood, metal, or a mixture of both. The “wind” part come from
the air that is blown through needed to make the sound.

♪Woodwinds are basically long narrow tubes


with holes. Some of the holes have covers
called keys.
♪Most of the instruments use a little piece of
wood that vibrates to produce the sound. This
is called a reed.
♪Some of the instruments use a double-reed,
which is two pieces of wood put back to back.
♪The main woodwinds in the orchestra include
the: piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon.
The Brass Family
♫Brass instruments have
♫All of the instruments a cup-shaped mouthpiece
in the brass family are you “buzz” into
really made ♫Buzzing makes the air
of…BRASS! vibrate and the sound
♫They are the loudest come out
of all the orchestra ♫Most brass instruments
instruments have valves or button you
♫They are made from push down
brass tubes that are ♫You can change the
very long but have been notes and sound by your
curved to save space. fingers or mouth
The tubes flare at the
end called the bell. ♫The four main brass
instruments are the:
trumpet, French horn,
trombone, and tuba.
The Percussion Family
♪Instruments of the percussion family are played by
hitting, striking, shaking or scraping. Sometimes by
hitting something against itself, or by using a stick or
mallet.
♪Percussion instruments are made of material that
can vibrate. They are made of animal skin, metal or
wood.
♪Percussion instruments come in many shapes and
sizes.
♪They are used to keep the rhythm, make special
sound effects and even play different notes
♪Some are tuned to make different notes like the
xylophone and timpani, and some are untuned like the
snare drum or bass drum.
♪The main percussion instruments in the orchestra
are timpani, snare drum, bass drum, marimba, gong
and cymbals.
To find out more about these and other instruments
and to hear their beautiful music visit:
[Link]

Glockenspiel
Triangle

Piano

English Horn

Tambourine Bass Clarinet Chimes


All of the musicians sit according to their
section. This is how the orchestra is set
up.

If you get a chance, go and listen to the beautiful


sounds of the orchestra…you’ll LOVE IT!!!

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