Instrument Families

Objectives

• Student will be able to categorize different instruments into families
• Student will be able to surmise an unknown or hypothetical instrument's family based on sound or playing mechanism
• Student will be familiar with how sound waves are propagated by different playing mechanisms and effector systems (including physiological ones)

Resources

Readings

• Estrella, Live About:
  • "Classification System of Musical Instruments."
  • "Classification of Musical Instruments: the Sachs-Hornbostel System."
• Elsea, UCSD Electronic Studios: "A Look at Un-electronic Instruments."
• Wolfe, Music Acoustics:
  • Strings and Standing Waves
  • Open vs. Closed Pipes
  • Pipes Harmonics
  • Brass Instrument Acoustics
  • Acoustics of Bell Plates
  • Voice Acoustics, An Introduction

Tools

• Youtube Playlist: Visualizing Articulation and Playing (videos of singing and playing with body cameras or MRI/Xray)

Instructor References

• Wolfe, Music Acoustics:
  • Basics
  • Acoustics FAQ
• Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization: "Hornsbostel-Sachs Classification of Musical Instruments."
• Wikipedia: List of Musical Instruments by Hornsbostel-Sachs Number

Tools

• All the Musical Instruments of the World
• Philharmonia Instrument Guide
• Vienna Symphonic Library Instrumentology

Class Activities

• Listen to instrument recordings (common and non) and identify based on sound.
• Compare sound of instrument timbres based on materials.
• Discuss instrumental wave vibrations.
• Observe instrument harmonics (on spectrogram/oscilloscope) based on type, material, playing mechanism.
• Discussion of SH system: compare and contrast various instruments and discuss instruments with ambiguous/multiple categorizations (i.e. voice, loudspeakers).

Assignments

• Instrument classification worksheet
• Create-your-own instrument activity based on assigned material and SH system category