Chapter 10.western Musical Instruments

Front 1

Bowed

Back 1

A slightly curved stick with hair or fibers attached at both ends, drawn over the strings of an instrument to set them in motion.

Front 2

Plucked

Back 2

To sound the strings of an instrument using fingers or a plectrum or pick.

Front 3

Violin

Back 3

Soprano, or highest-ranged, member of the bowed-string instrument family.

Front 4

Viola

Back 4

Bowed-string instrument of middle range; the second-highest member of the violin family.

Front 5

Double

Back 5

To perform the same notes with more than one voice or instrument, either at the same pitch level or an octave higher or lower.

Front 6

Violoncello

Back 6

Bowed-string instrument with a middle-to-low range and dark, rich sonority; lower than a viola. Also cello.

Front 7

Cello

Back 7

Bowed-string instrument with a middle-to-low range and dark, rich sonority; lower than a viola.

Front 8

Double bass

Back 8

Largest and lowest-pitched member of the bowed string family. Also contrabass or bass viol.

Front 9

Contrabass or bass viol

Back 9

Largest and lowest-pitched member of the bowed string family.

Front 10

Legato

Back 10

Smooth and connected; opposite of staccato

Front 11

Staccato

Back 11

Short, detached notes, marked with a dot above them.

Front 12

Pizzicato

Back 12

Performance direction to pluck a string of a bowed instrument with the finger.

Front 13

Glissando

Back 13

A rapid slide through pitches of a scale.

Front 14

Tremolo

Back 14

Rapid repetition of a note; can be achieved instrumentally or vocally.

Front 15

Trill

Back 15

Ornament consisting of the rapid alternation between one note and the next.

Front 16

Double-stopping

Back 16

Playing two notes simultaneously on a string instrument.

Front 17

Mute

Back 17

Mechanical device used to muffle the sound of an instrument.

Front 18

Harmonics

Back 18

Individual, pure sounds that are part of any musical tone; in string instruments, crystalline pitches in the very high register, produced by lightly touching a vibrating string at a certain point.

Front 19

Harp

Back 19

Plucked-string instrument, triangular in shape with strings perpendicular to the soundboard.

Front 20

Arpeggio

Back 20

Broken chord in which the individual pitches are sounded one after another instead of simultaneously.

Front 21

Guitar

Back 21

Plucked-string instrument originally made of wood with a hollow, resonating body and a fretted fingerboard; types include acoustic and electric.

Front 22

Electric guitar

Back 22

A guitar designed for electronic amplification.

Front 23

Banjo

Back 23

Plucked-string instrument with round body in the form of a single-headed drum and a long, fretted neck; brought to the Americas by African slaves.

Front 24

Mandolin

Back 24

Plucked-string instrument with a rounded body and fingerboard; used in some traditional musics and in country-western music.

Front 25

Flute

Back 25

Soprano-range woodwind instrument, usually made of metal and held horizontally.

Front 26

Piccolo

Back 26

Smallest woodwind instrument, similar to the flute but sounding an octave higher.

Front 27

Oboe

Back 27

Soprano-range, double-reed woodwind instrument.

Front 28

English horn

Back 28

Double-reed woodwind instrument, larger and lower in range than the oboe.

Front 29

Bell

Back 29

The wide or bulbed opening at the end of a wind instrument.

Front 30

Clarinet

Back 30

Single-reed woodwind instrument with a wide range of sizes.

Front 31

Bass clarinet

Back 31

Woodwind instrument, with the lowest range, of the clarinet family.

Front 32

Basson

Back 32

Double-reed woodwind instrument with a low range.

Front 33

Contrabasson

Back 33

Double-reed woodwind instrument with the lowest range in the woodwind family. Also double bassoon

Front 34

Saxophone

Back 34

Family of single-reed woodwind instruments commonly used in wind and jazz bands.

Front 35

Embouchure

Back 35

The placement of the lips, lower facial muscles, and jaws in playing a wind instrument.

Front 36

Trumpet

Back 36

Highest-pitched brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves

Front 37

French horn

Back 37

Medium-range valved brass instrument that can be played "stopped" with the hand as well as open.

Front 38

Trombone

Back 38

Tenor-range brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves.

Front 39

Tuba

Back 39

Bass-range brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves

Front 40

Cornet

Back 40

Valved brass instrument similar to the trumpet but more mellow in sound.

Front 41

Bugle

Back 41

Brass instrument that evolved from the earlier military, or field, trumpet.

Front 42

Fluegel horn

Back 42

Valved brass instrument resembling a bugle with a wide bell, used in jazz and commercial music.

Front 43

Timpani, or Kettle Drums

Back 43

Percussion instrument consisting of a hemispheric copper shell with a head of plastic or calfskin, held in place by a metal ring and played with soft or hard padded sticks. A pedal mechanism changes the tension of the head, and with it the pitch.

Front 44

Xylophone

Back 44

Percussion instrument with tuned blocks of wood suspended on a frame, laid out in the shape of a keyboard and struck with hard mallets.

Front 45

Marimba

Back 45

Percussion instrument, a mellower version of the xylophone; of African origin.

Front 46

Vibraphone

Back 46

A percussion instrument with metal bars and electrically driven rotating propellers under each bar that produces a vibrato sound, much used in jazz.

Front 47

Glockenspiel

Back 47

Percussion instrument with horizontal, tuned steel bars of various sizes that are struck with mallets and produce a bright metallic sound.

Front 48

Celesta

Back 48

Percussion instrument resembling a miniature upright piano, with tuned metal plates struck by hammers that are operated by a keyboard.

Front 49

Chimes, or tubular bells

Back 49

Percussion instrument of definite pitch consisting of a set of tuned metal tubes of various lengths suspended from a frame and struck with a hammer.

Front 50

Snare drum, or side drum

Back 50

Small cylindrical drum with two heads

Front 51

Bass drum

Back 51

Percussion instrument played with a large, softheaded stick; the largest orchestral drum

Front 52

Tom-tom

Back 52

Cylindrical drum without snares

Front 53

Tambourine

Back 53

Percussion instrument consisting of a small round drum with metal plates inserted in its rim; played by striking or shaking.

Front 54

Castanets

Back 54

Percussion instruments consisting of small wooden clappers that are struck together; widely used to accompany Spanish dancing.

Front 55

Triangle

Back 55

Percussion instrument consisting of a slender rod of steel bent in the shape of a triangle, struck with a steel beater.

Front 56

Cymbals

Back 56

Percussion instruments consisting of two large circular brass plates of equal size that are struck sideways against each other.

Front 57

Gong

Back 57

Percussion instrument consisting of a broad, circular metal disk suspended on a frame and struck with a heavy mallet; produces a definite pitch. See also tam-tam.

Front 58

Tam-tam

Back 58

A flat gong of indefinite pitch. See also gong.

Front 59

Piano

Back 59

Keyboard instrument whose strings are struck with hammers controlled by a keyboard mechanism; pedals control dampers in the strings that stop the sound when the finger releases the key.

Front 60

Organ

Back 60

Wind instrument in which air is fed to the pipes by mechanical means; the pipes are controlled by two or more keyboards and a set of pedals.

Front 61

Harpsichord

Back 61

Early Baroque keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked by quills instead of being struck with hammers like the piano.