The Orchestra!

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but changed very little in composition during the course of the 20th century.

A smaller-sized orchestra for this time period (of about fifty players or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra. A full-size orchestra (about 100 players) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these modifiers do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. A leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians; some are much smaller than that. Orchestras can also be found in schools. The term concert orchestra may sometimes be used - no distinction is made on size of orchestra by use of this term, although their use is generally distinguished as for live concert. As such they are commonly chamber orchestras.

 

 

Some exercises!

We will teach the use of comparative and superlative with the strings instruments. The teacher will show the different strings instruments.The first exercise : the children have to draw the different strings instruments that they have learnt in his correspondent place, according the size of the instrument. The string instruments are: violin, double bass, viola, cello,guitar and harp. 

And here is where the pupils will draw the instruments:

Here we can find a game to recognise the differets sounds of the instruments: 

Let's Play

Body Percussion!

Body percussion consists in make music with our own body; you can use hands, feet, knees, claps, your mouth, etc..

First we are going to learn the different parts of the body:

Hands

Fingers

Arms

 Knees 

Mouth

When the pupils have learnt the parts of the body, we will do a game in pairs where the teacher will say the two parts of the body that his pupils have to touch between them (like head to head, arm to head, knees to arm, etc.).  (10-15 min.)

The last part of this session, it´s an introduction of corporal percussion and they will learn that we can use our body and our voice like an instrument.

-         First we teach the rhythm one: 

 

When the pupils have interiorized the rhythm, we teach the second rhythm: 

 

-         We can play quavers on the knees, blacks on the hands, etc..we work the coordination, psychomotor activity and memory. We can change the level of the exercise introducing new rhythms or changing the parts of the body with different notes.The last point is the percussion instruments like xylophone and drums. we will ask them first if they know thesound of the instrument, and the teacher will prove how the instrument sound with a video from internet.

      This is an example:

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Building our own instruments!

This session aims to teach children in a fun way they can build instruments with everyday items, while they learn vocabulary, such as materials used. With this activity we are working with interpersonal intelligence and kinetic - in body, because children are developing a motor activity that requires some skill, and in turn are working in groups and relate to them.

Building our own instruments

View more presentations from siwenono

How can we do a homemade bass? Watch the next video!

 

We try to give you some ideas, but use your imagination, creativity...

String Instruments

GUITAR

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings.

This is how it sounds.

ELECTRIC GUITAR

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker. Since the output of an electric guitar is an electric signal, the signal may easily be altered using electronic circuits to add "color" to the sound. Often the signal is modified using effects like distortion.
This is how it sounds:

And this is adrian playin his electric guitar.. (i hope you like it, and sorry for the sound quality):

VIOLIN

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.

This is how its sounds:

VIOLONCELLO

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol. 

This is how its sounds:

DOUBLE BASS

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra  

ARP


The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones (stringed instruments) and has its own sub category (the harps). All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a pillar; those without the pillar are referred to as open harps. Depending on its size, which varies, a harp may be played while held in the lap or while it stands on a table, or on the floor. Harp strings may be made of nylon, gut, wire or silk. On smaller harps, like the folk harp, the core string material will typically be the same for all strings on a given harp. Larger instruments like the modern concert harp mix string materials to attain their extended ranges. A person who plays the harp is called a harpist or harper.The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones (stringed instruments) and has its own sub category (the harps). All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a pillar; those without the pillar are referred to as open harps. Depending on its size, which varies, a harp may be played while held in the lap or while it stands on a table, or on the floor. Harp strings may be made of nylon, gut, wire or silk. On smaller harps, like the folk harp, the core string material will typically be the same for all strings on a given harp. Larger instruments like the modern concert harp mix string materials to attain their extended ranges. A person who plays the harp is called a harpist or harper.

This is how it sounds:

Percussion Instruments

                                 DRUM
It's a round instrument with a skin membrane. To produce the sound, we need to hit the drum with a stick. This is how it sounds :

DISHES

They are two metal dishes. It sounds knocking the two pieces.

















BASS DRUM 

It is an instruments like de normal drum but more big. It is played in the same way that the drum, the difference is that the stick is more heavy.

CYMBALS

Percussion instrument, that can make sounds dry or resonants. This instruments is not played with a stick, it is played with your own hands.

DRUM KIT


A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person (drummer).
This is the sound of a drumkit:

CAJON

The "Cajon" is a percussion intrument from Peru, Slaves of west and central African origin in the Americas, specifically Peru, are considered to be the source of the cajón drum; though the instrument is common in musical performance throughout the Americas. It´s Very used in "Flamenco" music.

This is how it sounds:

 

Wind Instruments

We are going to start by showing some wind instruments.

SAXOPHONE

As known as saxo too, it is a wind intrument of the family of metal. it´s usually made of brass and it's sound production is baseb in a nozzle with a single reed like the clarinet. it could be played being stand or  being sitted. The Saxo Was invented by Adolphe Sax
    This is how it sounds:

CLARINET

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et (meaning little) to the Italian word "clarino" (meaning a type of trumpet designed for high-register playing), as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet.
This is how it sounds:

 BASSOON

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature.
This is how it sounds:  

OBOE

It's a musical instrument of the wood-wind family of conical bore, whose sound is emitted by the vibration of a double reed makes a conduit for the puff of air. Its tone is characterized by a sharp sound, and somewhat nasal mordant, sweet and very expressive.

This is how it sounds:

FLUTE 

Is a muical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel-Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones.

this is how it sounds:

                           

 

TROMBONE


The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate. 

this is how it sounds:

TUBA

The tuba is the largest brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra.

this is how

this is how it sounds: 

                                                                                              

TRUMPET


The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument.

This is how it sounds:

Welcome to our Blog!

We welcome you to our blog, where we will learn about the main instruments of the different families and his characterictics sound to differentiate them. We also talk about body percussion and how to build our own instruments.