STRING INSTRUMENTS
bowed
Timbre
For bowed string instruments such as violins and cellos, their tone quality, or timbre, is affected by where on the string the bow is placed, how hard it’s pressed against the string, and how quickly it’s drawn across the string.
Instruments that belong to this family include the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass.
STRING INSTRUMENTS
PLUCKED
Timbre
Plucked string instruments - striking the string of a harp, guitar or banjo harder, or nearer to one end, creates stronger harmonic content.
Instruments that belong to this family include the guitar, the zither, the harp, the banjo, the harpsichord and more.
WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS
Timbre
These instruments require moving air to make a sound, but the mouthpieces for this family of instruments vary greatly.
Wind Instruments - the shape of your lips and mouth, and how hard you blow, determines the timbre. Blowing harder creates harmonics that are louder than when blowing with less force and the sound will be brighter.
Instruments that belong to the Woodwind Family include the piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, contrabassoon, saxophone and even the recorder!
Timbre
Wind Instruments - the shape of your lips and mouth, and how hard you blow, determines the timbre. Blowing harder creates harmonics that are louder than when blowing with less force and the sound will be brighter.
Brass Family– the instruments that belong to this family were all originally made from brass and have a cup shaped mouthpiece. To make a sound on a member of the brass family, the brass player blows air through a cup shaped mouthpiece. Instruments that belong to this family include the cornet, bugle, trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba.
Instruments that belong to this family include the cornet, bugle, trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba.
CYMBALS
Timbre
Percussion Family – for an instrument to belong to this family, the sound production method is what unites them. In simple terms, percussion instruments are those that can be hit, shaken, or scraped to make a sound. But percussion instruments can be categorized further as either tuned or untuned. A tuned percussion instrument has definite pitch and untuned percussion instruments do not have definite pitch.
Cymbals - with larger bells generally produce more overtones and greater volume than cymbals with smaller bells. Thinner models respond fastest (vibrations move through the metal faster) and produce fuller sounds. Thinner crashes are explosive and full sounding. The sound of thinner rides is more tone than stick articulation. Crashes have more attack and penetration, while hi-hats and rides have increased stick articulation, so the strokes you play are clearer.
DRUMS
Timbre
Percussion Family – for an instrument to belong to this family, the sound production method is what unites them. In simple terms, percussion instruments are those that can be hit, shaken, or scraped to make a sound. But percussion instruments can be categorized further as either tuned or untuned. A tuned percussion instrument has definite pitch and untuned percussion instruments do not have definite pitch.
Drums - the harder you strike a drum, the brighter the sound will be. Drum overtones also vary in level depending on where you strike them and how hard. Striking a drum near the edge makes overtones louder relative to the fundamental, compared to striking it near the center. This applies to pretty much every other acoustic sound source that occurs in nature.
