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Music Appreciation > Chapter 10: Western Musical Instruments > Flashcards

Chapter 10: Western Musical Instruments Flashcards

1
Q

What are the four families of Western instruments?

A

Strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion

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2
Q

String instruments

A

Bowed and plucked instruments whose sound is produced by the vibration of one or more strings; also chordophone; includes violin, viola, cello, guitar, harp

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3
Q

Woodwinds

A

Instrumental family made of wood or metal whose tone is produced by a column of air vibrating within a pipe that has holes along its length; aka aerophones; includes flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon

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4
Q

Brass instruments

A

Wind instruments with a cup-shaped mouth piece, a tube that flares into a bell, and slides or valves to vary a pitch; most often made of brass or silver; aka aerophones; trumpet, french horn, tuba, trombone

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5
Q

Percussion instruments

A

Instrument made of metal, wood, stretched skin, or other material that is made to sound by striking, shaking, scraping, or plucking; includes idiophones and membranophones; includes xylophone, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, chimes, tambourine

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6
Q

Which instruments do not fit neatly into the Western classification system?

A

Keyboard instruments such as the piano and organ

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7
Q

Principal members of the bowed-string family

A

Violin, viola, violoncello, double bass

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8
Q

Violin

A

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

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9
Q

When did the violin evolve to its present form?

A

From around 1600 to 1750, when instrument makers in Italy flourished

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10
Q

Viola

A

Middle-ranged member of the bowed-string family; second highest member of the violin family; often fills the harmony or doubles another part

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11
Q

Double

A

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

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12
Q

Violoncello

A

AKA cello, middle-to-low ranged member of the bowed-string family; dark, rich sonority; lower than a viola; often plays the melody

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13
Q

Double bass

A

AKA contrabass or bass viol; largest and lowest-pitched member of the bowed-string family; plays bass part, the foundation of the harmony

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14
Q

Which instruments constitute the core or “heart” of the orchestra?

A

Violin, viola, violoncello, double bass

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15
Q

Legato

A

Smooth playing, connects the notes

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16
Q

Staccato

A

Short, detached notes, marked with a dot above them

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17
Q

Pizzicato

A

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

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18
Q

Glissando

A

A rapid slide through the pitches of a scale

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19
Q

Tremolo

A

Rapid repetition of a note, can be done vocally or instrumentally

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20
Q

Trill

A

Ornament consisting of the rapid alteration between one note and the next

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21
Q

Double-stop

A

Playing two notes simultaneously on a string instrument

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22
Q

Triple-stop

A

Playing three notes simultaneously on a string instrument

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23
Q

Quadruple-stop

A

Playing four notes simultaneously on a string instrument

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24
Q

Mute

A

Mechanical device used to muffle the sound of an instrument

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25
Q

Harmonics

A

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

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26
Q

Harp

A

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

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27
Q

Arpeggio

A

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

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28
Q

Guitar

A

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

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29
Q

What are the two main types of electric guitars? What kind of musicians are they favored by?

A

Hollow-bodied (electro-acoustic), favored by jazz and popular musicians
Solid-bodied, favored more by rock musicians

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30
Q

Banjo

A

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

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31
Q

Flute

A

Soprano-ranged woodwind instrument, usually made of metal and held horizontally; used frequently as a melody instrument

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32
Q

Piccolo

A

Smallest woodwind instrument, similar to the flute but sounding an octave higher; highest-pitched instrument in the orchestra

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33
Q

Oboe

A

Soprano-range, double reed woodwind instrument; traditionally sounds tuning note (A) for other instruments of the orchestra

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34
Q

English horn

A

Double-reed woodwind instrument, larger and lower in range than the oboe; aka alto oboe

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35
Q

Bell

A

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

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36
Q

Clarinet

A

Single-reed woodwind instrument with a wide range of sizes

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37
Q

Bass clarinet

A

Woodwind instrument with the lowest range of the clarinet family

38
Q

Bassoon

A

Double-reed woodwind instrument with a low range

39
Q

Contrabassoon

A

Double-reed woodwind instrument with the lowest range of the woodwind family; supplies foundation for the harmony in the woodwind section of the orchestra

40
Q

Saxophone

A

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

41
Q

Which instrument has become a characteristic of jazz bands? When?

A

Saxophones, 1920s

42
Q

Embouchure

A

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

43
Q

Which brass instruments were prevalent in the ancient world? What were their primary uses?

A

Trumpets and horns

Used primarily for religious ceremonies and military signals

44
Q

Trumpet

A

Highest pitched brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves; often associated with ceremonial display

45
Q

French horn

A

Medium-ranged valved brass instrument that can be played “stopped” with the hand as well as open

46
Q

What is the french horn a descendent of?

A

Ancient hunting horn

47
Q

Trombone

A

Tenor-ranged brass instrument that changes pitch by means of a moveable U-shaped slide that alters the length of the vibrating air column

48
Q

Tuba

A

Bass-ranged brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves; furnishes the foundation for the harmony

49
Q

Cornet

A

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

50
Q

Where/when was the cornet popular?

A

Concert bands in the early 20th century

51
Q

Bugle

A

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

52
Q

Fluegelhorn

A

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

53
Q

Euphonium

A

Tenor-ranged brass instrument resembling the tuba

54
Q

Sousaphone

A

Brass instrument adapted from the tuba with a forward bell that is coiled to rest over the player’s shoulder for ease of carrying while marching

55
Q

What functions do percussion instruments serve in an orchestra?

A

Accentuating the rhythm
Generating excitement at climaxes
Injecting splashes of color into the orchestral sound

56
Q

What are the two categories of the orchestral family?

A

Instruments capable of producing definite pitches

Instruments that produce indefinite pitch

57
Q

Percussion instruments that are capable of producing definite pitches

A

Timpani/kettledrums, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, gong

58
Q

Timpani/kettledrums

A

Percussion instrument consisting of a hemispheric copper shell across which is stretched 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

59
Q

The timpani was brought over to western Europe from where?

A

The Middle East

60
Q

Which places are instruments of the xylophone family typically used?

A

Africa, Southeast Asia, throughout the Americas

61
Q

Xylophone

A

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

62
Q

Marimba

A

Percussion instrument, a more mellow version of the xylophone; of African origin

63
Q

Vibraphone

A

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

64
Q

Glockenspiel

A

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

65
Q

Celesta

A

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

66
Q

Chimes

A

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

67
Q

Percussion instruments that do not produce a definite pitch

A

Snare drum, bass drum, tom-tom, tambourine, castanets, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam

68
Q

Snare drum

A

Small cylindrical drum with two heads; AKA side drum

69
Q

Bass drum

A

Percussion instrument played with a large, soft-headed stick; the largest orchestral drum

70
Q

Tom-tom

A

Cylindrical drum without snares; of Native American and African origins

71
Q

Tambourine

A

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

72
Q

Castanets

A

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

73
Q

Triangle

A

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

74
Q

Cymbals

A

Percussion instruments consisting of two large brass plates of equal size that are struck sideways against each other; arrived at the West from central Asia during the Middle Ages

75
Q

Gong

A

Percussion instrument consisting of a broad, circular metal disk suspended with a frame and struck with a heavy mallet; produces a definite pitch

76
Q

Tam-tam

A

A flat gong of indefinite pitch

77
Q

Piano

A

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

78
Q

Organ

A

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

79
Q

Harpsichord

A

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

80
Q

True or False: Timpani are percussion instruments with indefinite pitch.

81
Q

True or False: The English horn belongs to the brass family.

82
Q

Which brass instrument is performed by moving a slide back and forth to change pitches?

83
Q 
Which of the following instruments belong to the unpitched percussion group? Which belong to the pitched percussion group?
Snare drum
Celesta
Vibraphone
Tambourine
A

Unpitched: Snare drum and tambourine
Pitched: Vibraphone and celesta

84
Q 
Which of the following are brass instruments?
Viola
Trumpet
Trombone
Flute
Tuba
Saxophone
French horn
A

Trombone
Tuba
Trumpet
French horn

85
Q

Which bowed-string instrument can play the highest notes?

86
Q 
Which of the following instruments are played with a double reed?
Bassoon
Saxophone
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
A

Bassoon and oboe

87
Q 
Which of the following are woodwind instruments?
Saxophone
Clarinet
Tuba
Cello
Flute
Trumpet
Oboe
A

Saxophone
Clarinet
Oboe
Flute

88
Q

All string family instruments are __________. They can be played with a ___.

A

Chordophones; bow

89
Q

Which string instrument probably originated in the Middle East?

90
Q

The “heart” of the orchestra is the _____ section.

Music Appreciation (13 decks)

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