Instruments Flashcards
Bagpipe
Wind instrument popular in Eastern and Western Europe that has several tubes, one of which plays the melody while the others sound the drones, or sustained notes; a windbag is filled by either a mouth pipe or a set of bellows.
Violin
Soprano, or highest-ranged, member of the bow-string family.
Viola
Bowed-string instrument of middle range, the second-highest member of the violin family.
Violoncello/Cello
Bowed-string instrument with a middle-to-low range and dark, rich, sonority; lower than a viola.
Double Bass/Contra Bass/Bass Viol
Largest and lowest pitched member of the bowed string family.
Strings (Instruments)
Bowed and plucked instruments whose sound is produced by the vibration of one or more strings. Also Chordophones.
Harp
Plucked-string instrument, triangular in shape with strings perpendicular to the soundboard.
Guitar
Plucked-string instrument originally made of wood with a hollow, resonating body and a fretted finger board, types include acoustic and electric.
Acoustic Guitar
A guitar designed for performing without electronic amplification.
Electric Guitar
A guitar designed for electronic amplification.
Banjo
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.
Mandolin
Plucked-string instrument with a rounded body and fingerboard, used in some traditional musics and in country Western music.
Woodwinds (Instruments)
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.
Flute
Soprano-range woodwind instrument, usually made of metal and held horizontally.
Piccolo
Smallest woodwind instrument, similar to the flute but sounding an octave higher.
Oboe
Soprano-range, double reed woodwind instrument.
English Horn
Double reed woodwind instrument, larger and lower in range than the oboe.
Clarinet
Single reed woodwind instrument with a wide range of sizes.
Bass Clarinet
Woodwind instrument, with the lowest range, of the clarinet family.
Bassoon
Double reed woodwind instrument with a low range.
Contrabassoon
Double reed woodwind instrument with the lowest range in the woodwind family. Also double bassoon.