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Sound and Music

Pages 8-10

Music

• Sound organized in time• Needed: time frame, sound waves,

ability to perceive sound

• Improvisation- making up melody as you go along

Physics of Musical Sounds

• Sound waves– Amplitude=volume(how loud or soft)– Frequency=pitch(how high or low)

• Pitched and non-pitched

Instruments

• Ethnomusicologists-study music of other cultures

• Curt Sachs and Erich von Hornbostel categorized instruments into four groups

Categories

• Chordophones– One or more strings– Plucked, bowed, struck– Vibrating strings produce sounds

• Aerophones– Brass and wind instruments– Vibrating columns of air

Categories (cont.)

• Membranophones– Skin/membrane stretched across frame– Membrane vibrates– Drum

• Idiophones– Body of instrument vibrates– Bells, woodblocks, xylophones

• Electrophones

Instrument Families

• Strings- Chordophones– Violins, violas, cello, double bass

• Brass-Aerophones– Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba

• Woodwind-Aerophones– Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone,

Bassoon

Instrument Families (cont.)

• Percussion- membranophones and idiophones– Snare drum, timpani, xylophone,

cymbals• Keyboard- varies– Piano, harpsichord, organ

Electronic Instruments

• Began to appear first decades of 20th century – Theremin

• Electronic and radio technology during war was repurposed for the arts after the war.