5.39. Musical Instruments http://www.ck12.org
5.39 Musical Instruments
- Identify common features shared by all musical instruments.
- Describe how different categories of musical instruments make sounds and change pitch.
Do you ever see a colorful drum like this one before? It’s a traditional musical instrument of Uruguay. The drummer
is equally colorful. Each time he strikes the drum, it produces a loud, pounding sound. There are hundreds of
different kinds of musical instruments, from drums to horns to stringed instruments. Would it surprise you to learn
that all of them make sound in the same basic way?
Making Music
People have been using sound to make music for thousands of years. They have invented many different kinds of
musical instruments. Despite their diversity, however, musical instruments share certain similarities.
- All musical instruments create sound by causing matter to vibrate. The vibrations start sound waves moving
through the air. - Most musical instruments use resonance to amplify the sound waves and make the sounds louder.Resonance
occurs when an object vibrates in response to sound waves of a certain frequency. In a musical instrument
such as a drum, the whole instrument and the air inside it may vibrate when the head of the drum is struck. - Most musical instruments have a way of changing the frequency of the sound waves they produce. This
changes thepitchof the sounds, or how high or low the sounds seem to a listener.