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Principles of Musical Sound (Membranophones (Divided drums into three main…
Principles of Musical Sound
Chordophones
A family of instruments that use vibrating strings to produce sound. The word comes from the Greek 'chord' which means strings. In the western classical music they are called 'string family'. Sachs and Hornbostel felt like it was to narrowof a term as it didn't include the non western or newly invented instruments.
They are defined by the relationship between the strings and the resonator. A resonator is the part of the instruments that picks up the sound of the string and amplify it. For example on a violin the wooden body that the strings stretch across is the resonator.
There are 5 main types of a chordophone
Zither - This has strings that are stretched over, across, or inside a resonator. They can also be stretched between two resonators. Some examples of this is a dulcimer, harpsichord or piano.
Harps - With harps the strings are stretched at an angle between the resonator and the neck, which is attached to the resonator. The irish harp and orchestral harps are two examples of this type of chordophone.
Lutes - Have strings that stretch across the resonator and up a neck, which may or may not have frets. a fret is a raised element near the top of a stringed instrument that affects pitch. Lutes may be bowed like a violin r plucked like a banjo and guitars.
Musical bows - Have a string stretched from one end of a wooden bow shaped stick to the other end. The string can either be plucked or bowed with a second bow. Instruments of this type such as the umrubhe and the xizamba are common in Africa
Lyres -
Diddley Bow
Idiophones
An idiophone is a class of instrument that is a resonant solid material, such as wood, metal, or stone-vibrates to produce the initial sound.
The instrument as a whole will vibrate to create a sound without the use of the strings or membrane. It can either vibrate when it is struck, plucked, blown or with friction.
The early classification of Victor - Charles Mahillon called this group of instruments autophones.
Wind Machine
Also called a aeoliphone
Is a specialist musical instrument used to produce the sound of wind. One type uses an electric fan with wooden slats added to produce the required sound.
More frequently a wooden drum equipped with wooden rods and a handle is rubbed against a weighted canvas when the handle is then turned it makes a swooshing sound.
Mainly used as a percussion instrument in large orchestras to produce a facsimile sound of wind blowing. Also used by foley artists.
Membranophones
Is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating streched membrane.
Most membranophones are drums.
Divided drums into three main types;
Struck drums - where the skin is hit with a stick
String drums - where a knotted string attached to the skin is pulled, passing its vibrations onto the skin
friction drums - where some sort of rubbing motion causes the skin to vibrate.
As well as drums there is a singing membranophone. One of the best known is a kazoo. These instruments modify a sound produced by something else, commonly the human voice, by having a skin vibrate in sympathy with it.
Ashiko
The truncated cone shaped Ashiko drum is one of the instruments that provides refined sounds in varying music genres. When played along side other instruments from other cultural backgrounds this drum brings about ryhthm harmonisation. This drum was originally invented in West Africa and later found its way to different parts of America.
It has resemblance with other African invented drums such as the Djembe and the Dunun due to the use of goat skin and wood. However the Ashiko has a extented cylindrical shape that produces a deep basic tone. This gives the Ashiko a unique in sound production as it produces a more middle tone compared to the other drums. The instrument was regarded as a talking drum, playing a certian role in the communities religious rituals and other ceremonies.
Features of the drum
Body - Is made of hardwood material. The body of the drum assumes a tampered cylinder like shape taht makes the deep bass sound.
Two heads - With the wider opening being the most important part in sound production. The narrow opening acts as the base if the instrument on which the drum sits on when being played. The top head is covered in leather which is tightened to create the needed tension.
Ropes and Metal Tracks - Are essential in tuning of the drum. They add tension to the leather covering the wide upper opening of the Ashiko drum.
Aerophones
An aerophone is any instrument that produces sound by using air as the primary vibrating means.
The basics include woodwind, brass and free-reed instruments as well as other instruments that don't fall into these categories such as the bull-roarer and a siren. Other instruments like bagpipes and organs are hybrids with different kinds of pipes.
The length of the instrument will determine the pitch of the sound, a shorter length will create a higher pitch compared to a longer length.
Each instrument that is categized as an aerophone is then further grouped depending on what causes the initial vibrations. These are either free or non-free. For example, a free aerophone would be a klaxon, siren or harmonica and a non-free aerophone would be every other modern wind instrument like a flute or saxophone.
Electrophones