Music Instruments Overview

Types of Musical Instruments

• Musical instruments are classified into three main types: string instruments (bowed), wind instruments (blown), and percussion instruments (struck).
• Wind instruments are divided into two categories: brass instruments, typically made of brass, and woodwind instruments, originally crafted from wood.
• Modern flutes and piccolos are primarily composed of metal.

Characteristics of Instruments

• Instruments are ranked in order of pitch; smaller instruments have higher pitch due to faster vibrations, while larger instruments produce lower sounds through slower vibrations.

Properties of Musical Sounds

• Four essential properties define musical sounds:
  • Pitch: Refers to the highness or lowness of a tone in the musical scale.
  • Duration: Indicates the length of time over which the sound vibration is maintained, ranging from short to long tones.
  • Volume: Corresponds to the loudness or softness of a tone, with terms such as forte (loud) and piano (soft).
  • Timbre (Tone Color): Describes the unique quality or color of sound produced by different instruments.

Realism in Art

• Realism aims for objectivity, with artists focused on accurately describing observations through the senses.
• Artists may be influenced by personal feelings and thoughts during the selection and presentation of their material.

Abstraction in Art

• Abstraction occurs when artists focus on specific aspects of a scene, often omitting objective reality to express their ideas or emotions.
• The term "abstract" suggests a movement away from concrete representation.