Sound and Vibration
The PERCUSSION Family
Sound and Vibration
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Sound is made by air vibrating. The same is true for
sounds made by musical instruments.
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The difference between NOISE and MUSIC is that
musical sounds are organized into patterns that have
pitch and rhythm.
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Noise is just random, disorganized sounds.
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Sounds are made and travel in the same way, whether
they are musical sounds or noise.
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A musical sound is called a tone or pitch, and is produced
by air vibrating a certain number of times per second.
These vibrations are called waves.
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These sound waves must be contained in some way so
that the performer can control the loudness, quality of
the tone, and how long it plays.
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The number of times that a sound wave vibrates in a
second is called its frequency.
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Scientists even have a name for how they measure the
frequency of sounds. They measure it in cycles and call it
hertz.
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High notes have a higher frequency than lower notes and
this changes their shape.
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Different types of sound waves have different shapes. Look at
these images to see what sound waves "look" like.
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Notice that even if pitch and volume change, the shape of the
sound wave stays the same.
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Instruments that produce sounds from vibrating strings
(violin, guitar, harp, piano, etc.) create a pitch and that
pitch depends on:
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Length of string
Tension of string
Thickness of string
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For the Brass family (trumpet, French horn, tuba, etc.) or
Woodwind family (flute, oboe, clarinet, English horn, etc.)
the pitch (whether it is high or low) depends on:
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Length of the tubing
Size of the tubing
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The Percussion family (bass drum, xylophone, snare drum,
triangle, maracas, etc.) produce sounds in a variety of
ways, but the pitch or sound (whether high or low)
depend on:
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the material (Wood vs. Metal)
the size (triangle vs. Bass drum)
the tubing (bells vs. Marimba)
how the instrument is played (hit or shaken) and what is
used to create the sound (sticks, hands, mallets, etc.)
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Finally, the connection between the size of the
instrument and the sound or pitch it produces is very
important in all instrument families.
THE PERCUSSION FAMILY
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There are many different percussion instruments used in
the concert band, marching band, orchestra and jazz band
and a good percussionist should be able to play them all.
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Percussion instruments are shaken or hit to produce a
sound. A percussionist may use a stick, mallet or their
hand to hit the instrument.
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Some percussion instruments can play melodies. These
are called tuned percussion.
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Some tuned percussion examples are…
Xylophone
Timpani
Glockenspiel
Marimba
Piano
Un-tuned percussion instruments are listed and explained below and in the
following slides.
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There are many kinds of drums in the percussion family.
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The snare drum, bass drum, drum set and *timpani (kettle
drum) are all drums of different sizes, therefore producing
different sounds.
*The Timpani is still considered a tuned percussion instrument even though it is also a “drum”
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There are also many percussion instruments used for
special effects, or colour during a performance.
Some of these are the triangle, gong, castanets, rattle,
cowbell, woodblock, tambourine, maracas, claves and
whistles.
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You need to have a good sense of rhythm to become a
good percussionist. Several years of piano lessons are a
big help when you are learning to play the tuned
percussion (glockenspiel, xylophone, etc.).
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