MUSIC NOTES (GRADE 8)
Musical notes and their terms:
Types of Musical instruments
Musical instruments are classified into three categories, which are as follows:
Percussion Musical Instruments
Percussion instruments are the ones that can produce a sound when these instruments are struck
upon. Examples of percussion instruments are cymbals, bass drums, xylophones, etc. Percussion
instruments are further divided into two types, which are as follows:
1. Membrane Musical Instruments
One kind of percussion musical instrument is the membrane musical instrument, where
membrane refers to a thin sheet of skin. Through the stretching of this membrane, vibrations are
produced, which in turn produces sound.
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A thin membrane is tightly fixed over a wooden drum.
It is hollow, which vibrates and then produces sound when it is stuck.
Examples of these types of instruments are dholak, tabla, drums, mridangam, etc.
2. Plate-Type Musical Instruments
Another category of percussion musical instruments is plate-type musical instruments that
produce sounds through the vibration of the thick plates. When we beat the plates, the sound is
produced. For example, cymbals, Jal Tarang, gong etc.
Examples of Percussion Musical Instruments
Wind Musical Instruments
When air is blown into a column of the resonator of wind instruments, vibrations are produced,
producing sound. In wind musical instruments, we have to pump the air in order to produce the
sound. Examples of wind instruments are clarinets, flutes, and saxophones.
Examples of Wind Musical Instruments
Stringed Musical Instruments
Stringed Musical Instruments are played when the strings of the instruments are either plucked or
when a pick or bow is rubbed across the strings. A string refers to a thin piece of wire.
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In stringed musical instruments, thin strings of metal are tightly fixed between any two points.
When a stretched string is bowed or plucked, the string starts to vibrate, producing sound.
The strings are tightly fixed to a large soundbox.
The air in the soundbox increases the loudness of the produced sound through the vibration of the
strings. Examples: piano, guitar, tanpura, veena, ektara, violin, etc
Examples of Stringed Musical Instruments
Genres/Styles of Music:
Hip Hop:
Dance music style born in the United States of America in the 1970s as a derivative of funk and
characterized by its electronic base and for being associated with alternative manifestations such
as break dance or graffiti. It uses a technique named “Rapping” which is poetry spoken
rhythmically.
Rock:
Firstly, Rock music is a style born in the 1960s as a derivative of rock and roll and characterized
by the use of complex melodies and rhythms, with fairly fixed instrumentation (basically electric
guitar, electric bass, keyboard and drums) and with an energetic rhythm underlined by the power
of the bass and the drums, all of which is often linked to an anti-authoritarian attitude; it has
developed a multitude of variants and has given way to new styles, such as pop, punk or heavy.
Rhythm and Blues:
Musical style born in the 1940s as a derivative of blues and related to jazz, soul and gospel; It is
characterized by being a mainly vocal genre, typical of solo singers or grouped in quartets or
quintets that accompany their voice with the interventions of a choir.
Jazz:
Jazz is an artistic-musical manifestation originating from communities in New Orleans, in the
United States. This manifestation would have appeared around the end of the 19th century in the
region of New Orleans, having its origins in the popular culture and creativity of the black
communities that lived there, one of its most important development spaces.
(Refer below for more notes on Music Notation)