Sounds of Music

Sounds of Music
In music there are a variety of instruments that display the color of harmonies, when they are played in an orchestra or a band. The ranges of their sounds spans from the lowest pitch of a contrabass to the highest pitch of a piccolo. Moreover their classification derives by the group or section to which they belong.
The classification of instruments in music is divided into three broad classes or families which are percussion, string and wind. Many instruments have more than one characteristic and fall into more than one class. The piano, for example, is a string instrument as well as a percussion instrument.
Moreover in the group of percussion, the description of some of these instruments is very similar, since some of them consist of a drum shape. For example the typical description of any drum consist of a wooden cylinder that or hemispheres with calfskin stretched tightly one or both ends to form the head.
In the performance of percussion instruments, there are several of them that are executed in two ways. For instance some of these instruments are played with the palms of the hands or by using wooden sticks. The procedure when playing with the palms of the hand is as follow: both hands tap or strike simultaneously the head of the drum. In order to produce a different sound at the same time, the performer places one hand on the calfskin of the drum while strikes it with the other. The strength of the strike depends on the type of dynamic the performer is using. A good example of this kind of instrument is the conga. The conga consist of a wooden cylinder that or hemispheres with calfskin that stretches tightly the ends of the cylinder to form the head. The tension of the head is control by rods and screws. The purpose of such tension is to produce different sounds or to tune the instrument. Another way of playing percussion instruments is by using wooden sticks. This is the case in the drumset. The drumset consist in the collection of different kinds of drums and cymbals that make up this particular instrument. A typical drumset is arranged with a bass drum, a snare drum, tom-toms and three cymbals. Every peace of this instrument has a specific function in which simultaneously they dictate a rhythm or a pattern. For example the function of the bass drum consists in marking the down beat of the rhythm being played. The snare drum is in charge of marking the up beats of the rhythm. The toms and the cymbals signal the end of the rhythm or the introduction of a new pattern. The procedure of playing these instruments differs by hitting or striking the drums with the sticks instead of the hands. Since percussion instruments are most likely to be chasers of the rhythm, they constitute the rhythm section on any type of musical ensembles. There are also those instruments that constitute the harmony or the accompaniment in an ensemble; which in most cases is attributed to the string section.
In the string section we find instruments like the piano, the contrabass, the violoncello, the viola and the violin. As it was mentioned before, the piano besides being a percussion instrument it also has the characteristics of a string instruments. The description of the piano is very complex but it can be described as a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys. Since most of the time the task of the piano is to play several notes at the same time, this very function brings multiple sounds that accompany any peace of music. This type of accompaniment is usually referred as the chord progression.
Moreover string instruments such as the contrabass, the violoncello, the viola and the violin; though they are more likely to be melodic instruments, they function as harmonious instruments when played all at the same time. These instruments are commonly known as instruments of the violin family. When all these instruments are played together, they are distributed in four different voices which are: the bass, tenor, alto and soprano voice.
The structure of these instruments is very relative however the only contrast in them resides in their size and pitch. For example the body of the violin and viola are shallower than that of the violoncello or contrabass. The normal size of a violin is about two feet, the size of a viola normally is half foot longer than a violin, the length of a contrabass is about six feet long and the violoncello's length is about four feet. The range of the contrabass, it spans from three octaves below middle- c upward to one octave from middle -c. The violoncello on the other hand spans from two octaves from middle -c to two octaves up to middle c. Moreover the viola's range falls from middle- c to two octaves up from it. And furthermore the violins' range spans from -g below middle c to three octaves below it. And finally their relativity resides in the finger board which is fretless, the scroll which is the upper part of the instrument, the pegs which are the devices to hold the strings, the sound holes which have the shape of the letter f, and the tailpiece which is the device to tune the pitch of the strings, however the only contrast on these parts is based in the sizes each instrument have.
Despite the colors and the multiple sounds these instruments provide through the harmonies they emit, music would lack meaning without independent melodies that express complete thoughts in music. Melodies are fundamental and essential elements in musical composition for the simple reason that they emit ideas. These ideas are expressed in phrases. These phrases enclosed thoughts. These thoughts carry a message dipped with feelings. The feelings influence the ear of the audience and are the agents in charge of stimulate the mood of any listener. Therefore these are some of the logical reasons why melodies are executed by wind instruments.
The classification of wind instruments is divided in two sections or groups. These groups are: the wood winds section and the brass section. In the wood wind section we find instruments like the flute, piccolo etc. Woodwind instruments display sound rich in tenderness and charm. This sound has the tendency to enchant and entice the listeners, inducing them under an unconscious reaction to carefully follow the tender sound of this instrument, with the eyes and the ear. An example in this type of instrument is the flute. A flute is a keyed woodwind instrument consisting of a cylindrical tube which is stopped at one end and which has a side hole over which air is blown to produce the tone. In India, different kinds of flute are used by enchanters of cobras to manipulate these exotic animals to perform incredible acts. One way of how they perform an act is by simply playing a melody, as soon as the melody starts to be play the cobra begins to rise from the bottom of some sort of vessel made out of clay. Moreover the range of the flute extends from middle c up to three octaves above middle c. The piccolo can be described as a mini flute. Although the size of a piccolo is smaller than a regular flute, the range of its sound is an octave higher than that of the flute. One of the particular characteristic of the sound of the piccolo is that it has the tendency to provoke the listeners' visual reflex to locate the sound to the point that the visual sense tends to wander vaguely in order to spot the location where the sound comes from. Also some wind instruments besides emitting tender and charming sound, they also produce sound of warning and sound that when we listen to them, they input an action in our behalf. In ancient times, these instruments were used to announce events that were about to take place. For example watchmen on fortresses' tower were supposed to blow the trumpets in case the enemy was threatening the protection of the city by trying to attack. Therefore this call was a call of alert to let know the people to prepare for battle and to look for a safe place for those that would not take part in the battle.
However now days even though these instruments are still use in military purposes, they also have taken part in classical and now day's music. Some of these instruments can be found in the brass section. In this section there are instruments like the trombone, the trumpet etc. The description of the trombone and the trumpet is somewhat similar; with the difference that the trombone uses a slide to change the pitch and the trumpet uses valves to change from pitch to pitch. The trombone is a brass instrument consisting of a long cylindrical metal tube with two turns and having a movable slide for varying the tone. Its range is usual an octave lower than that of a trumpet. The trumpet moreover is a valve brass instrument having a cylindrical tube with two turns. The usual range of this instrument spans from f-sharp bellow middle c up to two and a half octaves from middle c. The function of these instruments is both to express phrases and to emit harmonies. Since their sound is more likely to be loud and alarmist they carry the opening and closing of phrases and they emphasize introductions and conclusions in musical themes.
The marvelous wonders and the magic these instruments produce by the color of their sounds are possible to be perceived, when they are fully conducted and masterly orchestrated by music itself. Therefore the rhythmic lines that the percussion chases with the harmonies strings lay down and the melodies winds embrace are the multiple endless sounds that are yet still to be heard from music.