 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 ] Next Last |
In order for a string instrument to produce sound, its string or strings must vibrate. There are three common ways of bringing this about.
Instruments such as the guitar and kora are plucked, either by a finger or thumb, or by some other device such as a plectrum. Instruments like the cello and rebec are usually played by drawing a bow across the strings. However, instruments normally bowed are occasionally plucked (this is known as pizzicato), and instruments normally plucked are sometimes bowed ( Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin sometimes played the electric guitarAn electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic " pickups" to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. The current may be electrically altered to achieve various tonal e this way, for example).
The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments is to strike the string with a hammer. By far the most well-known instrument to use this method is the pianoPiano is a common abbreviation for pianoforte a large musical instrument with a keyboard (see keyboard instrument). Its sound is produced by strings stretched on a rigid frame. These vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers, which are activated by the, where the hammers are controlled by a mechanical action; another example is the hammered dulcimerThe hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. The instrument is typically set at an angle on a stand in front of the musician, who holds a hammer in either hand with which to strike th, where the player herself wields the hammers. It should be noted that the piano is often considered a percussionPercussion instruments are played by being struck or shaken. They are perhaps the oldest form of musical instruments. Some percussion instruments play not only rhythm, but also melody and harmony. Classifications Most percussion instruments have a distinc instrument, since sound production through struck blows defines this instrument family; the proclamation that the piano is a percussion instrument has at times served as rhetoric for composers who relished sharp percussive effects.
A variant of the hammering method is found in the clavichordA clavichord is a small, very quiet, European keyboard musical instrument. It was invented in about the fourteenth century and continued to be made until the 1840s, and was revived by Arnold Dolmetsch at the end of the 19th century. From the mid-18th cent: a brass tangent touches the string and presses it to a hard surface, inducing vibration. This is a very inefficient method of sound production, thus clavichords have a very soft tone. The maneuver can also be executed with a finger on plucked and bowed instruments, where it gives equally soft results.
The aeolian harpScientific American Supplement, No. 483, April 4, 1885 An aeolian harp (or olian harp or wind harp is a musical instrument that is "played" by the wind. It is named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the wind. Aeolian harps were very popular as househol employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air.
Some string instruments have keyboardsThe musical keyboard also known as the piano keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers on a musical instrument which produce notes. Many musical instruments which have a key for each note lay them out in the standard way shown in the graphic: the attached which are manipulated by the player, meaning she does not have to pay attention to the strings directly. The most familiar example is the pianoPiano is a common abbreviation for pianoforte a large musical instrument with a keyboard (see keyboard instrument). Its sound is produced by strings stretched on a rigid frame. These vibrate when struck by felt-covered hammers, which are activated by the, where the keys control the felt hammers by means of a complex mechanical action. Other string instruments with a keyboard include the clavichordA clavichord is a small, very quiet, European keyboard musical instrument. It was invented in about the fourteenth century and continued to be made until the 1840s, and was revived by Arnold Dolmetsch at the end of the 19th century. From the mid-18th cent (where the strings are struck by tangents), and the harpsichord (where the strings are plucked by tiny plectra).
With these keyboard instruments too, the strings are occasionally plucked or bowed by hand. Composers such as Henry Cowell wrote music which asks for the player to reach inside the piano and pluck the strings directly, or to "bow" them with bow hair wrapped around the strings.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|