The bass drum stands vertically, the rim of the shallow wooden shell facing the audience. This was originally known as the Turkish drum. Sometimes it has two heads, sometimes only one, the former model producing somewhat greater clarity. It is beaten with upward — or downward — glancing blows with a soft stick, and sometimes brushed simultaneously on the other side with a switch of sorts. (More…)

dodoBehringer, Denon, Drums, Guitar, Sony, Violin, Yamaha14 Aug, 20085 Comments

The staves for the percussion instruments are massed in the middle of the score. Who plays what depends on manpower, availability and ability.

The glockenspiel and celesta are both metallophones, the first having a resemblance to a small xylophone and the second to a small piano.

`Glockenspiel‘ means ‘bell-play’ in German. The glockenspiel used in marching bands is a set of steel bars set in a lyre-shaped frame. Mozart specified an instrumento d’ acciaio (steel instrument) for the part of Papageno’s magic bells in Die Zauberflote; this may have been a set of small tuned bells played from a keyboard like a modern celesta. These bells were also used by carillon players for practice. (More…)

dodoDrums, Electric Guitar, Multimedia, Music Box, Music Equipments, Percussion Instruments, Piano, Yamaha14 Aug, 20083 Comments

Before Bach, trumpeters were classified as principals and clarino players, the former playing in the lower register with its widely-stepped harmonics, the latter in the high register where the harmonics lie close together. Shanks and crooks were already used as early as 1600 and by the end of the 18th century there were crooks for every key. These altered the timbre of the instrument, and there was some degree of energy loss as the vibrating air column negotiated the loops. Then came the valves, introducing more loops, and someone writing at the time of their application, towards the end of the 19th century, described them as ‘a failure as they obscure the upper harmonics, the main source of characteristic tone’. (More…)

dodoBass Guitar, Brass, Drums, Guitar, Jazz, Musical Instruments, Popular Music, Trumpet14 Aug, 20083 Comments

The part for the trumpet is written on the stave immediately below that of the horns. Whether it is written for as it actually sounds or as a transposing instrument depends on the period of the music, the pitch of the trumpet and on the habit or preference of the composer.

The burnished physical appearance and the sound of this looped and narrow bore instrument are familiar and not likely to be confused with the shorter and wider cornet, because the cornet’s less noble tones are not often heard in the symphony orchestra (although Franck included it in his symphony). (More…)

dodoBrass, Classical Music, Trumpet14 Aug, 20085 Comments