There is a children’s story from Russia about a boy called Peter, his grandfather, a cat, a bird, a duck, a wolf and some hunters. The story is special because it is told not just in words but in music, too. Each character is matched to an instrument of the orchestra. Whenever you hear the instrument, you picture the character it represents. Three of the characters are played by reed instruments — the clarinet, the oboe and the bassoon. These are the three main reed instruments in the orchestra. (More…)

dodoBrass, Music Box, Music Equipments, Music Genres, Music Software, Musical Instruments, Woodwinds5 Nov, 20082 Comments

The Human Voice-How it Works, how it used?

Man’s oldest means of musical expression is the human voice. Many people consider it the most beautiful and sensitive of all musical instruments. This instrument is so personal that it is with you wherever you go, lets you make music whenever you want, can be used to make music without taking music lessons, and identifies you even when you can’t be seen.

Just as no two people look exactly alike, no two voices sound exactly the same. Try calling one of your best friends on the telephone and don’t identify yourself. It won’t take long for him to recognize you by the sound of your voice. Although we all use the same kind of instrument to produce vocal sounds, the instrument is a part of our body and is very special. (More…)

dodoHip Hop Music, Music Box, Music Equipments, Music Software, Musical Instruments12 Oct, 20082 Comments

The clarinet is generally described as being a stopped cylindrical tube, but in fact only roughly two thirds are perfectly cylindrical. Part of the tube leading to the bell is conical, and so is the mouthpiece, which does not hermetically seal the top.

These factors, plus the fact that the surface of the bore of the tube is not perfectly smooth on account of the key holes, all contribute to the complex timbre. Uneven harmonics are present in force in the lower register and diminish in number towards the higher, where even harmonics are present. (More…)

dodoCD Player, Headphones, Home Theater, Internet Radio, Jazz, Microphone, Music Box, Music Software, Sheet Music, Stage Lighting, Yamaha25 Aug, 20083 Comments

The saxophone has to be treated as a family of seven instruments of different sizes, each one covering 4 octaves and all seven a compass of 51 octaves. Saxophones look like outsize metal tobacco pipes supported by neck slings, apart from the sopranos which are shorter, parabolic cones. All have a single reed, clarinet-type mouthpiece. Classed as woodwinds, though made of brass, their part is written in a treble clef on a stave beneath the clarinets. (More…)

dodoBrass, Home Theater, Jazz, Multimedia, Music Book, Music Equipments, Music Software, Piano, Popular Music, Saxophone, Sheet Music, Woodwinds25 Aug, 20083 Comments

The stave for the harp is written under that of the percussion. Reading downwards it is the first stringed instrument in the score. Since it has a wide compass — of six and a half octaves — the music occupies two staves, the notation for the right hand being written in the treble clef and that of the left generally in the bass clef.

There is something lonely-looking and remote about the single harpist, by tradition usually a woman, arriving early on the platform to tune more than forty strings — some of gut or nylon, some wound wire and some copper. A blast or two of hot or cold air from an off-stage corridor can spoil her endeavours, as can the rising heat and humidity in the hall once the audience has seated itself. (More…)

dodoFolk Music, Microphone, Music Book, Music Box, Music Equipments, Music Software, Musical Instruments, Sheet Music23 Jul, 20084 Comments