Archive for the ‘Musical Instruments’ Category

The piccolo is a transverse flute which means it is horizontally played. It is commonly considered a younger sibling of the flute, having the same fingerings. It also has notes that are an octave higher than that of a flutes and has half of a regular flutes size. This gave rise to its name, Piccolo, which is Italian for small.
History
The piccolo originated from flutes but it first made its appearance in the orchestra on 1700. The earliest performance with [...]

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The octavin is a woodwind instrument with a single reed and cone-shaped bore. It is said to be very similar to the saxophone especially in length and range but it also has its differences. Compared to the saxophones, the cone-shaped bore of the octavin has a smaller taper.
Construction
It has a similar shape with the bassoon with two parallel divisions attached at the base. A bell made of metal is at the top of one division and the mouthpiece is [...]

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The oboe is member of the woodwind family and has a double reed. It is a soprano-range instrument with a length of sixty-two centimeters. It has a conical bore that widens into a flaring bell at the end. The origin of its name could be traced back to the English instrument hautbois or hoboy before 1770. Haut means loud or high and bois means wood.
The oboe player called oboist controls the air pressure and embouchure to meticulously present the [...]

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The mandolin is the newest member of the Lute family. It has eight steel strings tuned to the notes of G, A, E, and D. It is a descendent of the mandore which is one of the soprano members of the family. It commonly has the shape of a teardrop and has F-holes or one round sound hole.
History
In 15,000 BC to 8,000 BC, cave paintings and murals included single-stringed instruments. The different stringed instrument families evolved from this. In [...]

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The lyre is a stringed musical instrument which has been popular all around the world and is recognized for its prominence in classical antiquity. It has a yoke which includes a crossbar and two arms and has strings that stretch from the tailpiece to the crossbar.
Some lyres are bowed while most of these are plucked. It is regularly played by strumming with a pick similar to a guitar rather than plucking it like a harp. Based on Greek mythology, [...]

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