Tone Color
Tone color (or timbre) in music is analogous to color in
painting. Tone color is the quality of sound produced by a
particular medium of musical tone production.
Tone colors are almost impossible to describe or notate, about the best
one can do is use vague terms such as "brassy", "warm", "bright", "dull",
"harsh", "raspy", or "hollow".
Orchestral instruments are divided into the following main types, or
sections:
String instruments - instruments that are played with a bow,
or plucked or hammered; includes violin, viola, cello, double bass,
guitar, harp, dulcimer, sitar.
Woodwind instruments - hollow pipes in which air does the vibrating,
or pipes containing reeds which do the vibrating and the air acts as a
resonator; includes flute, recorder, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, english
horn, piccolo, saxophone.
Brass instruments - wind instruments that have a special cup
or funnel-shaped mouth piece, the player’s lips actually produce the sound
when the instrument is blowed into; includes french horn, trumpet,
trombone, tuba.
Percussion instruments - instruments in which something is struck
to produce the sound, has indefinite and definite pitch
varieties; includes snare, bass drum, timpani, cymbals, wood block, xylophone,
gong, triangle.
Keyboard instruments - includes piano, harpsicord, pipe organ,
accordian.
Electronic instruments - the sound is generated by electronic
means; includes electric organ, synthesizer, sampler, tape, theremin.
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