THE INSTRUMENT FAMILIES
By Rachel Buchman © 2005

Do you have a family? Do you have cousins? And uncles and aunts and grandmas and grandpas? Instruments do too.

The first family of instruments we’ll look at is the guitar’s family, of course: The String Family. We call it the string family because the sound from the instrument is made by strumming, plucking or bowing strings. The family includes many instruments. See how many you can name. Some members of the string family are: guitar, ukulele, mandolin, lute; harp, autoharp, dulcimer; violin, viola, cello, double bass; sitar, balalaika, samisen, and so on and so on!

The next family is the Percussion Family. The Percussion Family is the largest in the world and includes instruments that you bang, scrap, or shake to make the sound. Some well-known percussion instruments are: drums (snare, timpani, base, congas, dumbek or goblet drums), maracas, tambourines, bells, pitched percussion (such as: xylophone, glockenspiel, chimes, marimba, vibraphone) and, the piano, as well as hundreds of others.

And the Wind Family. This is the family that makes its sound by having the player put air (usually his own!) through the instrument. What goes in air comes out sound! Some members of the wind family are: harmonica, bagpipes, flute, recorder, trumpet, French horn, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, tuba, sousaphone, and less commonly thought of – accordion and organ.

What is most exciting of all is the fact that all of the instrument families can be found in our own bodies and were first modeled after the very sounds our bodies make. You can guess what our percussion instruments are, for there are many: clapping, snapping, lip popping, foot tapping, knee slapping, you can go on for a long time. See how many you can find with your kids. Our wind instrument is our whistle in all its variations.

And our most fabulous body instrument of all is The Instrument of All Instruments - the Human Voice, which corresponds to the family of strings. Our vocal chords vibrate and produce sound in much the same way the strings of my guitar do. If you don’t believe me, put your hand on your throat, very gently, and sing a song. As you sing you’ll feel your vocal chords vibrating. Let your child put her hand on your throat so that she can feel your vocal chords vibrating, too.
 There you have it!

See what kinds of wonderful sounds your family can make together. Each of you can play a different body instrument. And then you can add wooden spoons, empty frozen juice can shakers, coffee can drums (strike with the eraser end of a pencil as drumsticks), pot tops and spoons, and paper towel roll tooters and kazoos.

See if you and your children can identify the different instruments you hear while listening to the radio or CDs in the car. Children can sing along, or play their hand clappers, knee drums, tongue clackers... Car rides are great times for learning through listening. And of course, listening to music will help make your rides more pleasant.

Three excellent recordings that introduce the instruments of the orchestra to children are:

ORCHESTRA
narrated by Peter Ustinov

A YOUNG PERSON’S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA
by Benjamin Britten. My favorite version of this recording is the one with Leonard Bernstein. He actually has a boy narrating.

PETER AND THE WOLF
by Sergei Prokofiev, narrated by Leonard Bernstein or Sean Connery (my two favorite versions) or by Sting.

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS
by Camille St. Saéns, narrated by Leonard Bernstein.

A NOTE TO PARENTS FROM RACHEL BUCHMAN
As always, please don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions about instrument families. 713-661-6051.

And for those of you unfamiliar with the inside of a piano - have you any idea why the piano is in the percussion family? Look for pictures of these instruments in library books or an encyclopedia. A few good books on the subject are: “Eye Witness” Music by Neil Ardley, The Symphony Orchestra and Its Instruments by Sven Kruckenberg, and ABC Musical Instruments from The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Florence Cassen Mayers.

Remember to tune in your radio while driving. Explore the air-waves. Look on-line for the schedules at KTRU (all kinds of music), KUHF (classical and NPR news), KRTS (classical and musical theatre) and KTSU (jazz and latin) to find all kinds of music from all over the world, as well as classical music.