Musical instrument presentations

This term we have been learning about musical instruments and have written informational reports. Here are four of them.

THE HARP
By Seraphima Y     

Introduction

The harp is a lovely sounding stringed instrument that sounds very peaceful and calming. In this report you will learn all about the harp including its features, how it makes its sound, its history, and where the harp is from.

Features

The harp has very specific features. Harps are usually played in the orchestra and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Usually the harp stands 42 meters and has 47 strings. The harp usually has a golden base and sometimes can be wood. They are 36 kilograms also not forgetting the main parts of the harp the soundboard, the strings, and the neck those are all pretty important parts of the harp.

Sound                   

The harp sounds amazing and is calming and peaceful. The music is described as chamber type music. It has a gentle flowing and rolling sound. The harp is usually played as part of an orchestra, but was originally played by itself. It is a quiet sounding instrument, but the sound carries a long way. The harp sound is produced by the harpist plucking the strings. The strings are different lengths and each makes a different note. The sound is created through vibrations in the strings that are connected to a sound board.

History of the Harp

The harps history is very interesting and pretty cool! Harps are one of the world's oldest instruments. The earliest evidence of the harp was in ancient Egypt in 2500 BC.  The modern harp is a result of an instrument that was invented thousands of years ago in Europe. When hunters discovered that their own bow string could be used for an instrument they were very impressed with this amazing sound. As we all know that the harp has a bass. The harps bass is what we think is always gold well it’s not you see the Harp can sometimes be made of wood which is not as special as the gold but much cheaper.

Ancient Egypt

Where the harp comes from?

The ancient harp was played in many countries. Evidence of harps can be found in art from China, The Middle East, and Africa. The Harp was first invented in the Middle East which is around Egypt thats pretty cool huh! It was also popular in Celtic lands of Wales, and Britain also Scotland and Ireland. Nowadays harps are found all around the world.

Irish Harp

Conclusion

I hope after this report that you know much more about the harp. I hope you liked this report and learnt a lot! The harp is a lovely gentle instrument as you can see.

The Oboe  

By Andrew L

The oboe is a long tube woodwind instrument. This report will tell about  appearance,history,sound and a famous oboist.       

Appearance

The oboe has lots of interesting parts. Oboe has a long narrow tube and at the end there a bell shape end which is called a bell. The oboe has 45 separate pieces for the key and all the woodwind instruments has a reed but a oboe has two reeds stuck together. Oboe’s made out of black wood.      

History      

The oboe has a interesting history. In the 17th century the became one of the solo instruments. Michel philidor and Jacques Hottcterre for inventing the oboe. The oboe was used in the military or in the orchestras. The oboe play with the string instruments and it use to have two key.         

Sound          

The oboe has amazing way to make a sound. Oboist blow through the double reed then it make the reed vibrate then the air will escape though uncovered holes but not all the air will come out of the holes some will come out of the bell which makes a sound.        

Famous oboe players    

The oboe is common around the world. There is 123 well known famous oboist in the world and Johann is one of them. Johann christian fischer was a German composer and a oboist and one of the best known oboe soloists in Europe during the 1770.          

The oboe is a very calming, peaceful sounding woodwind instrument. It is special because it has a double reed in the mouthpiece. This report has covered the sound, appearance, history and a famous oboe player.    

THE VIOLIN

By Madison R

The violin is part of the string family. It can be played with by plucking or with a bow. This report will tell you about the history of the violin, where it comes from, famous violin players and what it look like.        

The first violin was created in Italy and had 3 strings, but the modern violin has 4 strings.  The french king Charles IX in 1560 ordered 24 violins and one of the violins are still in existence. In 2006 a violin was made by the most famous violin maker Stradivarius and was sold for 3,5 us million.   

The violin was made in italy by Andrea Amati in 1555 in Cremona, Italy that is more than 450 year a go!   

There has been many wonderful and famous violinists. Some of them include:

Arcangelo Corelli: A fun fact about Arcangelo is that he did not like to play high notes.

Niccolo Paganini: A fun fact about Niccolo is doctor dissected his hand to see what was so special about his hands.

Antonio Vivaldi: A fun fact about Antonio is that he was called Prete Rosso ( his red hair )

The violin is a carefully made hollow wooden box shaped like a hour glass.

If you look closely at the bow, the strings are made of wood and horse hair.

There are many different parts of the violin. The pegs help to tune it, the fingerboard helps to make the perfect sound and the chin rest is where you put your chin to make it easier to play.

The violin is a very popular instrument for people to play. It plays high parts in the orchestra, and has a pretty sound. I hope you learnt a lot and now know     more about the violin!

By Liam B

Intro

A guitar is a hollow peanut shaped instrument with a neck and strings. This report will cover the types, parts, uses and the strings of a guitar

Guitar types

Electric guitar: electric guitars are a type of guitar that uses electric pickups  

A banjo is another type of guitar with a round body. The Lute is an old fashioned instruments that has a bent end

At the end of the neck a Spanish guitar is another type of guitar with nylon strings

Strings

Guitars can have up to 12 strings. There's a company called the fender company the fender company makes around 90,000 strings a day.

Uses

guitars are normally used for rock pop and jazz music sometimes is used for classical music and folk music too.

How the guitar makes its sound

By plucking the strings the sound goes into the hollow parts of the guitar the sound bounces around and comes out amplified(louder) so you can actually hear the sound the guitar is making.

Conclusion

In this report you learnt about the types uses strings

and how the guitar produces sound. The guitar is a very popular stringed instrument that can be played both electronically or acoustically.