Instrument of the Week

Welcome to the "Instrument of the Week" Section.

This section will spotlight a different instrument every week just for fun. If you have questions about the instruments, or want to hear more of them, please let me know! kiddn@cantonma.org

Electric Guitar: The electric guitar is different than an acoustic guitar because it needs an amplifier for its sound to be heard. Without the amplifier, it barely makes a sound at all. You will see in the demonstration that with the amplifier, the electric guitar can make many different sounds and it can be fun to experiment with them.

Autoharp: The autoharp is a stringed instrument you play by strumming the strings and pushing buttons. When you push a button, it mutes all the strings that are not in the chord (the button tells you the name of the chord), so it sounds really nice. It is similar to when a guitar player puts down their fingers on the strings to make chords.

Violin: The violin is the smallest member of the strings family, and also makes the highest sounds. It is most often found in orchestras, but violins are also known as "fiddles" and can play country music and dance tunes. Like most instruments, violins can be used to play whatever type of music you like! Below, in addition to the demonstration video, are four videos showing the different types of music the violin can play.

Drum Set: A drum set is a collection of drums which usually includes several different types of mounted drums and cymbals. The drum set is a standard part of the rhythm section for many types of modern music.

Didgeridoo: The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia. It is thought to have been invented not more than 1000 years ago, but it's still really old! It is basically a long tube and can be between 3 and 10 feet long. The longer it is, the lower the sound. These days, people all over the world enjoy playing the didgeridoo.

Cahon (or Cajón ): The cahon is a percussion instrument shaped like a box, which you sit on to play. You can play it with your hands, or with mallets, drum sticks or brushes. It is a really fun instrument to play!

Bonus Instrument of the Week: Rain Sticks! Rain Sticks are hollow wooden tubes filled with small pebbles or beans which make a sound like rain as they fall from one end of the stick to the other.

Trumpet: The trumpet is the smallest member of the orchestra's brass family. It often plays solos in orchestra music and can be very flashy. It is also a main instrument in bands and jazz ensembles.

Double Bass: The double bass is the largest in the orchestra's string family. It is also the lowest sounding stringed instrument. It is sometimes referred to as a bass, string bass, contrabass, upright bass or acoustic bass. It has a lot of names! Along with playing in orchestras, the bass is a staple of jazz groups.

Accordian: The accordian is an instrument made up of two boxes joined together by "bellows." The bellows is the part that sucks in air as it expands and contracts. The air pushes on reeds (strips of metal) and that makes different sounds. Some accordians have a piano keyboard on one side and buttons on the other. Another type of accordian has buttons on both sides.

Organ: The first video shows the pedals of the organ, which is an extra keyboard played by the feet! Organs can have up to five keyboards. The pedals play the lowest notes on the organ, and their sound comes out of the largest pipes. In some organs, the largest pipes are 64 feet tall!

Organs also have levers called "stops" that organists can pull out to make the organ louder. When they are all out, it is very loud! This is where the expression "pulling out all the stops" comes from.

The second video shows a well-known organist, Cameron Carpenter, playing "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Marimba: This is an example of a marimba, which is similar to the xylophones we use in class.

The first video shows a little bit about the marimba, and the second video is a cover of "Shape fo You" by Ed Sheeran.

Hand Bells: Here is our first "instrument of the week."

The first video shows you a little about the hand bells. The second video is "Radioactive" played on hand bells and the third video, although a little grainy, shows how much fun you can have playing the hand bells.