Introduction to the Instruments

Musical instruments are divided into various groups known as instrument families. The four main families are woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. Woodwind instruments are not -- as one might imagine -- made of wood, but they do all have many tone holes that are covered by either keys or fingers. Brass instruments are long tubes bent in various shapes that are made of a type of metal alloy called brass (though they may be lacquered or plated with silver). The percussion family includes a variety of pitched and non-pitched instruments that are typically struck by a stick or mallet to produce a sound. String instruments produce sound by means of a string that is stretched across the instrument, which the player either bows or plucks.

Learning to play a musical instrument will require practice. It is rare for someone to be able to pick up an instrument and produce a high quality sound immediately. The very act of producing a sound on an instrument involves using muscles that may not be fully developed. Practice involves exercising these muscles, as well as developing aural (listening) skills and gaining theoretical skills, like how to read music. Music notation is a language of its own. The neat thing is that music is a universal language, so once you learn it, you will be able to make music with people anywhere in the world!

There are hundreds of types of musical instruments in the world. Ellis Music deals primarily with band and orchestra instruments (although we also have recorders, ukuleles, guitars, and digital pianos).