Music has been around since the dawn of time, and so have musical instruments. From the first primitive instruments to the modern-day ones, musical instruments have evolved significantly over time. There are many different types of musical instruments, each with its own unique sound and purpose. String instruments are those that produce sound or tuning when playing the instrument's strings with a pick or a bow, or even with the bare fingers.
Examples of string instruments include the guitar, violin, and harpsichord. Membrane instruments are those that generate sound based on the vibration of a stretched membrane. Examples of membrane instruments include drums and cymbals. Brass instruments generate sound based on the vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sync with the vibration caused by the musician's lips.
Examples of brass instruments include trumpets and trombones. Percussion instruments produce rhythmic sounds when a musician hits, scrapes, or shakes them. Examples of percussion instruments include drums and xylophones. Finally, keyboards are diverse instruments with a set of pressible keys or levers placed next to each other.
Examples of keyboards include pianos and organs. The guitar is one of the most popular string instruments in the world. It has strings made of tripe or nylon and a fingerboard with metal frets located on the neck of the instrument. The wooden body is hollow and the sound is produced by playing a series of strings that run through the body of the guitar while simultaneously playing the frets with the other hand. The electric guitar is similar to the classical guitar but has steel strings and magnetic pickups embedded in its body, under the strings.
When the strings vibrate, these pickups convert vibrations into electrical signals which are passed through an amplifier through a cable, where they are converted into sound and played back. The piano is another popular string instrument that belongs to both the string family and the percussion family. It has more than 2500 parts and produces sound when a pianist presses keys on its keyboard. The strength of pressure determines the volume level of each note. The drum is a collection of large and small drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments arranged in stands so that only one person can touch them.
Drumsticks are held with the hands to play them while pedals control the cymbals. The Jaltarang is one of the oldest musical instruments and is both a percussion instrument and a non-percussion instrument. It consists of bowls filled with water which are hit gently with wooden sticks to produce sound. The player then reduces or adds water to adjust the music to the desired frequency. The violin is a small string instrument with no frets and strings hooked from tuning pegs to a bridge. Its hollow wooden body produces sound when vibrations from its strings are transmitted and resonate in it.
The saxophone is a woodwind instrument with a conical tube made of brass, with openings controlled by padded wrenches. A musician holds it with his hands and uses his fingers to press keys to play it. The xylophone is a percussion musical instrument consisting of wooden bars placed on a frame which produce sound when hit with mallets made of hard rubber or wood. The Veena, an ancient string instrument from India, measures 1.5 m long and has 24 metal frets, four metal strings passing over these frets, and a wide bridge placed on its body. Finally, the table, also known as tabla, is a percussion instrument consisting of two double-handed drums called Bayan (left) and Dayan (right). In its center, Shyahi (a mixture of iron and rice paste) is applied in circular shape giving it its unique sound abilities. No matter what type of musical instrument you choose to learn, it will be an enriching experience that will bring you joy for years to come!.
