Instrumentation

Bladibla

I've used the searchy option to check whether these kind of threads already exist or not, and although i have found similar stuff..it is not directly related to what im going to say now.

Anyway, what instruments do you people play in the physics forums? (that is if they do play instrumnets)

Im currently playing the flute, tried to play the violin when i was young but i quit because..too hard.
Pieces im trying to play (and somewhat failing): Chopins nocturne op 9, no 2, and meditation from thais.

Artman

I play guitar, bass and drums, a little bit of violin and enough piano to write songs. My main instrument currently is guitar, although I am probably a better rudimentary drummer (snare drum like you hear in marching bands).

brewnog

Mostly guitar, but piano too. If anyone wants a copy of "Adam & James - Sexier than Thou", my award winning album, let me know!

motai

B flat clarinet. Been playing for some time now (the point where not as good as the professionals but not completely suck at it). I mostly play contemporary band pieces but recently started to dabble in jazz music. One of the coolest jazz clarinet pieces out there is Moonlight Serenade. Technically because I know how to play the clarinet then I should be able to play the saxophone, but I haven't had the time recently to learn a new instrument.

I eventually want to learn to play another instrument like the oboe, if those things didn't cost an arm and leg. They sound beautiful in the hands of a professional, but for everyone else the oboe just sounds like either a duck or a super-expensive party favor. That is one of the hardest part about learning woodwind instruments, trying to get a good decent tone without sounding like a fuzzy lawnmower.

russ_watters

Piano (not very well) and trumpet (pretty well).

Bladibla

I agree with you there about woodwind tones. Knowing from personal experiences with the flute... (clean high and QUIET 2nd octave notes are hard, especially A, B and C)

By the way, if you do know, do if all woodwind instruments (except flute, from what i know) use reeds?

Moonbear

I played guitar as a kid, not very well. I could play the notes just fine, but I needed the music sheet in front of me at all times and would never have had the talent to perform. Comparatively speaking, I think I had a better talent for playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on my friend's viola.

Oh, and I play a mean toy xylophone by ear (my nephew got one of those for Christmas...shaped like a dog with a dog bone for a hammer...you know, the kind with 6, brightly-colored bars). Apparently there are plenty of children's songs one can play with only 6 notes. Oh, and he also has a stuffed bear with horns in each of its four feet, so I was learning to play a few 4-note tunes on the stuffed bear too. Then again, I didn't have a very discerning audience.

Bladibla

Whats there to be embarrassed about?
Everyone has different skills and strengths, and you never know, you might be much confident with guitar now if you learned.

motai

Many do, the clarinet and saxophone family are single-reed instruments, while others such as the oboe and bassoon are double-reed. For those instruments that do use reeds, reed quality is an important factor in tonal production. Bad reeds will make the instrument (no matter how good) sound absolutely horrible.

A few woodwind instruments don't use reeds, but they aren't very common in performing bands. The recorder is one of them, but those are mainly used as training instruments for more mainstream woodwind instruments.

Interestingly enough, the organ can probably classify as a woodwind instrument because sound is generated by reeds...

Bladibla

hehe
Actually, i remember a big argument some time ago on another website on whether piano is a string instrument, or just a type of its own. Eventually, people agreed it is a string instrument.

Organs are quite related to pianos, and woodwind. So in a most absurd way, we can say the organ is string AND woodwind

Artman

This is funny, but so true.

franznietzsche

Piano is in fact a percussion instrument

I play baritone sax in the uni wind orchestra here.

Bladibla

HaHaHaHa..(when hearing what franznietzsche says) ...oh..
Well..i guess.. ill be quiet then.



Seriously, i think that would be the proper 'catagory' for the piano..but then, how come its not in the usual orchestra 'structure'?

Moonbear

franz is right that piano is considered a percussion instrument, because it uses hammers to strike the strings. An organ only bears similarity in having a keyboard. The internal workings are entirely different, so it is probably best described as a wind instrument. A harpsichord, on the other hand, because it plucks the strings rather than strikes them with a hammer, would be considered a string instrument, bearing great similarity to a harp.

I thought the saxophone fell into the category of brass instruments, not woodwinds.

Though, another woodwind left out that does not include a reed is the piccolo, which resembles a smaller version of the flute.

Bladibla...my little embarrassed face was not over my guitar playing, but over my stuffed bear and toy xylophone playing with only a toddler as my audience to critique my talent, or lack thereof.

Bladibla

Oh. well, anyhow, I think skills in different things change over the years.

brewnog

No, they're definitely wind.

Some systems have a separate "keyboard" classificiation for the piano, harpsicord and organ, the piano and harpsicord really ought to belong in the same category, and the classification for 'organ' is vague because of the different types (not all blow air through a pipe).

motai

Even though saxophones may be made using the same materials, their operation is entirely different. Instead of using valve/slide action to direct the air, saxophones are very much like the other instruments in the woodwind family in that they use pads and holes to differentiate notes such as in instruments like the clarinet and flute. Adding to that, saxophones are single-reed instruments, which make them woodwinds instead of brass.

There are no brass instruments that I know of that use reeds (and no, putting a saxophone mouthpiece on a trumpet does not classify it as a reed instrument ).

Yah, but the piccolo looks so much like the flute that it might as well be one .... though it is much more difficult to play and is always out of tune.

At least one good thing about reed instruments is that you could have a fairly crappy instrument yet still be able to get a good tone given the right reed. I guess the same could hold true for brass, Louie Armstrong's trumpet was duct-taped together .