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Teacher Study Guide |
Five Questions About Music and Musical Instruments Who makes music and plays instruments? It is a fact that every culture in the world, no matter how wealthy or poor, uses music for entertainment, celebrations, religious rituals, national identity, historical continuity, and social adhesion. Though not literally a universal language (sometimes we may not readily understand music of different cultures), making music is certainly a universal activity. What do people make their instruments from? Normally, people use materials in their immediate ecological environment to make instruments. Those who have raw materials such as bamboo and gourds are lucky indeed as bamboo is great for making many kinds of wind and percussion instruments. Gourds might be used for the sound box of various stringed instruments or for shakers. Animal skins are of course useful for making drums. Animal bones and horns and sea shells may be utilized for trumpets. All kinds of wood can be fashioned into different varieties of instruments. And today, synthetic materials are made to fit the needs of the modern musician. How are instruments made? Making instruments requires careful designing and crafting. Though anyone can make a simple instrument, masters of the craft learn to use special tools and apply their experience and knowledge to create complex instruments like violins and guitars. Whether a simple musical bow, concert piano, electric guitar or digital synthesizer, musical instruments invariably utilize the most advanced technologies available to a particular culture. Instrument makers must also be artists since they often decorate their instruments with meaningful symbols and designs. Instruments tell us a lot about ourselves. How do you make instruments sound good? Instrument building involves a working knowledge of the science of sound called acoustics. There is much physics and math to consider when one makes or plays an instrument: principles of vibration, resonance, tone quality, and sound perception must be mastered by the instrument maker. If an instrument does not sound like it is supposed to, nobody will want to play it. Why do people make music? Music can express things in ways that words cannot. Music can stir our feelings through a huge range of emotions: spiritual reverence, excitement, love, serenity, or even anger. Particular age groups (R`n'R), countries (national anthems), commercial interests (brand name jingles) and civic institutions (school fight songs) often use music as a kind of "sonic banner" with which to establish their social and cultural identities in the world. The type of music we listen to usually relates to the kind of group with which we associate ourselves.
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