Cymbals: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“In the orchestra the pair of cymbals is used chiefly to stress important musical accents, but it can also be used as a quiet rhythm instrument in the background, together with the bass drum, for example.”
Xylophone: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The term xylophone is derived from two ancient Greek words: xylon (= wood) and phoné (= sound). Technically, every instrument that consists of a row of wood bars of various lengths which are arranged according to pitch and struck with mallets, is a xylophone. ”
Marimba: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The marimba looks almost exactly the same as the xylophone, but is larger, has a lower register (from bass through tenor to alto) and a wider compass. It is a xylophone with resonators – xylo-phon simply means "wood sounder" – pitched an octave deeper.”
Marimba: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“There are various ingenious ways in which the marimba is designed to produce musical notes, including in places you cannot see, as well as through the length and thickness of the wood.”
Bass Clarinet: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“A bass clarinet has a neck instead of a barrel, and the bell of the instrument has a slot for a peg on the back of it. The peg is there to support the weight of the instrument on the ground while player is sitting.”
Bass Clarinet: Brief Description — Vienna Symphony Library
“As is evident from the name, the bass clarinet is the bass instrument of the clarinet family. It has been used to provide the bass voice in the orchestra woodwind section since the middle of the 19th century, a role it shares with the bassoon. The bass clarinet is appreciated for its expressive timbre, which is often poetically described as ”dark velvet”.“
Bass Drum: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The bass drum covers the bass register within the orchestra percussion section, while the tenor drum corresponds to the tenor, the snare drum to the treble register.”
Bassoon: Brief Description — VSL
“The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the tenor and bass register. Like the oboe, the bassoon is a double-reed instrument, because the mouthpiece has two reeds that lie very close together. Unlike the oboe the shawm-like sound that this mouthpiece produces is tempered by the U-shaped bend of its wind duct, so that bassoon notes are not a homogeneous continuation of the lowest notes of the oboe’s compass.”
Bassoon: Fingering Charts — WFG
“This fingering chart includes both basic fingerings and alternatives that are more appropriate in some passages. Some alternate fingerings are designed for fast passages, while others modify the tone, color, or pitch at normal and extreme dynamic levels. The fingerings apply to Heckel-system (German) bassoons. There is a separate alternate fingering chart for Heckel-system contrabassoon.”
Bassoon: Grove Music Online
“A wooden conical wind instrument, sounded with a double reed, which forms the tenor and bass to the woodwind section. In the modern orchestra, the family exists in two different sizes: the bassoon and the double bassoon or contrabassoon, sounding one octave lower. Built in four joints, its precursor the dulcian was of one-piece construction.”
Bassoon: Instrumentation Series — David Newman
“David Newman explains the role of the Bassoon and Contrabassoon in film music in comparison to concert music.”
Bassoon: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“From deep resounding low notes to sweet melodies, unhindered expression. The long, wide wooden pipe of the bassoon contains much wisdom.”
Bassoon: Multiphonics for Modern Bassoon — Leslie Ross
“With several recordings of each multiphonic and using a couple of different reeds, an attempt was made to note some of the most prominent repeatable frequencies present in these tones. They are much more complex and variable than what is transcribed here and it is precisely their richness and complexity that is what is most appealing about them.”
Bassoon: Playing Techniques — MVSH Band Program
Student Instrument Guide and Technique Assignment for the bassoon.
Bass Trombone, brief description
“The bass trombone is a slide trombone with two valves that are operated by the left thumb. The valves make it possible to lower the instrument’s pitch from Bb to F or D. The entire chromatic scale only becomes available thanks to the thumb valve (F tuning) and an additional third-valve (D tuning).”
Celesta: Brief Description — VSL
“The celesta was invented at the end of the 19th century after several experiments and immediately found inclusion in the orchestra. It possesses an interesting dual character: the way its sound is produced makes it a percussion instrument (idiophone), but it is played as a keyboard instrument, usually by a pianist. Celesta parts are lively and quick and often require great virtuosity.”
Cello: A guide to extended techniques — Dylan Messina
“My intent in creating this project was to provide composers of today with a new resource; a technical yet pragmatic guide to writing with extended techniques on the cello. The cello has a wondrously broad spectrum of sonic possibility, yet must be approached in a different way than other string instruments, owing to its construction, playing orientation, and physical mass.”
Cello: Basic Principles of Cello Technique — Jamie Fiste
“This article is designed as a starting point for cello technique. It includes broad principles that generally hold true. I am particularly interested in those principles that can release tension and help prevent overuse injuries in cellists. I believe these principles can be applied to other instruments and string pedagogy in general.”
Cello: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The cello has four strings. Listed in ascending order, they are: C, G, D, A. The C is the thickest and lowest-sounding string. The A is the highest-sounding string and the thinnest.”
Cello: Brief Description — VSL
“The cello (violoncello) is the tenor and bass instrument of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). In the 19th century the cello advanced along with the violin to become the most important bowed instrument for solo works. In the 20th century cellists began to specialize more, concentrating more on solo, chamber or orchestral playing.”
Cello: Extended Techniques — Modern Cellist
A youtube channel exploring extended techniques on the cello.
Cello Map — Hochschule für Musik, Basel, Switzerland
“Cello Map is a practical resource for those who are interested in performing and writing contemporary music for cello.”
Clarinet: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The Clarinet is made up of three parts: the headjoint, body and foot. When connecting the pieces, the hole in the headjoint should line up in a straight line with the row of keys on the body. The main rod on the body of the Clarinet should line up with the middle of the keys on the foot joint.”
Clarinet: Brief Description — VSL
“The clarinet is the most recent addition to the woodwind family (flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet) and was the last woodwind to be integrated into the symphony orchestra (during the period of “Viennese Classicism” in the 2nd half of the 18th century).”
Clarinet: Extended techniques — Heather Roche
A website covering extended techniques for the Clarinet.
Clarinet: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The appeal of the clarinet is its rich variety of expression, which ranges from a light timbre to a deep mysterious timbre. It also boasts a register of approximately four octaves-the largest of any wind instrument.”
Clarinet: Multiphonics and Microtones — Gregory Oakes
Fingering for multiphonics and microtones on the clarinet.
Clarinet: Playing Techniques — VSL
“Despite its complicated keywork the clarinet is extremely agile and allows great dexterity. Its agility is exceeded only by the flute, which is due to the clarinet’s particularly difficult fingering. Legatos played on the clarinet have an especially velvety sound which makes it the perfect instrument for the performance of trills and tremolos, arpeggios, scales and legato phrases.”
Clarinet: Spectral Analysis — Vashawn Arora
“For this project, I will conduct spectral analysis of Bb clarinet multiphonics and other extended techniques and create an online resource to encourage a productive discourse regarding a pedagogical/educational and conceptual outlet for contemporary techniques.”
Contemporary Cello Technique — Alfia Nakipbekova
“During the course of the twentieth century, cello technique developed in multiple ways – from the refinement of traditional methods to the introduction of an array of extended and ‘extreme’ techniques demanded by the contemporary and new music repertoire.”
Contrabass, brief description
“The double-bass is the contrabass instrument of the string section and is not strictly speaking a member of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). The double-bass differs in several ways from the instruments of the violin family. In its modern form it is a hybrid, combining elements of both the viola da gamba and the violin families.”
Contrabass: Academic Bass Portal
"A site conceived as a research tool for the collection, dissemination and the advancement of the cumulative double bass knowledge. The goal of this portal is to provide the world’s most comprehensive double bass bibliography in a format that is always current, accessible and upgradeable."
Contrabass: Extended Techniques — The Modern Double Bass
“The purpose of this website is two-fold:
It is to serve as a compendium of contemporary double bass technique for the double bassist who wishes to pursue an interest in the performance of contemporary music and its associated techniques.
It is to provide a technical dictionary for composers wishing to compose for the instrument.”
Contrabassoon: Brief Description — VSL
“The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is the contrabass instrument in the woodwind section and, together with the contrabass tuba, the deepest instrument in the orchestra.”
Contrabassoon: Instrumentation Series — David Newman
“David Newman explains the role of the Bassoon and Contrabassoon in film music in comparison to concert music.”
Contrabassoon: Playing Techniques — VSL
“The contrabassoon is ideally suited to solemn passages because the full sound is slow to develop. On the other hand it exhibits surprising agility in staccato sequences, and is certainly more agile in the low register than the other bass (and contrabass) instruments.”
English horn: Brief Description — VSL
“The cor anglais, or English horn, is the alto instrument of the oboe family (oboe: soprano, oboe d’amore: mezzo-soprano, English horn: alto, Heckelphone: baritone). In 19th century scores the English horn was called for as alto oboe.”
English horn: Playing Techniques — Vienna Symphonic Library
“In general, the same playing techniques are possible on the English horn as on the oboe. Owing to its voice-like sound it was used mainly for the performance of cantilenas, especially in the Romantic orchestra, but nowadays all the most common playing techniques of the oboe are also required of the English horn.”
Extended Techniques for Cello — Lunanova
“There remain quite a few different strategies in notating harmonics. Perhaps the clearest is the way in which Elliott Carter writes them. He always includes three notations no matter whether writing natural harmonics or artificial. First, in the proper rhythm, he writes the pitch of the open or the stopped string. Second, he indicates in tablature the spot on the fingerboard where the node is to be lightly touched.”
Flute
VISIT SITE >
“A melodic instrument for the most part, the flute has a clear and bright sound with a distinctive warmth, refinement, and subtlety to its tone.”
Flute, brief description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The concert flute is an edge-tone instrument and consists of three pieces of tubing: the headjoint, middle joint (body) and footjoint. The lip plate and embouchure are set in the conical headjoint. If the embouchure is set on a little plateau it is known as a reform embouchure. This slight elevation facilitates attack, which makes it especially popular with beginners. The upper end of the headjoint is closed by the stopper, which is movable and enables slight adjustments to intonation.”
Flute: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The flute is made up of three parts: The headjoint, body and foot. When connecting the pieces, the hole in the headjoint should line up in a straight line with the row of keys on the body. The main rod on the body of the flute should line up with the middle of the keys on the foot joint.”
Flute: Dr. Cate's Flute Tips | Flute pedagogy for school music directors
“Dr. Cate is a flute performer, scholar and teacher based in the Chicago area. She is an artist/scholar for Azumi flutes and appears around the US and internationally at music conferences, clinics and conventions. She is passionate about helping kids play the flute well and helping school music directors understand how to teach the flute more effectively to their students.”
Flute: Extended techniques — Emi Ferguson
“[S]ome extended techniques possible on the flute. This is by no means all of them, but some of the most effective, and used techniques. Composers and flute players are continuing to dream up new ways to play the instrument.”
Flute: Fingering Charts — WFG
“[A] list of all available fingering charts for Boehm-system flutes, which are the modern, most common type used today in bands and orchestras.”
Flute: Playing Techniques — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The flute is an extremely agile instrument which allows staccato and legato playing at the fastest tempi. It is also ideally suited for fast arpeggios as well as chromatic and diatonic scales, leaps, tremolos and trills. The changeover from staccato to legato notes is especially characteristic of the flute.”
Flute Colors | Extended techniques for flute
“All the extended techniques for flute on one website. That’s what Flute Colors is about. Click on one of the extended techniques on this page for more information about notation, how to perform the technique, watch and listen how it is played and much more.”
Guitar: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The classical guitar can play a wide range of types of music-from classical music to bossa nova and jazz. Dubbed a mini-orchestra, the classical guitar covers an impressive range of timbres.”
Harp: Brief Description — VSL
“Harps may come in a variety of shapes and sizes but they all have three components in common: the soundbox (body), the neck and the strings. In 1914 the Berlin musicologists Ernst Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs defined harps as follows: a harp is any stringed instrument whose string plane is vertical to the soundbox. This is true of both triangular and rectangular instruments as well as those with a simple mechanism or a complex one.”
Harp: Harp Tips Blog — Danielle Kuntz
“This blog includes tips and mini tutorials on writing for the harp. Use the search feature below to find specific topics.”
Harpsichord: Encyclopedia Britannica
“Harpsichord, keyboard musical instrument in which strings are set in vibration by plucking. It was one of the most important keyboard instruments in European music from the 16th through the first half of the 18th century.”
Horn: Brief Description — Vienna Symphony Library
“The tubing of the Viennese horn is 55% conical and narrower than the most commonly used double horn in F/Bb. The so-called F crook is not a fixed part of the Viennese horn but is detachable. Other tunings are used especially for natural horn parts.“
Horn: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The horn is a brass instrument whose soft resonant timbre allows it to harmonize well with both brass and woodwind instruments. One of the unique aspects of this instrument is that the player keeps a hand in the bell while playing.”
Oboe: 21st Century Oboe — Christopher Redgate
“On this site you will find information about the oboist Christopher Redgate, about many aspects of performing and composing for the oboe today and about the Howarth-Redgate oboe.”
Oboe: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The oboe reed is the part of your instrument that generates sound when you blow through it. The reed fits into the hole at the top of the oboe.”
Oboe: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“Oboes, whose name comes from the French for "high-pitched wood," are excellent for solo performances with many notes in high ranges. The oboe is extremely difficult to play.”
Oboe: Overview — Bloomingdale School of Music
“The oboe, a double reed instrument in the woodwind family, is one of the most beautiful, important, and unique musical instruments. With a long history dating back as far as ancient Greece, it has developed through the centuries into one of the most challenging and distinct instruments in the modern orchestra.”
Oboe: Overview — Grove Music Online
“Generic term in the system of Hornbostel and Sachs for an aerophone with a double (concussion) reed (for detailed classification see Aerophone). The name is taken from that of the principal treble double-reed instrument of Western art music.”
Oboe: Playing Techniques — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The oboe is an agile instrument (although by no means as agile as the flute) and can in principle play trills, arpeggios etc. But due to its sound characteristics and pitch it was used more as a melodic instrument in the past.”
Oboe: Two Worlds of Sound — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The appearance of the two instruments differs in that the French oboe has a long, thin tube of plain design with a gently flaring bell whereas the Viennese oboe still possesses the characteristics of the classical oboe: the shorter, thick-walled tube; the baluster on the upper joint; the widening at the tenon joints and the bell-shaped bell.”
Oboe — A Brief History of the Oboe — Danny Cruz
“The oboe is a staple of Western art music and the most distinct solo sound in the orchestra, but cultures around the world have been using soprano double reed instruments for music production for millennia.”
Oboe — Baroque oboe — Grinnel College
Grinnel College Musical Instrument Collection
“The Baroque oboe is an end-blown conical-bore double-reed aerophone in use in Europe since the 17th century. The replica Baroque oboe pictured and discussed on this page is modeled on surviving instruments from roughly 1690-1790.”
Oboe — Shawm — Grinnel College
Grinnel College Musical Instrument Collection
“The shawm in use in Europe during the Medieval and Renaissance periods is an end-blown conical-bore double-reed aerophone. The instrument pictured here is a modern replica of shawms used in the 14th century or earlier, as reconstructed from iconographic sources.”
Organ: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“When you visit a large concert hall, at the back of the stage you will often see rows of metal pipes, all in line. Nearby you will probably see a console with a keyboard, and space for an organist. This is a pipe organ.”
Piano: Encyclopedia Britannica
“piano, also called pianoforte, French pianoor pianoforte, German Klavier, a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys and has a compass of seven full octaves plus a few keys.”
Piano: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound by striking strings with hammers, characterized by its large range and ability to play chords freely. It is a musical instrument that has broad appeal.”
Piccolo Flute: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“Although the mechanism and fingerings are the same, the piccolo is quite different than the flute and it should be approached as a separate instrument. As the highest voice in the ensemble, the piccolo is often exposed, adding color to the texture and should be played with confidence.”
Piccolo Flute: Encyclopedia Britannica
“Piccolo, (Italian: “small flute”) in full flauto piccolo, highest-pitched woodwind instrument of orchestras and military bands. It is a small transverse (horizontally played) flute of conical or cylindrical bore, fitted with Boehm-system keywork and pitched an octave higher than the ordinary concert flute.”
Recorder: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The recorder is familiar to most as the instrument used today in school lessons. However, its history extends to ancient times, and modern day performers are active in a wide range of settings.”
Saxophone: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The Saxophone has two pieces to the body as well as a mouthpiece, ligature and mouthpiece cap. The reed is a small piece of cane placed on the mouthpiece. It is the wood part of this woodwind instrument, and it’s necessary for producing sounds on the saxophone.”
Saxophone: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The saxophone is an instrument with a tone somewhere between a brass instrument and a woodwind. The sax is a must in all types of music from jazz, to classical, to pop, when a smooth and bright sound is called for.”
Saxophone: The computerized repertoire of multiphonics — Quasar
“The saxophone is an instrument with a tone somewhere between a brass instrument and a woodwind. The sax is a must in all types of music from jazz, to classical, to pop, when a smooth and bright sound is called for.”
Timpani: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The kettledrum, or timpani, an established member of the symphony orchestra since the 17th century, is the percussion instrument with the longest tradition.”
Trombone: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The trombone consists of three parts: the bell with the tuning slide; the inner slide, open at the top and bottom with the mouthpipe and mouthpiece attached to its top part and the bell attached to its bottom; and the U-shaped movable outer slide, which connects the two open-ended parallel tubes of the inner slide.”
Trombone: Extended Techniques — Chris Washburne
“The trombone provides you with a variety of possibilities for creative expression. Chris Washburne shows you ways to practice extended technique to expand your performance possibilities.”
Trumpet: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The trumpet in C consists of the trumpet tube and bell, the mouthpipe with detachable mouthpiece, three valves and the tuning slide, with which the overall tuning of the instrument can be altered. The tuning slide has a water key. In many cases, all three valves have valve slides which can be pulled out with a trigger to correct the intonation of individual notes.“
Trumpet: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The trumpet is characterized by its striking, triumphal sound and by the fact that it boasts the highest register of all the brass instruments. It does splendid work, single-handedly giving expression to heroism and jubilation.”
Tuba: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The tuba, which produces the lowest pitched sound of all brass instruments, brings an essential luster and sheen to any musical genre from jazz and classical through to pops.”
Viola: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The viola has four strings. In descending order, they are: A, D, G, C. The A is the thinnest and highest-sounding of the strings, and the C is the thickest and lowest..”
Viola: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The viola is the alto instrument of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). It is constructed using the same components as the violin, the only difference being the larger size. Its stately and dark timbre contrasts sharply with that of the violin and makes the viola perfectly suited as the violin family’s middle voice.”
Violin: Acoustics — Royal Institute of Technology
“Acoustics for violin and guitar makers.”
Violin: Acoustics — UNSW Music Acoustics
“A vibrating string can produce a motion that is rich in harmonics (different frequencies of vibration). Bowing the string not only allows a range of expressive techniques, but also supplies energy continuously and so maintains the harmonic richness”
Violin: Beginner Guide — Music & Arts
“The violin has four strings. Listed in descending order, they are: E, A, D, G. The E string is the thinnest and highest-sounding of the strings, and the G is the thickest and lowest-sounding.”
Violin: Brief Description — Vienna Symphonic Library
“The violin is the soprano instrument of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). It consists of three main parts, the body, the neck and the head, which are composed of a total of 80 separate components.”
Violin: Extended Techniques — Alexandra Greffin Klein
Violinist Alexandra Greffin Klein's blog about the contemporary violin.
Violin: Instrument Guide — Yamaha
“The neck is carved from a single piece of wood, and the part at the end that appears to wind in on itself is called the "scroll." The strings are attached to the tuning pegs, which are fitted inside narrowly carved holes, and held in place by friction.”
Harp: @harpistkt — Kristan Toczko
Canadian harpist with a vast amount of videos showing different styles and approaches to the harp.