User:Ariel316/sandbox

=Disorganized Essay Example=

I've always been interested in music, and learning about different musical instruments. When I was a kid I played clarinet in the school band, which has been around for a long time, longer than the saxophone for instance. However, clarinets are not the oldest instruments. The drum was the first musical instrument, though I was never particularly interested in drumming because I don't have a good sense of rhythm. Other kinds of instruments have also interested me, and eventually I found out that instruments are grouped in families; Percussion, string and reed families are three examples.

One example of a percussion instrument is a drum. When you hit a drum with a stick, the surface vibrates. One instrument that you might not expected to be percussion is the piano. You would think it was a string instrument, because of the strings inside, but it is a percussion instrument because the strings are hit with little hammers. Another instrument in this family is the xylophone because like a drum, you use a stick to hit each part to produce a different sound.

The string family are instruments that have strings that are bowed or plucked. One common example is the violin, where the musician uses a bow to play. There have been many famous violin players in our history, and the violin has spread all around the world. Guitars are also apart of this family because the player uses either his or her fingers or a pick to pluck at each string. A member of the family would be the harp. To play this instrument, the individual sits behind it and uses their fingers to gently pluck the strings.

Clarinet is a reed instrument, which is an instrument that has a reed you blow through to produce the sound. Instead of a string or surface vibrating, the reed vibrates. Flutes and Oboes are two other examples from this family. To change the pitch or sound that the instrument produces, the musician uses their fingers to press down on what are called the keys, which cover and uncover holes.

Of all the instruments I have learned about, one of the most interesting is called the "glass harmonica." It was invented by Benjamin Franklin and consists of a bunch of glasses that makes a singing sound. What makes it so interesting is that it doesn't fall into any of the Ochestra families, not even the four family, brass. You don't hit it, it doesn't have strings to bow or pluck, and there are no reeds. I also wonder where a singer would be placed.