User:Babuzzled/sandbox

=Disorganized Essay Example=

I've always been interested in music, and learning about different musical instruments. The main orchestra family's of instruments include strings, woodwinds and percussion.

The strings family are instruments that have strings that are bowed or plucked. One example is the violin. There have been many famous violin players, and also the violin has spread all around the world. I didn't play violin when I was in school, though, because I played clarinet.

Clarinet is a reed instrument, which is an instrument that has a reed you blow through to make the sound. Instead of a string vibrating, the reed vibrates. When I was a kid I played clarinet in the school band, and the clarinet has been around for a long time, longer than the saxophone for instance. But clarinets aren't as old as drums. Maybe the drum was the first musical instrument.

Percussion instruments are usually played by hitting them, like how you hit a drum with a stick. But I was never particularly interested in drumming. I don't have a good sense of rhythm. One funny example is the piano. You'd think it was a string instrument, because it has strings in it, but it's a percussion instrument because the strings are hit with little hammers. Xylophones are percussion instruments as well.

One of the weirdest instruments I know of is called the "glass harmonica." It was invented by George Washington. It's a bunch of glasses that make a singing sound. I don't know what orchestra family that would fit under. You don't strike it, you don't play it with a bow, and there's no reeds. I wonder where a singer would go, too. I think there's one more family of instruments.