User:Madeline860/sandbox

=Disorganized Essay Example=

I've always been interested in music, and learning about different musical instruments. I don't have a good sense of rhythm, but I have played the clarinet. Other kinds of instruments have also interested me, and eventually I found out that instruments are grouped in families, like there is the string family. The three families I found myself most interested in are percussion, string, and reed which is part of the woodwind family.

Clarinets aren't as old as drums, But I was never particularly interested in drumming. Percussion is where you hit the instrument, like how you hit a drum with a stick. 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 also percussion instruments, because you play them by striking and causing vibrations to make sound waves.

When I was a kid I played the clarinet in the school band. The clarinet has been around for a long time, longer than the saxophone for instance. the 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 from the air rushing past to create sound waves.

String instruments have strings that are bowed or plucked. One example of string 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 the clarinet. Many people use both a bow and plucking when playing some string instruments to create the desired sound. an example of an instrument you would not use a bow on, would be the banjo or balalaika. These were created to be plucking instruments only.

One of the weirdest instruments I know of is called the "glass harmonica." It was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. 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. Many refer to it as a "woodless woodwind". There are four different orchestra families, of which I have discussed the three I find to be most interesting, along with the glass harmonica.