The stringed instruments found in orchestras have necks too.Īn image shows three musicians playing a violin, a viola, and cello on stage. TIM: That changes the length and tension of the part of the string that’s vibrating, which affects the pitch. But in stringed instruments with necks, like the guitar, you can change a string's pitch by pressing on it in different places.Ī guitar player slides his hand to different places along the guitar's neck as he plays. TIM: Just like with harps and lyres, each string in a piano has a fixed pitch. Inside the piano, a hammer strikes a string. TIM: See, the lower-pitched strings are long and thick, and the high-pitched ones are short and thin. When you press a key, a felt-covered hammer hits one of the strings, producing a sound.Īn animation shows a hand pressing a key on the piano. TIM: Yep, you can see the strings if you look inside a piano.Īn image shows a grand piano with the top open, revealing strings of different lengths. TIM: Nowadays, the most popular stringed instruments are probably the guitar and the piano. The animation shows the base of the harp opening up. TIM: Oh, the harp's resonator is in the arm nearer to the person playing. The small harp fades away to reveal a harp that is taller than the woman. TIM: Harps can be very tiny or really huge!
TIM: A harp is a stringed instrument that's been around for a long time.Īn image shows a woman on a stage with a small harp. TIM: The oldest kind of stringed instrument was probably a lyre, which was popular with the ancient Greeks.Īn image shows a Greek musician playing a lyre. A chord connects the guitar to an amplifier. TIM: If a stringed instrument doesn't have a resonator, its sound can be electrically amplified through loudspeakers!Īn image shows a man playing an electric guitar. An animation shows the guitar closing it's hollow interior. In most cases, a resonator is just the body of the instrument. In other words, it makes the sound louder and fuller. TIM: A resonator amplifies the sound waves from a vibrating string. So strings are almost always joined to something called a resonator, a hollow structure, usually made of wood or metal.Īn animation shows a guitar opening up to reveal a hollow interior. TIM: If you've ever stretched a rubber band between your fingers and plucked it, you know how something vibrating all by itself doesn't necessarily sound very loud or all that pretty. TIM: Or it can be bowed, which is kind of like rubbing. Inside a piano key, a hammer strikes a string. TIM: It can be struck, or hit, with a small hammer. A string can be plucked, which is kind of like flicking it, with a thumb, finger, or a small piece of plastic.Īn animation shows a guitar player plucking a string with a plastic pick. TIM: How it's played makes a big difference, too. One of the strings is plucked again, producing a different sound. TIM: The sounds vary depending on how thick the string is, how long it is, and how much tension it's under. A hand plucks one of the strings and it vibrates, producing sound. But no matter what kind of noise they make, the sound comes from the vibrations of strings.Īn animation shows a close-up view of a guitar's strings. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I want to know how stringed instruments make such beautiful sounds. Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby.Ī boy, Tim, plays the violin accompanied by a robot, Moby, on piano.
0 kommentar(er)
