Term Papers on The Orchestra

Term Paper Title	The Orchestra
# of Words	920
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.68

The Orchestra

            “There are few certainties about the percussion family. No one can say how many instruments it contains; few have agreed on playing techniques; and few could name one orchestral piece specifically written with percussion in mind. However, one thing is certain, percussion has been shown over time that it is not merely a matter of beating out rhythm (“History of Percussion” 1). The family of percussion instruments is the first musical instrumentation introduced to the world.  To this date there are countless percussion instruments.  Each group of instruments has a different ethnic origin and history in

different societies.  From the shallow drums of fourth century B. C. to the giant cot rattles of the fifteenth century, percussion instruments have had a unique history.
Percussion instruments have had an extensive background on many factors of their sound, and playing style.  All percussion instruments fall into two main categories, idiophones and membranophones.  Idiophones produce their sound from vibrations without the use of a stretched membrane. This could include castanets, rattles, and mallet instruments.   Membranophones are those that produce a sound from the vibrations of a stretched membrane. These include any type of drum hit with a stick.  Both of these instruments are tunable in many different ways and forms; therefore, these instruments can be used as melodic instruments (“Percussion” 653).
     Basic idiophones (also refereed to as concussion instruments) are struck together.  This includes clappers,

cymbals, stones, and castanets.  Percussive idiophones are hit by nonsonorous strikers.  These types of instruments include gongs, triangles, and xylophones.  Shaken idiophones were usually cups or shells that contained rattles or pellets, the shaking of the shells and cups produced a sound. There are many other idiophones including scraped, split, and plucked kinds. (“Percussion” 653).  These certain instruments are very important in the percussive arts field.
     Membranophones are commonly referred to as just drums. They fall into many categories such as kettledrums, bowl shaped drums, tubular drums, friction drums, and mirlitons.  Kettledrums and tubular drums are sometimes tunable drums that can be played with hands or beaters. Friction drums are rubbed together
to produce their sound. Rattle drums have pellets enclosed within to membranes that produce a different sound when the membranes are hit.  Mirlitons are those that the membranes are

vibrated by the voice; some think that these are not true musical instruments (“Percussion” 658).  Many though think that these instruments are the most energizing and driving instruments of all musical instruments.
The history of idiophones dawns very early in civilization.  Clappers were the earliest forms of idiophones.  The Sumerians used these clappers in 3000 BC.  Later on, Phoenicia derived castanets from the Sumerian clappers.  The Egyptian temples of 11...

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