Questions tagged [instruments]
For questions about generalities about instruments or groups of instruments.
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Can anyone explain these unexpected overtones on my NUX electric piano?
I recently purchased a NUX NPK-10 electric piano, as a step up from a Yamaha keyboard. I love the instrument, and I'm enjoying playing it. However I have noticed a bizarre effect that I cannot explain....
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How to prepare to play bowed vibraphone?
The UK brass band I play in is preparing a test piece that features a bowed vibraphone amongst the percussion parts.
We've been using a cello bow, well rosined. But sometimes when you start bowing, ...
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Why can I not tune up newly bought classical guitar to proper pitches?
I bought classical guitar yesterday online, and it is impossible to tune the 1st string to E.
I can only tune up to Eb, and if I apply more tension to the string, it looks like it's about to snap.
Is ...
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Is it possible to "add" a rotary fifth valve to a 4-valved tuba?
I am currently playing Wessex TB 692 Grand, which is 4-valved BBb tuba.
I have always cherished a 5-valved BBb, so I wonder if it is possible to add a rotary 5th valve to my Wessex horn..
Is this ...
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Are percussion instruments the only instrument type capable of making an unpitched (indefinite) sound? [Electronic instruments excluded]
I just want to confirm,
wind instruments and stringed instruments are completely incapable of creating an unpitched sound correct?
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Can anyone identify the instrument that James Morrison is playing in this picture?
From the bell flare it looks like it might be some sort of flugel horn. Can anyone say for definite what it is?
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What is the name of this instrument that sounds like a pedal steel guitar? [closed]
What is the name of this instrument?
Here video I'm thinking that the sounds produced by that instrument are similar to the sounds of a pedal steel guitar, because when I see the newer versions of the ...
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What acoustic instruments are great for Droning? [closed]
I want a drone, using only acoustic instruments, with as little effort as possible, to accompany singing.
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What is heard when a tuning fork is struck?
When a tuning fork is struck I hear two tones. From a distance I can hear a high octave frequency of the pitch of the tuning fork. Though, if I listen to it closely (closer to my ears), I also hear a ...
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What are the 14 different types of saxophone?
I heard my saxophone instructor say that there are 14 sizes of saxophone. But, I've only heard of 4 (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone). What are the other 10 types?
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Do chords sound good only on specific instruments?
Whenever I search on the internet for chords, google spits out things such as "guitar chords" or "best chords for piano".
But isn't it that such chords would be good for any ...
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What is the earliest we know wire-strung instruments to have existed?
What is the earliest we know wire-strung instruments to have existed? I was reading about gut strings, nylon strings, wire strings used on guitar, and wanted to know, but couldn't find the answer ...
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What word describes an instrument’s native character?
(Caveat: this may be more appropriate in the English Stack Exchange, but I’m a musician and it has to do with instruments, so I put it here.)
As a composer of Celtic-style tunes, I usually pick up my ...
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Alto Sax producing octave notes without using key, won't play lower notes without tilting down
I bought my daughter a new saxophone last year, and she barely used it- ended up with a school loaner because she says it's "defective". The horn plays fine, but for lower notes it will ...
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Curved v. straight windway
Besides physical structure, what is the difference between a curved and a straight windway in a recorder? I understand that a curved windway increases air resistance, but how does the sound quality ...
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Easiest brass instrument to transpose with?
my real goal is to pick a brass instrument to pick up, but I don't know the right words to research what I want.
I have a strong ear, so certain instruments are easier than others for me.
So one ...
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What is this natural trumpet?
In this picture of the London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble found here, one sees what I suppose are natural brass instruments.
Does the trumpet in the lower right corner have a specific name? It has a ...
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How did the harmonium and violin become an integral part of Hindustani and Carnatic music respectively?
The Harmonium hails from Germany and it is not an Indian instrument. Also, it is an equal tempered instrument. But the harmonium is a very common accompanying instrument in Hindustani Classical (...
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What is the definition of a pad?
I've played in many bands and I do a lot of music production and the term "pad" is thrown around. My definition of a pad is something that is used to fill in the space of a piece usually with chords. ...
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What "things" can you notice on the piano that you can't on the harpsichord, after playing the same piece on both?
Referring to Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C minor BWV 847, Masato Suzuki remarked at 1:37, as translated from Japanese to English
I also like to play it on the piano. When playing it on the piano I ...
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Information about Mercury hammer blow tenor sax
I bought a very nice playing upper-level saxophone. It says "Mercury Design in USA". The seller told me the parts came from Korea and it was assembled in the USA.
Seller said:
Double arms ...
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Basic notes of Tanpura
Tanpura has 4 strings which play : Pa/Ma/Ni(1), Sa(2), Sa(3), Sa(4); want to know more about these notes. Such as, "Pa/Ma/Ni" being played on Tanpura are of Mandra or Madhya Saptak, then following "Sa ...
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Why do old wood recorders sound and play better?
I inherited a German-made soprano recorder that my mom bought in 1970. She played it weekly in a senior citizen "fun band". I pick it up occasionally and play it for a few minutes.
I have ...
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Is the alto recorder any 'quieter' than the soprano?
How do I put this? I've never had any formal music education whatsoever, but I do play a little bit of self-taught soprano recorder. The problem I have with it is that I can only get myself as high as ...
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Why does closing a recorder bell raise the pitch sometimes and lower the pitch other times?
I have been playing recorder for two years now and have recently been using this chart, http://www.dolmetsch.com/efingeringchart.pdf for third octave soprano fingerings.
Playing the D or the F# ...
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Which instrument is the easiest to produce the shortest and yet loud note? [closed]
It strikes me that it is not so easy to produce very short notes - like thirty seconds and sixty fourths - on the wood winds (it is merely my guess, I don't know for sure). Perhaps, it has to do with ...
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Help me find this "new" musical instrument, maybe invented in the 70s [closed]
The question was closed by an admin. I didn't find precisely what I was looking for, but I found this really cool instrument called Exquis which allows for what I'm talking about, to make scales ...
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Recorder bell question
I'm doing some research on the recorder, and I've got a little stuck on the range. Some says the soprano recorder's highest note goes to the 2nd octave only, but other people say that by adding a ...
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What is a 'French King' Saxophone?
I recently received a Tenor Saxophone from my dad which he bought years ago but never played. I brought it to my music teacher who came back and told me 'I had no idea what I've got here'. He then ...
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How can horns, most of which have only three buttons, play all their notes?
I’m a big fan of the “horn” family but have trouble understanding how horns are able to play the same scales and modes that a piano is able to play, being that horns only have a few valves. In some ...
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Bowed single string instrument with lever?
Ok, so, imagine you had a one-stringed violin, except that rather than press your fingers on the string, you used a lever, kinda like a whammy bar. Does anybody know of such an instrument? Otherwise,...
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What instrument is used in the background? [closed]
What instrument is being used to create the soft "pulsating" background noise in this video. It almost sounds like some sort of strings but I am not sure.
For example, between timestamp 37s ...
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Magic Bells in The Firebird
Is a campanelli the same instruments as a glockenspiel?
Although a literal translation of campanelli (It.) is something like "little bells", I thought that campanelli in an instrumentaion ...
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Why is the superbone not used more often?
I saw that there is an instrument known as the 'Superbone'. With the slide of a trombone and additional valves like a trumpet, you'd think you would have the best of both worlds. So why is this ...
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What are common western saloon instruments?
This is a question that popped in my mind, but the funny thing is, I couldn't think of a lot of instruments that played during the Western Saloon period.
Here's all I can think of:
Upright Piano (out ...
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How to decide between clavinova models from different years?
I am looking into buying a used clavinova CLP.
A used one because I don't need all the new features and the clavinova models already had a high quality standard in the past years. So for the same ...
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Why don't all transposing instruments have transposing clefs?
Is there a reason for which some transposing instruments (say, horns in F, bass clarinets etc.) don't have transposing clefs? For some instruments it's not odd to have them, e.g. tenor voice always ...
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Which instruments to physically familiarize with to become a better orchestrator?
Physically familiarizing with which two orchestral instruments would be a good compromise between having to buy all the instruments and gaining leverage in orchestral writing? My own opinion is ...
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Curved windway of a recorder - what is the use for it? [duplicate]
What is the use of curved windway of a recorder? After my first Yamaha YRS-23 I bought YRS-302B and I'm still puzzled about that difference.
It feels like the blowing into 302 gives slightly more ...
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How closely related in history, construction and use are these two instruments?
A friend shared these two videos with me. He called the double reed instrument a Suona and said that it is traditional both in the Middle East, and central Asia, China and Taiwan. I do not know what ...
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Are bass clarinet and tenor sax notations played an octave lower? [duplicate]
I am totally blind, and I read music Braille. I also use a MIDI keyboard to make musical tracks using a sequencer.
Recently, I had a piece, October by Eric Whitacre, transcribed into Braille music.
...
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12 string guitar stringing
Most commonly, 12 string guitars have their bottom four pairs arranged so that when strumming down, the octave strings sound before the original E A D and G. Is there any particular reason for this? ...
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What is causing this weird distortion coming from my amp?
Here is the sound I'm talking about.
I get this sound, unless I strum ridiculously lightly, on different amp volume settings, with no gain, but is seems to become ...
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What is up with the bell on the English horn?
What is the story behind the shape of the bell on the English horn (AKA the cor anglais)?
But first, a quick look at the clarinet family for a comparison.
The standard clarinet (in Bb or A) has a ...
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Why does the English horn have a French name, and the French horn an English name?
Why do we call the English horn by its French name Cor Anglais and the French horn by its English name, why does this exist? What does the French Horn go by in France? Cor Français?
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English Horn Etymology
Why is the English Horn called a horn when it is a woodwind instrument, basically a lower oboe?
When compared to other horns, such as the French Horn and the Flugelhorn, it seems to be a misnomer.
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Can I use a D bamboo flute to play a C key
I actually want to buy a D bamboos flute but I would like to know whether I can use it to play other keys as well
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Can I play an English horn part with a viola?
I want to perform music in class for a Shakespeare play. Can I play an English horn part with a viola?
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Composing melody for recorder
I have learned a bit about composing a melody using the piano. But then, when I try composing a melody for the recorder – it doesn't sound right. What things should I be aware of when composing a ...
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