More Instruments of the Orchestra and Band: Woodwinds and Percussion

Two important words from last time:

        Family - group of instruments that look and sound similar but come in different sizes 

                       (larger ones are lower and smaller ones are higher)

        Ensemble - team of musicians who play or sing together

Two important ensembles:

        Concert Band - team of players of instruments that include woodwinds, brass,
                                    and percussion instruments

        Orchestra - team of players of instruments that include the string family (violin, viola,
                             cello, string bass) and any combination of woodwinds, brass and
                             percussion instruments the composer needs

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the woodwind section. 

Watch these videos to see how the woodwinds are played and how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: Woodwind Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How do Woodwind Instruments Make Sound?

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the percussion section. 

Watch these videos to see how the percussion instruments are played and 

how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: Percussion Instruments for Kids

Green Bean's Music: Percussion 2 Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How Do Percussion Instruments Make Sound?

Review and Check Your Learning

Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the Woodwind and 
                        Percussion pages in your packet.
                      - List the instruments under the correct headings on the 
                        Sorting Instruments page in your packet.

Third Grade - Do the word find on the Find the Instruments page in your packet.
                    - List the instruments under the correct headings on the 
                        Sorting Instruments page in your packet.

Try some sounds of your own!

1. If a sibling has a band instrument, ask for a demonstration and try it out. It's fun to try to make sounds with big kids' instruments. Just be careful!!

2.  Check with a parent (or whoever is in charge in your house) about using old things from the kitchen or garage that make sound. I bet you can find shakers, scrapers, metals, woods, and drums! Here's a video with some suggestions. Just be sure to ask first!!

Household Percussion Jam

Instruments of the Orchestra: Strings and Brass

Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten

Tubby the Tuba

Music tells stories in many ways. In this story Tubby learns a lesson about his ability, and all the instruments of the orchestra get to play a new melody. The composer wrote the music as part of the way to tell the story.

Watch the video of book and music.

Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.

Extend your Learning
Use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra

First Grade

Peter and the Wolf

Composers love to use music to tell stories. In this story, each character is represented by a special melody played by a specific instrument. You know something is happening to that character when you hear it's melody.

Watch the animated video of the story.

Review and Check Your Learning
Do the first sheet in your packet: match each instrument to the character it represents.

Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.

Review and Check Your Learning

Listen again and draw your version of the story on the second sheet in your packet.

Extend your Learning
Use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra

Second and Third Grade

Feel free to watch the Peter and the Wolf videos (just because it's a wonderful story—not just for little kids!).

Composers love to combine different instrument sounds to make music more interesting. 

Instruments are divided into families and ensembles. The four major families are strings, 

woodwinds, brass, percussion. They are sorted by how the sound is made rather than how 

they look or what they're made of. 

Two important words:

        Family - group of instruments that look and sound similar but come in different sizes 

                       (larger ones are lower and smaller ones are higher)

        Ensemble - team of musicians who play or sing together

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the string section. 

Watch these videos to see how the strings are played and how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: String Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How Do String Instruments Make a Sound

This video is a famous piece of music played by an ensemble called a string quartet. It's made of 4 players. Some of them are bowing and some are plucking (or playing pizzicato).

Boccarini's Menuet (a concert version of a dance)

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the brass section.

Watch these videos about brass instruments.

Green Bean's Music: Brass Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How do Brass Instruments Make a Sound

The Canadian Brass is a quintet, an ensemble with 5 players. Listen to these two examples.

Here's a song with brass instruments playing accompaniment for singers.

Here they are playing Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Review and Check Your Learning

Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the String and Brass pages.

Third Grade - Fill in the instrument words on page 6. Notice that the boxes fit the shape of the words: if the box goes up high, there should be a tall letter. If the box goes down low, there should be a letter that goes below the line.

Extend your Learning

If you're really wanting to explore, use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra