Music in Our Schools Month: Musical Instruments - Middle School

Can't tell a trombone from a trumpet? Don't fret! Review this list of musical instruments, from accordion to xylophone, and learn everything about woodwinds, percussion, brass, and strings. It's time to face the music!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. accordion
    a portable box-shaped free-reed instrument
  2. acoustic guitar
    sound is not amplified by electrical means
  3. bagpipe
    a tubular wind instrument
  4. banjo
    a stringed instrument that has long neck and circular body
  5. baritone
    the second lowest brass wind instrument
  6. bass
    a musical instrument with the lowest range of its family
  7. bass clarinet
    a large clarinet whose range is an octave below the B-flat clarinet
  8. bass guitar
    an instrument that has the lowest pitch or range
  9. bassoon
    a double-reed woodwind instrument that makes a low sound
  10. bongo drum
    a small drum; played with the hands
  11. bow
    a curved piece of wood used in playing stringed instruments
  12. brass
    a wind instrument that consists of a brass tube (usually of variable length) that is blown by means of a cup-shaped or funnel-shaped mouthpiece
  13. bugle
    a brass instrument without valves
  14. carillon
    set of bells hung in a bell tower
  15. castanets
    pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone made to click together
  16. cello
    a large stringed instrument
  17. clarinet
    a single-reed instrument with a straight tube
  18. clavichord
    an early keyboard instrument closely related to a piano
  19. concertina
    free-reed instrument played like an accordion by pushing its ends together to force air through the reeds
  20. cornet
    a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone
  21. cymbal
    a percussion instrument consisting of a concave brass disk
  22. double bass
    largest and lowest member of the violin family
  23. down-bow
    a downward stroke from the heel to the tip of the bow
  24. drum
    a musical percussion instrument
  25. drumstick
    a stick used for playing a drum
  26. dulcimer
    a stringed instrument used in American folk music
  27. electric guitar
    a guitar whose sound is amplified by electrical means
  28. embouchure
    the aperture of a wind instrument into which the player blows directly
  29. fiddle
    a hand-held stringed instrument played with a bow
  30. fife
    a small high-pitched flute similar to a piccolo
  31. flute
    a high-pitched woodwind instrument
  32. French horn
    a brass musical instrument consisting of a conical tube that is coiled into a spiral and played by means of valves
  33. fret
    bar of metal across the fingerboard of a musical instrument
  34. gong
    a large metal disk that sounds a note when struck
  35. guitar
    a stringed instrument usually having six strings
  36. hand organ
    a musical instrument that makes music by rotation of a cylinder studded with pegs
  37. harmonica
    a small rectangular instrument into which air is blown
  38. harp
    a chordophone with strings between the neck and the soundbox
  39. harpsichord
    a musical instrument with strings plucked by plectra
  40. kettledrum
    a large brass or copper drum
  41. keyboard
    set of levers that can be pressed, as on a piano or computer
  42. lute
    a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body
  43. lyre
    a harp used by ancient Greeks for accompaniment
  44. mallet
    a light drumstick used to strike percussion instruments
  45. maraca
    a rattle-like instrument that is shaken to make noise
  46. mute
    a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument
  47. oboe
    a slender double-reed instrument
  48. organ
    a wind instrument whose sound is produced by means of pipes
  49. percussion
    section of a band or orchestra that plays struck instruments
  50. piano
    a musical instrument played by pressing black and white keys
  51. piccolo
    a small flute; pitched an octave above the standard flute
  52. player piano
    a mechanically operated piano that uses a roll of perforated paper to activate the keys
  53. rain stick
    a percussion instrument that is made from a dried cactus branch that is hollowed out and filled with small pebbles and capped at both ends; makes the sound of falling rain when tilted; origin was in Chile where tribesmen used it in ceremonies to bring rain
  54. reed
    a thin strip of material that vibrates and produces a tone
  55. rosin
    any of a class of solid or semisolid viscous substances obtained either as exudations from certain plants or prepared by polymerization of simple molecules
  56. saxophone
    a single-reed woodwind with a conical bore
  57. sitar
    a stringed instrument of India
  58. snare drum
    a small drum with two heads and a snare stretched across the lower head
  59. steel drum
    a concave percussion instrument made from the metal top of an oil drum; has an array of flattened areas that produce different tones when struck (of Caribbean origin)
  60. steel guitar
    guitar whose steel strings are twanged while being pressed with a movable steel bar for a glissando effect
  61. stringed instrument
    a musical instrument in which taut strings provide the source of sound
  62. synthesizer
    (music) an electronic instrument (usually played with a keyboard) that generates and modifies sounds electronically and can imitate a variety of other musical instruments
  63. tambourine
    a shallow drum with metallic disks in the sides
  64. triangle
    an instrument made of a metal bar bent into a three-sided shape
  65. trombone
    a brass instrument with a long tube and a U-shaped slide
  66. trumpet
    a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone
  67. tuba
    the lowest brass wind instrument
  68. tympanum
    a large brass or copper drum
  69. ukulele
    a small guitar having four strings
  70. up-bow
    an upward stroke from the tip to the heel of the bow
  71. valve
    a device for altering the pitch of a brass wind instrument
  72. viola
    a stringed instrument played with a bow
  73. viola da gamba
    viol that is the bass member of the viol family with approximately the range of the cello
  74. violin
    a hand-held stringed instrument played with a bow
  75. whistle
    acoustic device that produces a loud shrill sound
  76. wind instrument
    a device played by blowing air to create musical tones
  77. woodwind
    any wind instrument other than the brass instruments
  78. xylophone
    a bright-toned wooden bar instrument played with hard-headed mallets
  79. zither
    a musical instrument with strings over a flat sounding board
Created on Tue Jan 31 16:49:55 EST 2017 (updated Wed Mar 29 16:06:29 EDT 2017)

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