How are musical instruments made

Jazz instruments

 If you are thinking to hire a jazz band for your wedding or book a jazz Trio for your birthday party, give a thought to the instruments the musicians will be playing. Some will be relatively modern instruments like the saxophone, whilst others will have a very long history like the trumpet. (Wasn't it a trumpet player that brought the walls of Jericho tumbling down?.) There's quite a range of  musical instruments that are played in a Jazz Band, from the brass instruments of the early marching bands and trad. bands, to the saxophone and keyboard and synthesizers that could be part of a lounge jazz quartet, And of course double bass and percussion, and even on occasions the violin. Let's take a closer look.

Classical instruments

Perhaps you are going to hire a String Quartet or book a solo harpist for your drinks reception, civil wedding or church wedding ceremony. What is the range of choice here?

The most commonly booked  ensemble is the string quartet, because of his exceptional versatility. This normally includes two violins a viola and a cello, though sometimes a woodwind instrument like a flute is mixed in to the group.

Another popular instrument which looks beautiful as well as sounding beautiful, is the  harp  which is in some ways a vertical piano without keys. The piano itself is another popular instrument for the wedding reception, and sometimes for the wedding ceremony if there is a piano at the venue or in the church full stop

 Of course there are also the woodwind and brass instruments, many of which are used in jazz bands, but this is less usual for a wedding ceremony full stop Let's take a closer look at the range of instruments that are used in classical music ensembles suitable for weddings, parties and banquets:

Folk instruments

Well, in folk bands just about anything that can play music or can just make a noise can be used. Folk bands can be vocal session bands with singers, but are more usually ceilidh bands or barn dance bands either for the evening reception at a wedding, or for a birthday party or similar celebration.

If the band is playing middle of the road traditional ceilidh barn dance music, the instruments involved are usually selected from fiddle, flute, accordion, Guitar, bass and drums of various sorts. For a rock type folk band it could be complete drum kit whereas for a traditional Irish band or Scottish band with west coast Scottish or Irish influence it could include a  bodhran.

Go back in history to mediaeval periods and all sorts of strange  plucked, scraped comma blown or banged instruments get used, sometimes genuinely traditional instruments and sometimes make do modern instruments that are played in a mediaeval style.

 Not so far back in history are Playford bands, Jane Austen ensembles and Thomas Hardy Church and folk bands. These are often more like a classical string quartet or octet, some of the music being quite closely related to the music of Joseph Haydn and Mozart. Indeed the famous blind Irish harpist, O'Carolan comma who played at the Royal Courts,  was famed not only for his Irish folk musical Compositions but for once listening to a rendition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons comma which he then played back on his harp completely from memory.

 Then there are the instruments used by the traditional English barn dance bands and Morris dance groups which typically include a fiddle, concertina or melodeon, guitar or mandolin and some sort of side drum.

When it comes to modern trendy folk bands and barn dance bands comma you can find anything.  Bassoons, saxophones, Trombones,  electric fiddles and electric guitars, hose pipes and watering cans, the Range is Limitless. So let's have a look at the sensible and the whacky Ceilidh Band and barn dance band musical instruments:

Pop hand function band instruments

Instruments used in function bands and covers bands tend to be fairly standardized,  though there's always exceptions. The pop music industry has standardised on electric guitars and electric bass guitars, keyboards, full drum kits and of course vocalists. These are always played with a certain level of  amplification,  even for what is termed an acoustic band.

More often  bands are highly amplified, with pure electric guitars and synthesizers, instruments that either do not suffer from acoustic feedback problems at the high sound levels. At extreme sound levels electric guitars extend their music and tonality by causing acoustic feedback in a controlled way.

Of course, some vocalist will include a string section or string quartet as part of the  accompaniment, but when we get past the area of The Beatles and such, who composed very good music for string sections, the strings are more for the aesthetic Beauty of the attractive young ladies who are playing the instruments than the music itself, which is often extremely basic.

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