Try playing games and activities as a way of identifying how a variety of instruments combine to make a piece of music Watch this performance by the BBC Philharmonic orchestra of I am a Robot. Different instruments in the orchestra have different roles in the music. Listen out for the sounds of families of instruments and the role they have in the music. Instrument families from the orchestra are: Brass instruments such as trumpets, trombones, tuba Strings instruments such as cello, violin, viola Percussion instruments such as drum kit, cymbals, xylophone Woodwind instruments such as flute, clarinet and saxophone Keyboard instruments such as piano, keyboard, organ The different instrument families taking part in I am a Robot can be spotted by the different colour shirts the musicians are wearing. You can play games to explore this with children, whilst listening you could stand up when you hear a brass sound, parents could represent the brass section whilst the children could, for example, represent the string section and stand when the strings play. This is a great way to encourage active listening. To breakdown the different instruments used in songs and create your own sounds try the Play It! interactive music tool. |
