KnowSoda
Arts & CultureMusic
Instruments: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
Instrument Families
Orchestras group instruments into families: strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. Each makes sound differently: vibrating strings, air, lips, or being struck.
Key fact
The piano has strings, but they’re struck by hammers.
The Piano
The piano was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Italy. It could play both soft and loud, so it was called the pianoforte.
Key fact
A standard piano has 88 keys.
The Guitar
The guitar is one of the world’s most popular instruments. A standard guitar has six strings; electric guitars need an amplifier to sound loud.
Key fact
The electric guitar took off in the 1950s.
Drums & Percussion
Percussion instruments make sound when struck, shaken or scraped. Drums are among the oldest instruments; a drum kit lets one player handle many at once.
Key fact
Xylophones and timpani are percussion that can play tunes.
The Orchestra
A symphony orchestra can have around 80 to 100 musicians. The conductor keeps time and shapes the music, and the violins are usually the biggest section.
Key fact
Orchestras usually tune to an A played by the oboe.
Stradivarius Violins
Antonio Stradivari made instruments in Cremona, Italy, about 300 years ago. Around 650 of them survive, and they’re among the most prized instruments ever made.
Key fact
One Stradivarius violin sold for about 16 million dollars in 2011.
Electronic Instruments
Electronic instruments make sound with circuits. The synthesizer can imitate other instruments or invent new sounds, and it shaped pop, film and dance music.
Key fact
The theremin is played without being touched.
Fun facts
Unrolled, a French horn’s coiled tube would stretch almost 4 m.
Together, the strings of a concert grand piano pull with a force of around 20 tonnes.
Guitars much like today’s took shape in Spain in the 1800s.
West African talking drums can copy the rise and fall of speech to send messages.
Before light batons, conductors beat time with a heavy staff. Composer Lully died in 1687 after striking his own foot with one.
In blind tests, top soloists often couldn’t tell Stradivarius violins from good modern ones.
The theremin, invented around 1920, gave many old sci-fi films their eerie wail.
Story: The Violinist in the Subway
The Violinist in the Subway
January 2007. A man in a baseball cap plays violin in a Washington, D.C. metro station during the morning rush hour.
He’s Joshua Bell, a star who sells out concert halls, playing a Stradivarius worth millions. Over 43 minutes, more than 1,000 people walk past.
Only seven stop to listen. He earns about $32. The experiment, set up by a newspaper, asked: do we notice beauty when we don’t expect it?
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
-
Question 1 of 10
The violin is a string instrument.
Show the answer
True. Its strings vibrate when bowed or plucked.
-
Question 2 of 10
The piano’s full name was the pianoforte.
Show the answer
True. Because it could play soft and loud.
-
Question 3 of 10
A standard guitar has six strings.
Show the answer
True. Some have 7 or 12, but six is standard.
-
Question 4 of 10
Percussion instruments are played by striking, shaking or scraping.
Show the answer
True. From drums to maracas to cymbals.
-
Question 5 of 10
Orchestras often tune to a note from the oboe.
Show the answer
True. Its clear, steady tone is easy to hear.
-
Question 6 of 10
Stradivari made his instruments in Italy.
Show the answer
True. In the city of Cremona.
-
Question 7 of 10
A theremin is played without touching it.
Show the answer
True. The player’s hands move near two antennas.
-
Question 8 of 10
The trumpet is a woodwind instrument.
Show the answer
False. It’s brass: the player’s buzzing lips make the sound.
-
Question 9 of 10
The piano was invented in the 1900s.
Show the answer
False. Around 1700, in Florence.
-
Question 10 of 10
Electric guitars are loud without any amplifier.
Show the answer
False. Unplugged, a solid electric guitar is very quiet.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Instruments has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Musical instruments and Cristofori’s piano
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — orchestra, guitar, synthesizer, theremin
- Tarisio — Cozio archive of Stradivari instruments
- Philharmonia Orchestra — Instrument guides
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — sitar, pipe organ, didgeridoo, harp, saxophone, steel drum
- Historic Organ Restoration Committee — Boardwalk Hall organ
