Musical instruments — Music, 4–6 years
Instruments make music in different ways. Children can explore how air, strings, skins or solid materials begin to vibrate and make sound.
How instruments make sound
An instrument has a part that vibrates and makes the air around it move. A string can vibrate, a drum skin can shake, and a trumpet can make its air column vibrate. The shape of the instrument helps give its sound a recognisable character.
Why have many instruments?
One instrument cannot easily make every sound a group needs. Different instruments offer different ways to begin and control vibration, so a group can combine them. People also made instruments from the materials and shapes available around them.
A simple instrument
Take an empty box and stretch one rubber band around it. Pluck the band: it vibrates and makes a sound. Put a second, thicker band beside it and pluck both. The box helps the vibrations move the air, while the bands make different sounds.
The common mix-up
It is reasonable to think that a bigger instrument must always sound lower, because many large instruments do. Size alone is not enough: the material, shape and vibrating part matter too. A small whistle and a large whistle can be made to sound differently depending on their design.
Instruments around us
Instruments are used in bands, concerts, celebrations and recordings. The person choosing an instrument considers the sound needed and how it can be played. Even a bell, a drum or a wooden block can add a useful sound to a group.
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