Instruments, A-Z Thursday, May 21, 2015
Have you ever tried to name one instrument for every letter of the alphabet? Some letters aren’t too hard to name the instruments for: say, the letter “c” or “t”. We will be choosing at least one instrument for each month, “A” to “Z” until we run out of letters. So this month, we start with “A”. There are different classifications of musical instruments. Idiophones are struck percussion of various kinds that have no membrane, (think “no drumhead”). “Agung a tamlang” is in this class. The 2 slit drums are on the left, the 2 beaters are on the right in this photo. The alphorn is a natural horn, which means it has no slides or valves. The Swiss Club in Columbus, Ohio, has a group that plays alphorns. An unusual stringed instrument is the Aeolian harp. People can build an Aeolian harp, but not play it. (Honest!) Watch for next month, when we feature the letter “B”!
