Don't you just love the sound of music? Music is a great way to express yourself. Turning on the tunes in the car makes a long trip better. Jammin' at home in your living room gets the ants out of your pants! Have you thought about playing a musical instrument? You know, actually taking lessons to learn how to play a cool instrument...
Choosing what instrument you want to play can be a tough decision. They all look like fun, and because they make different sounds, it is hard to decide which one is right for you. Let's start by getting to know the different kinds of instruments that are out there. There are four basic instrumental families:
Strings
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
HUH?
The String family consists of violins, guitars, banjos, and others. These instruments produce beautiful sounds. They are played with either picks or bows. Bows are made from horse hair! Neat, eh? You can use your fingers to play guitars, as well.
The Woodwind family has the flute, clarinet, saxophone, and more. You can get high pitch sounds and deep bass sounds with these instruments. Most of these instruments are made from metal, wood, or ivory. You get sound by blowing into the instrument and making different sounds with vibrating air.
The Brass family includes the tuba, trombone, trumpet, and others. These shiny instruments can be quite loud! As you can probably guess from the name, these instruments are mostly made from brass, although they can be made from other materials, too. The military branches use a lot of brass instruments because their sound can carry a long way, and military bands play outside much of the time.
The Percussion family is a lot of fun! This family consists of cymbals, drums, and more. This family really consists of anything that can be hit, shaken, or scraped. Why, you can get a piece of sandpaper out of your father's tool box and make music. Cool! (You better ask first!).
Now that you have an overview of the family of instruments, you can decide what you might like to do. If you have a relative or someone else you know that plays an instrument, you can ask them to teach you. Many places will let you rent an instrument. This is a good way to get a feel for what you like before actually asking your mom and dad to buy you an instrument. Another good way to get lessons is to find someone in your area who offers to teach children for money. Your mom and dad will do this for you.
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