Do your little ones love to beat on pots and pans to their own rhythm? Or do they strum on air guitars as they run around the house?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composing symphonies before the age of 10. Today, some communities are even host to their own children’s symphonies. The symphony was standardized into three sections by Alessandro Scarlatti at the end of the 17th century.A symphony orchestra must contain four sections: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. String instruments make up more than half of the orchestra and include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and a harp.
The woodwinds, as described by the San Francisco’s Symphony for Kids, are long narrow tubes of wood or metal with holes. Some holes are covered, and this allows for the instrument to make different noises. The woodwind family includes the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, to mention a few.
The brass section of instruments have been curved and shaped to make them easier to hold and to produce certain vibrations. Some of the brass instruments are the trumpet, the trombone, the tuba, and the French horn.
The final element of the symphony orchestra is the percussion family. Percussion instruments are those that can be hit, shaken, or scraped, like drums, cymbals, maracas, or a gong.
Join us the week of March 12 as we continue our Music and Art month at the Discovery Museum. We’ll make our own instruments and will be learning about the symphony orchestra and how so many different instruments come together to make a beautiful concert! Join us!
Contributed by Alexandra Cazares, program coordinator at the Discovery Museum. Discovery Corner is a weekly column in the Sun, highlighting events, science activities, and more for the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum at 705 S. McClelland in Santa Maria. Send comments to discoverycorner@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2012.