INSTRUMENTS of CONTEMPORARY music

Through the years, music and art have gone through stages that allow you to experiment with the aim of breaking the limits and looking for new horizons. Thanks to all these findings, today we can merge the traditional that has remained and the innovative that allows us to continue looking for new possibilities. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about instruments of contemporary music and we will know these tools that play with the balance between tradition and avant-garde.

The concept of the word "contemporary" refers to everything that happens currently. In the case of music, this concept is not usually used so directly but is used to categorize music academic (not popular) that still maintains the formal concept of classical music (instruments, and orchestra formations, for example).

By category, the contemporary music It is all that which was made from the end of musical Modernism mid 70's, and sometimes it is considered that this stage began after the Second World War (1939-1945), including all postonal music.

The musical context of contemporary music is interesting because, in parallel to maintaining certain formalities of classical music, seek experimentation with sound in less traditional ways. Several works seek the breakdown of all these structures including any form of expression and art, even if it is not directly music (technology, sculpture, media, the senses, unusual objects, etc.).

Due to the aforementioned, in contemporary music we find both musical instruments classics as experimental instruments, which might not even be considered "musical" directly. Since contemporary music is often based on breaking tradition, there are no specific instruments related to the genre.

String instruments

Violin, viola, cello and bass

Mentioned from high to low, they are stringed instruments that work on the same principle. They all have 4 strings that are rubbed together with the help of a bow. At the same time, they can be played with various techniques. They are differentiated by tessitura and their size.

Woodwind instruments

Piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, bassoon

The woodwind instruments they are another of the instruments of contemporary music. The piccolo being the sharpest and the bassoon the most serious. There are also variations of tessitura and tuning between the same kind of instrument (for example the bass clarinet). They are instruments that are blown and have holes that can be covered and uncovered by activating mechanisms with the fingers to change notes. They are made of wood and metal.

Brass Instruments

Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn (French Horn), Tuba

Mentioned in order of tessitura from acute to serious. Like woodwind instruments, they are played by blowing and changing notes with the fingers. Unlike woodwind instruments, brass instruments are more powerful and shrill in sound and are made mostly of brass, a type of metal.

Percussion instruments

Tympani, cymbals, suspended platter, ear tags, bass drum, snare, xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel and others.

Another of the instruments of contemporary music are those of percussion. They are instruments that are struck to create sound. Some have pitched notes like marimba and glockenspiel and some don't, like cymbals and bass drum. They have a mainly rhythmic function.

Saxophone family

Soprano, alto, tenor, baritone.

Since they use a wooden reed in the mouthpiece, they are categorized as woodwind instruments, but they are made of metal. Thanks to this combination they can be powerful but also have a very warm sound. Saxophones began to be included in the symphony orchestra more frequently during the 20th century.

Guitar and Harp

They belong to the category of plucked string instruments. Various works have been written for solo guitar and he is sometimes included in the symphony orchestra. The larger harp is usually more common as part of the orchestra.

Piano

Categorized as a stringed instrument, due to its operating mechanism. The classical piano has 88 keys and is usually the main instrument of works written specifically to show off this instrument with the support of the orchestra.

Electronic instruments

Of course, within the instruments of contemporary music we could not fail to mention the electronic. Technology forms another important part of contemporary music and some of these instruments are electric versions of classical instruments such as the electric guitar.

Others are synthesizers, devices that transform electricity into specific tuning sounds and timbres (many are keyboard-shaped). We finally found instruments MIDI (digital) and sampling, which consists of recording the sound of real instruments to be reproduced by another digital medium, such as the keyboard.

Experimental instruments

Since in contemporary music it also exists in an experimental sense, the possibilities are endless. In this perspective, the need to transcend the limits of what is considered as an instrument prevails. musical, reaching such extremes that silence is even used (as is the case of the work 4'33 ”by John Cage). Some experimental instruments in contemporary music include radios, video, appliances, the human body and silence itself, as we mentioned earlier.

As you can see, the instruments of contemporary music have a wide range of possibilities, which show us that the instruments are only a means for the true musical creation.