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Disorganized Essay Example[edit]

I've always been interested in music, and learning about different musical instruments. When I was a kid I played clarinet in the school band, and the clarinet has been around for a long time, longer than the saxophone for instance. But clarinets aren't as old as drums. Maybe the drum was the first musical instrument. But I was never particularly interested in drumming. I don't have a good sense of rhythm. Other kinds of instruments have also interested me, and eventually I found out that instruments are grouped in families, like there is the string family, which is instruments that have strings that are bowed or plucked. One example is the violin. There have been many famous violin players, and also the violin has spread all around the world. I didn't play violin when I was in school, though, because I played clarinet.

Clarinet is a reed instrument, which is an instrument that has a reed you blow through to make the sound. Instead of a string vibrating, the reed vibrates. Which is different from percussion, where you hit the instrument, like how you hit a drum with a stick. One funny example is the piano. You'd think it was a string instrument, because it has strings in it, but it's a percussion instrument because the strings are hit with little hammers. Also, xylophones are percussion instruments.

One of the weirdest instruments I know of is called the "glass harmonica." It was invented by George Washington. It's a bunch of glasses that make a singing sound. I don't know what orchestra family that would fit under. You don't strike it, you don't play it with a bow, and there's no reeds. I wonder where a singer would go, too. I think there's one more family of instruments. There are four, and we have talked about three in this essay.

I have always been interested in musical instruments and learning about them. In school, I played the clarinet in band, leading to my interest in music and other instruments. When learning about different musical instruments, I discovered that there are three major instrument families: reed instruments, string instruments, and percussion instruments.

The category I am most familiar with are reed instruments. Reed instruments are instruments that have a reed that is blown on to produce sound. The vibrations of the reed are what causes the sound. The clarinet is a reed instrument that is relatively old; it has been around longer than the saxophone, another reed instrument, has.

Another category of instruments are string instruments. String instruments contain strings that are played with a bow or plucked to produce sound. One example of a string instrument is the violin, which is a very popular instrument that is played around the world.

Percussion instruments are a well-known category of instrument. these instruments are played by striking them, such as with drums. This family of instruments could be the oldest family. Other instruments include the xylophone and piano. The piano has strings, so could be considered a string instrument, but the strings are struck with small hammers, which classifies it as a percussion instrument.

Different instrument families are classified by how the instruments are played. These families are often used in orchestras in varying degrees, along with other instruments. One such instrument is a glass harmonica, which isn't played with a reed or by striking it and doesn't have any strings. Instead, it has glasses that are played to create a singing sound. There might be fourth, less-known family of instruments that this instrument, invented by Benjamin Franklin, would fit under. However, the three main families of instruments are reed, string, and percussion instruments.