Music: Kids (Australia & New Zealand)

The two main kinds of classical music are vocal music and instrumental music. Composers write instrumental music to be performed by one instrument, a small group of instruments called an ensemble >, or a large group of instruments called an orchestra >.

Wind instruments are played by blowing into or through a tube. The player controls the sound by placing the fingers on holes in the instrument or on keys that cover holes, or by pressing valves that make the tube longer or shorter. The flute, trumpet, and saxophone are wind instruments.

Reggae is one kind of popular music. It was first played in Jamaica in the 1960's. Some ideas from reggae are now found in soul, rhythm and blues, and rock music.

Tone is the difference in pitch between two notes. Notes are the building blocks of a piece of music. Pitch is the highness or lowness of a note's sound. Rhythm is the way the composer puts notes together in time. Every note in a rhythm lasts a certain amount of time. Some notes last a short time, while others last a longer time. Tones and rhythms are combined to create a melody. When we hear a song, the part we often remember is the melody. The sounding together of three or more notes is called harmony

Mozart died when he was only 35 years old, but by that time he had written more than 600 pieces of music. People still enjoy his works today.

Tone colour is the feeling a musical sound may suggest. Tone colours made by different musical instruments can be very different. For example, a tune that seems sad when played on one instrument may sound merry when played on another.

An opera has two basic parts, the libretto and the music. The word libretto means “little book” in Italian. It is the words of the opera. The music is made up of both singing and the music played by the orchestra.

Drums are the oldest and most common percussion instruments. Other percussion instruments include bells, castanets, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiels, gongs, marimbas, tambourines, triangles, wood blocks, and xylophones >.

Sound recording, invented in 1877, spread jazz and blues across America in the early 1900's. Country music—a mixture of British and Irish folk music, American blues, and church songs—was first recorded in 1922.

Lennon and McCartney wrote most of the Beatles' songs. George Harrison played lead guitar, John Lennon played rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney played bass, and Ringo Starr played drums.