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Instruments – Instrumente Posted by on Jul 1, 2011 in Culture, Language, Music, Traditions

Hey there, as I promised, there will be a blog post about instruments. So let´s start the classic way and have a look at an Orchestra. In it´s main parts it consists of the following instruments:

der Dirigent – conductor

die Violine/die Geige – violin

die Bratsche – viola

das Violoncello – violoncello

der Kontrabass – contrabass

die Harfe – harp

das Klavier – piano

die Klarinette – clarinet

das Fagott – bassoon

die Flöte – flute/pipe/whistle

die Oboe – oboe

das Horn – bugle

die Trompete – trumpet

die Posaune – trombone

die Tuba – tuba

das Schlagwerk – drums

die Pauke – kettledrum


Ok, that was a lot. If we go forward in time, there would be a big band to think of. Let´s take a look at their instruments:

das Klavier – piano

das Schlagzeug – drums

der E-Bass – bass guitar

die Gitarre – guitar

die Perkussionsinstrumente – percussions

das Saxophon – saxophone

die Klarinette – clarinet

die Querflöte – German flute

die Trompete – trumpet

die Posaune – trombone

A Jazz or Blues ensemble often consists of:

das Schlagzeug – drums

die Gitarre – guitar

der Kontrabass – contrabass

das Klavier – piano

die Trompete – trumpet

der Gesang – vocals

Altough today´s music is often produced with digital signals, Synthesizers and the help of computers, the classic Besetzung (instrumentation) of a modern (rock or pop) band is like this:

das Schlagzeug – drums

der Bass – bass guitar

die elektrische Gitarre – Electric guitar

das Keyboard – Keyboards

der Gesang – Vocals

When I think of making music by myself, I mean by just one person, I think of the following instruments:

die Flöte – flute

das Klavier – piano

das Didgeridoo – Didgeridoo

die Maultrommel – jaw harp

das Akkordeon – accordion

die Mandoline – mandolin

die Ukulele – ukulele

 

I´m sure that you have some others in mind. What are they called?

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About the Author: jan

My name is Jan and I live in the south west of Germany. My profession is being a project manager at a company that creates digital media (first of all internet related things). This is my job since over a decade so I´m quite familiar with the web and its tools. Whereat today almost every school kid does. But that´s one of the main reasons why nowadays there are quasi no more limits in the internet and so it can be used for all imaginable types of things. For example learning languages! And that´s where we are at the moment. I first got in touch with Transparent Language when my family and I used to live in France a couple of years ago. I just had a break from work and by coincidence I produced some cultural videos in French. A few months later the whole blogging thing came up and I was lucky to be a part of it. So now my (second) job is to feed you with information, exercises, vocabulary, grammar and stories about Germany and German language. For being a passionate videographer I´m trying to do this more and more by videos. If you have any wishes or needs of topics that should be treated here, please don´t hesitate to contact me via a comment field. I´m open to your suggestions (as long as they are not too individual) and will try to satisfy your needs.


Comments:

  1. Max Leighton:

    I would say Horn is for some very strange reason French Horn in English. Really twisted story behind it.