Electronic Instruments

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Throughout the Related Lessons in this Sound and Music series, found in the right-hand sidebar, you have been learning about the different families of musical instruments.

• Can you remember how instruments are grouped?

Musical instruments are categorized by the sound they make and how they produce that sound. So far, you have learned about percussion instruments, stringed instruments, and wind instruments.

In this lesson, you will learn about a newer family of musical instruments that has just emerged within the past 300 years.

• Were you able to tell the difference between the two guitars?

You should have observed that one guitar is electric and the other is not. Even though guitars are stringed instruments, the electronic guitar is a part of the electronic instruments family because its sound is produced using electrical circuits within the instrument.

To learn about the history of electronic instruments and see some examples, read electronic instrument. When you are finished reading, answer the following questions.

• What is an electronic instrument?
• How do electronic instruments produce sound?
• When was the first electronic instrument made?
• Why are electronic instruments used today?
• What are some examples of electronic instruments?

Today, almost any instrument can be made into an electronic instrument. Some electronic instruments are even completely digital.

Move on to the Got It? section to compare and contrast sounds made by acoustic instruments — instruments that are not electrically amplified to produce a sound — and sounds made by electronic instruments.