"In music, instrumentation is the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and the properties of those instruments individually."
The study of the characteristics and capabilities of various musical instruments.
Musical Notation: Understanding how to read and write sheet music is essential in learning about instrumentation. It involves understanding musical symbols, including notes, rests, dynamics, tempo markings, and articulations.
Musical Scales: Scales are the foundation of music and understanding how they work is crucial for any musician. Some of the most common scales include Major, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, and Pentatonic.
Musical Keys: A musical key is a group of notes that are related to each other in a particular way, and is determined by the starting pitch of a piece of music. Learning about keys will help you understand how to play and write music in different tonalities.
Instrument Families: Instruments are typically grouped into four main categories: brass, woodwind, percussion, and strings. Understanding the basic characteristics of each family can help you choose an instrument to play or write for, and help you understand how different instruments interact with each other.
Musical Forms: Understanding the structure and form of music is important in learning how to write and perform music. Some common forms include Binary, Ternary, Rondo, and Sonata-Allegro.
Musical Harmony: Harmony refers to the vertical aspect of music, or how notes sound when played together. Learning about harmony involves understanding chords, chord progressions, and how to harmonize melodies.
Music Theory: Music theory encompasses all of the above topics, as well as other concepts like chord inversions, secondary dominants, and modulation. It's the study of music from a theoretical perspective, and is important for understanding how music works on a deeper level.
Music Technology: Technology has revolutionized the way musicians create, record, and perform music. Learning about digital audio workstations, MIDI, synthesizers, and other music tech tools can help you produce and record your own music.
Music Business: While not directly related to instrumentation, understanding the music industry is crucial for anyone who hopes to make a career as a musician. Topics include copyright law, marketing, publicity, and performance contracts.
String Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound by vibrating strings, such as guitar, violin, viola, cello, harp, and bass.
Wind Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound by blowing air through a mouthpiece or hole, including flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, and English horn.
Percussion Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound by striking, shaking or scraping, including drums, cymbals, maracas, tambourine, xylophone, and triangle.
Brass Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound by blowing air through a metal tube, including trumpet, French horn, tuba, trombone, and euphonium.
Electronic Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound using electronic circuits and devices, such as synthesizer, electric guitar, and digital piano.
Keyboard Instruments: These are instruments that utilize a keyboard to play different notes, including piano, organ, harpsichord, and electronic keyboard.
Vocal Instruments: These are instruments that produce sound through the human voice, such as choir, solo voice, and acapella.
Folk Instruments: These are instruments that are typically associated with traditional and cultural music, including banjo, mandolin, accordion, bagpipes, and didgeridoo.
Orchestral Instruments: These are instruments that are commonly used in orchestras, including strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
Experimental Instruments: These are instruments that are often unconventional and experimental in design, construction, and sound production, such as the theremin, waterphone, and sound sculpture.
"Instrumentation is sometimes used as a synonym for orchestration."
"This juxtaposition of the two terms was first made in 1843 by Hector Berlioz in his Grand traité d'instrumentation et d'orchestration modernes..."
"...and various attempts have since been made to differentiate them."
"Instrumentation is a more general term referring to an orchestrator's, composer's or arranger's selection of instruments in varying combinations..."
"...or even a choice made by the performers for a particular performance..."
"...as opposed to the narrower sense of orchestration, which is the act of scoring for orchestra a work originally written for a solo instrument or smaller group of instruments."