Ethnomusicology-World Instruments

Lesson ideas

Ethnomusicology = the study of world music
Explain that they just finished reviewing 4 families of the orchestra, and that ethnomusicologists have categorized the world’s instruments into families, which are similar, but not the same.
Display pictures of instruments from around the world. As they think through what some of the instruments have in common, guide them to put them into categories based on what vibrates on each instrument.
Introduce the ethnomusicology terms:
- aerophones = air vibrates
- chordophones = strings vibrate
- membranophones = stretched skin vibrates
- idiophones = solid material vibrates
- electrophones = electronics
When the students build their own instruments, tell them to inform you what category/ies their instruments fit into. (I don’t require them to memorize these terms.)