Question

(Brainliest for a good answer) Describe the timbre of each of the following instruments, being sure to explain the effect composers achieve by using each of them in their music:
Saxophone
Tuba
Banjo
Harp
Xylophone

Answer 1

Answer:

Saxophone: The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece.

Tuba: The tuba is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibration into a large mouthpiece.

Banjo: The banjo is a four, five, or six stringed instrument with a thin membrane, stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator.

Harp: The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers.

Xylophone: The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets.

Answer 2

Answer:

(You think you know about music, but then when you try to describe these intrinsic things, it becomes difficult! Ok, let me give this a stab!)

Saxophone : The sax has a floaty, more round timbre, as compared to something more direct like a clarinet. Its distinct reediness and tendency towards a rich vibrato give it a jazzy effect when composers use it in music, even in a non-jazz song like Ravel's Bolero.

Tuba : The tuba is the giant of the brass section, and it has a heavy, almost blatty timbre. It's not known for its agility, just for its reliable bassline, and incorporating tuba can give the music a polka-like effect or just a solid undertone in the low decibel region.

Banjo : The banjo is the earthy cousin to the guitar. Its timbre is best suited to folk music or peppy country songs because of the unique strum of each note.

Harp : The harp has an attack and sustain very similar to the piano, and its tambre is similar to a cross between a piano and a string pizzicato. That's how I like to think about it. Use of it in music gives it a dreamy quality, especially because of the massive scales harpists can pull off.

Xylophone: The timbre of the xylophone, as pitched percussion, carries through a section. If composers mean to include it, they had better be ready to have it dominate, because its clear attack and maintained tone will stand out.