Musical instruments all make vibrations – they have features that allow them to make different sounds

The sounds we produce from a musical instrument depend on three elements:

• The vibrating part of the instrument, which we activate by striking, blowing (including blowing air over vocal chords for speaking or singing), plucking or scraping.

• The amplifying part of the instrument – anything that can make the sound louder or bigger by allowing the vibrations to move around a space and grow such as an amplifier, a sound box (the open chamber of a stringed instrument like a guitar or the pātē drum pictured) or a tube (flutes or horns).

• Any sound-altering devices on the instrument – for example, keys, frets, valves or mutes.

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• Sound – resonance

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• Standing waves in a trumpet and flute

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