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Contra – Means lower: for example a contrabassoon sounds lower than a regular bassoon, and a contrabass clarinet is even lower than a bass clarinet.

Piccolo- Means higher (literally "smaller"): for example, a piccolo trumpet is higher than a regular trumpet.

A Note Name – If an instrument comes in several different sizes (and ranges), the name of a particular size of the instrument may be a note name: for example, an F horn, a B flat clarinet, and a C trumpet. The note name is the name of the fundamental harmonic of the instrument. An instrument with a slightly higher fundamental will have a slightly higher range; an instrument with a much lower fundamental will have a much lower range. Some instruments that are identified this way are transposing instruments, but others are not.

The ranges of some instruments are definite and absolute. For example, even a beginning piano player can play the highest and lowest keys; and even the best player cannot play beyond these. But the ranges of many instruments are, like vocal ranges, not so definite. For example, an experienced horn or clarinet player can play much higher and lower notes than a beginner. An exceptional trumpet player may be able to play - with good sound and technique – high notes that the average high school trumpet player cannot play at all.

Other instruments may be a mix of absolute and indefinite ranges. For example, on any string instrument, nobody can play lower than the note that the lowest string is tuned to. But experienced players can easily play very high notes that inexperienced players have trouble playing well.

So it is sometimes useful to distinguish between a possible range, which includes the notes that a very experienced player can get, and a practical range, that includes all the notes that any competent player (including a good younger player) can get.

Note

Outside of the instrument’s practical range, it may be a strain for even a very good player to play long or tricky passages. So if you are composing or arranging, it’s a very good idea to be able to distinguish between these two ranges for the voices or instruments you include.

Some sources even list the power range of an instrument or voice. This is the part of the range where the instrument or voice is particularly strong. It may be in the middle of the range, or at the top or bottom, but writing in the power range should guarantee that the part is easy to play (or sing), sounds clear and strong, and can be easily heard, even when many other instruments are playing.

Note

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey! It was very useful to me, both as a researcher and as an author, to get a better picture of my readers' goals and needs. I hope to begin updating the survey results module in April. I will also soon begin making some of the suggested additions, and emailed comments are still welcome as always.

2.8. Classifying Music*

One of the first things needed when you begin the study of any subject is a little introduction to the "lingo." Since music is such a huge subject, some of the words used to talk about it are the terms that divide it up into smaller subjects, the way science is divided into biology, physics, and so on. So here are a few terms that may be useful if you are wondering what kind of music you want to learn more about.

Western and Non-Western

Most of the music books you'll find on the shelf are about Western music. From the end of the Middle Ages to modern times, composers and performers in western Europe gradually developed widely accepted standards for tuning, melody, harmony, meter, notation, form, counterpoint and other music basics. These rules are a sort of grammar for the language of music. Just as the basic rules for putting together sentences and paragraphs help people understand each other, knowing what to expect from a piece of music helps people understand and like it.

Of course, music, like language, changes through the centuries. A Bach invention, a Brahms symphony,