Meet the Instruments: The Keyboard Family

Meet the Instruments: The Keyboard Family

In the keyboard family, instruments have the same set of keys, but make different sounds! The most common keyboard instrument is the piano, but

other keyboard instruments include harpsichord, accordion, and organ.

They all have white and black keys—the white keys represent the natural notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) and the black keys represent the accidental notes, or the notes that have flats or sharps (Ab, Bb, C#, D#, etc.). 

On a piano, the keys activate hammers that hit strings inside the piano to make sounds. There are pedals at the bottom of the piano that help sustain the sound. The harpsichord has the same keys as the piano, but the strings are plucked instead of hammered. 

Accordion and organ use air to produce the sound when the keys are played. Accordion has a bellows (a bag of air that you squeeze to blow out the air) that vibrates a rubber reed. While you push the bellows together, you press the keys to play the notes. An organ uses air blown through its pipes, which contain reeds, to make sounds. An organ typically has several tiers of keyboards and even has keys that the organist plays with his or her feet!

Visit the Classics for Kids website to learn more about the keyboard family and hear music made by the different keyboard instruments.

Click here to play a virtual piano on the Online Piano website.

Now that we have learned all the instruments of the orchestra, see where they all sit! Click here and then open the "Instruments of the Orchestra" game at the Classics for Kids website.

You can even watch Tom & Jerry play the piano in this YouTube video from WBKids.   

Visit the Dallas Symphony Orchestra website for more information and sound examples of keyboard instruments.  

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