Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 24: Lute - Suite in C minor

by Johann Sebastian Bach

Performer: Martha Goldstein

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson introduces the lute, a stringed instrument. Lutes typically have a long neck and an egg-shaped chamber strung with a varying number of strings. Lutes also have a sound hole called a rose. Lutes are plucked with a pick or strummed with the fingers. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Suite in C minor,' by Johann Sebastian Bach, features the music of a lute. The painting included in the lesson, 'Portrait of Mrs. Klara Bianka of Quandt with Lute,' by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, shows a woman playing a lute.

Vocabulary

Lute: A plucked stringed instrument with a long neck bearing frets and a rounded body with a flat front that is shaped like a halved egg.
Rose: A decorated sound hole of a lute.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

String instruments produce sound through the vibration of strings. Strings may be plucked or strummed with fingers, hit with hammers, or rubbed with a bow.

See a picture of strings below. Note that some strings are thicker and some are thinner.

The sound produced by a string depends in part on its thickness, its length, its tightness, and its material.

Instruments have multiple strings of varying thickness. Musicians playing instruments turn pegs to tighten or loosen the strings and change their sounds. Musicians also press their fingers against the strings to control the length of strings that vibrate and produce sound. Strings are made from materials such as nylon or steel.

String instruments include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, guitars, ukuleles, sitars, mandolins, banjos, and depending on who you ask, pianos.

Study the images of strings.

1. Viola Strings

2. Cello Strings

3. Guitar Strings

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of a Lute

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the lute.

Activity 2: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'Portrait of Mrs. Klara Bianka of Quandt with Lute,' by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, and find the following:

• Woman
• Pillars
• Fruit
• Mountains
• Strumming Hand
• Hand Shortening and Lengthening the Strings
• Lute
• Lute Strings
• Lute Rose
• Lute Neck
• Lute Body
• Lute Bridge
• Lute Strap

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 4

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 4

Question 2

Which string instrument does this lesson feature?

2 / 4

Answer 2

This lesson features the lute.

2 / 4

Question 3

What are the major parts of the lute?

3 / 4

Answer 3

Major parts of the lute include the rose, the strings, the neck, the body, the tuning pegs, and the bridge.

3 / 4

Question 4

How do musicians make sounds with a lute?

4 / 4

Answer 4

Musicians use one hand to strum the strings and the other to shorten and lengthen the strings to change the sound.

4 / 4

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which string instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the lute.
3. What are the major parts of the lute? Major parts of the lute include the rose, the strings, the neck, the body, the tuning pegs, and the bridge.
4. How do musicians make sounds with a lute? Musicians use one hand to strum the strings and the other to shorten and lengthen the strings to change the sound.

References

'String instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Lute.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Suite in C minor, BWV 997 performed by Martha Goldstein (CC BY-SA 3.0).' Musopen. Musopen.org. n.p.