Sorting Musical Instruments

Yesterday, we started our Montessori-inspired activities for Music.  This is in preparation for our Montessori Music post this coming Friday, the 17th of July for 12 Months of Montessori Series.

Now, I just wanted to highlight this activity, of sorting musical instruments.  There are lots of instruments out there, but I think it is important for the child to identify the groups or families of these instruments to understand how they work.


The Helpful Garden has this amazing file of musical instruments!  It was created as a Montessori 3-part cards, but in our activity, we sorted them out according to their categories.  So I started off by presenting the instruments to Mavi and how these instruments make sounds.  (We also watched videos on how these instruments are being used)

Percussion Instruments
These are the instruments that make a sound when you hit, shake or scrape them.  A sound is produced because the instrument vibrates and produces sound waves.


Stringed Instruments
These instruments make sound by making the string vibrate, like plucking, hitting or bowing it.


Keyboard Instruments
These are instruments that produce sound using a keyboard.  There are two types of keyboard instruments:  those making sounds by vibrating the strings like the piano, and those that make sounds by vibrating the column like the pipe organ.


Brass Instruments
These are metal wind instruments.  Originally, these instruments are made of brass, but these days other metals are often used.  The sound is produced by blowing wind into the instrument’s mouthpiece.


Woodwind Instruments
These are wind instruments that are made of wood.  Just like the Brass Instruments, music is produced by blowing wind into the instrument’s mouthpiece causing the the column of air inside it to vibrate.


Sorting Musical Instruments
With the materials presented, it was time for Mavi to sort out the instruments.  The key here is to check the instruments and identify their feature whether they have strings, keyboard, made of metal, wood or something that you need to hit to produce sounds.

He was confused at first, as you can see he forgot to place the Brass Instruments.


Finally, he spotted his mistake and made another column for the Brass.


Watch out for my post this Friday for a complete list of our Montessori-inspired Music activities!