Pictures of Musical Instruments

Here's the story of how I got pictures of musical instruments for my website. The musical instrument names are below each image.

As some of you may know, I play the oboe. I'm currently playing in a local band, the Wamego Community Band directed by Mr. Chris Richmond, and this is the first time I've ever played in a band before. I've always just played in orchestras or smaller ensembles. I'm enjoying playing in this band so much. They're a blast to play with and they're really good which is good for me because it makes me practice harder than I might!

The Wamego Community Band

I needed pictures of musical instruments for this website so I decided I would ask members of the band if I could take pictures of their instruments.

First I asked two of the trombonists if I could take pictures of their trombones before the next practice and they kindly said "Sure".

I was really excited!

Then a couple days before our next practice I realized that I didnt have any percussion musical instrument pictures.

Cymbal Cymbal

So I emailed our band director, Mr. Chris Richmond, and asked him if I could come in early and take pictures of some of the instruments. He answered that yes it would be fine.

When I got there he told me I could take pictures of whatever I wanted. Yea! Talk about having fun! So I started taking pictures of the percussion instruments.

While I was taking pictures of the percussion instruments one of the percussionists had just arrived and was starting to warm up so I got to take some pictures of him practicing. It was really cool hearing him warm up while playing a marimba. He's really good!

The Glockenspiel or Orchestra Bells

Vibraphone

Gong Gong

Snare Drum

Orchestral Chimes

Bass Drum

Drum Kit

Drumsticks

After that, the trombonist got there and he got out the trombone. He laid it out for me to take pictures. So while I was taking pictures of his trombone, I was asking him how many years he had been playing trombone. He said he had been playing for about 40 years, but it wasn't his first instrument! He said his first musical instrument was the baritone.

Trombone

I didn't know what a baritone was so I asked him: "baritone saxophone?" And he said "no", and then he started to describe it to me. At that moment Mr. Richmond, who was standing right there, walked over and picked up an instrument case, brought it over, opened it up and showed it to me. So once I was done taking pictures of the trombone, the director got the baritone out of the case to let me take pictures of it!

Baritone

Then several of the other musicians started walking in and Mr. Richmond said "Hey, were having a photo op!" So then I was able to ask several of the other musicians if I could take pictures of their instruments too! I ended up being able to get pictures of the tuba and the trumpet as well. The trumpeter had three different mutes with him so I was able to get pictures of those too.

Tuba Tuba

Trumpet with Mutes

Then it was almost time to start practice, so I had to stop. While I had been taking pictures of musical instruments, my sister had been telling the principle flautist why I was taking pictures. So then I sat down next to the flautist to set up my oboe and we started talking. She said "So you've got pictures of..." and we started figuring out what instruments I had taken pictures of and then she said "Oh, I know what you don't have pictures of. You need pictures of the alto flute, the bass flute and the piccolo."

Then I realized that several months ago I could have had the opportunity to take some pictures of some and I told her that I regretted not having thought of it at that time and then she said "You know what? I have them. I can just bring them to the next practice and then you can take some pictures of them!" Isn't that great? A big thanks to the principle flautist! (See pix below.)

After practice I almost walked into the french horn player. As I was saying sorry to her for having almost walked into her, I realized that I needed to get pictures of a french horn as well. So, I said "Oh hey, I have a website called Music-Facts.com and I'm trying to get some pictures of musical instruments would it be ok if I took some pictures of your french horn next week before practice?" And she said "Oh, yeah. Sure. You know what? I think I was just on that website a while ago!" Isn't that so cool! I've never met anyone in the flesh who had been to my website without me having already told them about it!

As I was leaving I also got to ask one of the clarinetists if I could take some pictures of her instrument and she said yes, too!

So, One Week Later...

Double Bass

So the next week I went in early to take more pictures of musical instruments. And since I had gotten there a little bit earlier than the musicians whose instruments I was photographing, I went ahead and got pictures of the Xylophone because the picture that I had taken last week didn't turn out very well. :( Also they had moved the drum kit out so I was able to take better pictures of it as well!

Then I took some pictures of a double bass that they have sitting on a stand. About a month ago I took pictures of a double bass at orchestra practice. We had taken the double bass off stage and taken pictures of it, but the lighting was really bad so I'm glad to have had the opportunity to take more pictures of a double bass!

Then the flautist arrived and started getting the instruments ready for me to take some pictures. She had a bass flute, an alto flute, a piccolo and a regular C flute with a B foot joint.

The Flute Family

While I was taking pictures of the flutes, the bassoonist came in and stopped to watch us a little while. Guess what? More pictures of musical instruments! Isn't this great?

Bassoon Bassoon

And then after practice I got to take some really great pictures of the clarinet!

Clarinet

Wow! Every single one of these band members has been so kind to me. I'm so glad to have these pictures of musical instruments. I'd like to thank everyone in the band for making it such a fun and wonderful experience and I'd like to especially thank those who let me take pictures of their musical instruments!

The Wamego Community Band

So if you're ever in Wamego, Kansas be sure to check out what the Wamego Community Band is doing! Do you play? Come join us. We'd love to have you play!

Here's the Wamego Community Band's Facebook page.

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