Musical Instruments – Class 6 Arts Chapter 7 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 6ArtsChapter 7NCERT book: Kriti - Arts Class 6

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 7 of the NCERT Class 6 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 7: Musical Instruments (Music)

Introduction

"Every musician is a storyteller, using melodies and rhythms to narrate the tales of the heart." — Pandit Ravishankar, Bharat Ratna, sitar exponent

The objective of this chapter is to understand the role of instruments in a musical piece and to explore instrument families. Instruments help create a layered, rich sound of notes and rhythm.

Key Ideas

How instruments change a song

Students learn the song *Shyamale Meenakshi, composed by Muthuswami Dikshitar*. They sing it:

with any classroom instrument, or with body percussion (clapping, stamping);

with an audio track accompanied by a violin and mridangam;

with a new set of instruments — a piano and drums.

Comparing these shows how the choice of instruments changes the whole experience of the same song.

Instruments and storytelling

Listening to a story told with an instrument such as the Saraswati veena shows how an instrument adds depth and emotion to storytelling.

Instrument families

The two important components of music are melody and tempo. Based on these, instruments are classified as:

Melody instruments

Rhythm instruments

Instruments are further classified by how they are played — for example, by plucking strings, blowing air, or striking with palms, fingers, sticks or hammers. The book's chart shows these families with pictures.

Make your own jaltarang

The jaltarang is a set of glass, metal or clay bowls, each holding a different amount of water. The artist strikes the rim of each bowl with a wooden stick.

It is both a melody and a rhythm instrument.

It can be called a wind instrument because the air above the water in each bowl vibrates.

It is also percussive because sound is made by striking a surface — the rim.

To make one: take five sturdy bowls, water and two pencils or sticks. Arrange the bowls in a row and fill them with different amounts of water — for example, 1 cup, ¾ cup, ½ cup and ¼ cup. Strike the rims gently and notice how the pitch changes from bowl to bowl.

Activities

Sing Shyamale Meenakshi with body percussion, then with two different sets of instruments; discuss which you preferred and why.

Listen to a story with instrumental accompaniment and record your emotions.

Name two rhythm instruments, two melody instruments, two plucked-string melody instruments and two metal rhythm instruments.

Scan the QR codes and match the sounds to instruments such as sitar, santoor, harmonium, tanpura, violin, shehnai, tabla, sarod, flute and pakhawaj.

Build your own jaltarang.

Watch the introduction to Indian instruments by the Indian Music Experience Museum, Bengaluru.

Project ideas: music and science, or a life sketch of a local musician.

Key Terms

Instrument — a device for making music (वाद्य यंत्र)

Melody instrument — plays tunes (स्वर वाद्य)

Rhythm instrument — keeps the beat (ताल वाद्य)

Tempo — speed of music (गति / लय)

Accompaniment — instruments that support a singer (संगत)

Pluck — pulling a string to make sound (तार छेड़ना)

Percussion — sound made by striking (आघात वाद्य)

Wind instrument — sound made by vibrating air (सुषिर वाद्य)

Jaltarang — bowls of water played as an instrument (जलतरंग)

Composer — person who creates music (संगीतकार / रचनाकार)

Woodwind — wind instrument like the shehnai (काष्ठ-सुषिर वाद्य)

Artists & Traditions Mentioned

Pandit Ravishankar — sitar exponent, Bharat Ratna.

Ustad Bismillah Khan — one of India's greatest shehnai players and a Bharat Ratna. The shehnai, a woodwind instrument once used mostly in folk music, became popular in Hindustani classical music because of him. He was a symbol of religious harmony and performed at the Red Fort on 15 August 1947.

Muthuswami Dikshitar — composer of Shyamale Meenakshi.

Connect to Your Life

Listen to your favourite songs and try to identify the instruments. Sort them into melody and rhythm instruments.

Common Mistakes

Thinking an instrument belongs to only one family — the jaltarang is melody, rhythm, wind and percussive.

Forgetting that the same song feels very different with different instruments.

Let's Reflect

How did singing with violin and mridangam differ from piano and drums?

Why does the pitch change from one jaltarang bowl to another?

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Instruments add layers of notes and rhythm and change how a song feels
✓Instruments are classified as melody or rhythm instruments, and further by how they are played
✓The jaltarang is a melody and rhythm instrument that is both wind and percussive
✓Different amounts of water in jaltarang bowls produce different pitches
✓Great instrumentalists like Ustad Bismillah Khan brought instruments such as the shehnai to classical music

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Play 'Shyamale Meenakshi' with violin–mridangam and then piano–drums, and let students vote on their preference
→Build a jaltarang in class with five bowls and let students compose short tunes
→Create a classroom chart sorting instruments into melody and rhythm families
→Use the QR-code matching activity as a listening quiz
→Invite a local instrumentalist for a demonstration and question session
→Link the jaltarang activity to science: more water, different pitch
→Let students tell a short story with an instrument accompanying them

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student classify instruments into melody and rhythm instruments with examples?
Can the student explain why the jaltarang is both a wind and a percussion instrument?
Can the student describe how changing instruments changes a song?
Can the student make and play a simple jaltarang?
Can the student name the instrument associated with Ustad Bismillah Khan?

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← Previous: Chapter 6Music and Your Emotions Next: Chapter 8 →Taal or Talam and Raga or Ragam in Indian Music