What kinds of instruments can you identify in this folk song?

[juno987654321]

I never know where to put such a question but then I think if anyone still knows anything about real instruments and how they sound it's most likely in this section. I could have also placed it to "anything else music related" but, you know, it's also about analyzing songs and what they are composed of, so...

I sometimes try to identify the instruments that were used in songs (be they folk songs, pieces from classical music or just modern productions), just to train my ears/brain a bit and so that I know what kinds of instruments would have to be used if one was to reconstruct the song as closely to the original as possible (be it in a DAW or with a band playing live).
But then sometimes I don't find any information to check if my guesses were right as in this song:



Sorry if the folk-song sounds stupid to some but I like it.

It's from a puppetteering TV series for children I used to watch (Augsburger Puppenkiste)
(and children in Germany still like this series today even though my grandparents already knew it...).

My guess for some of the instruments:
- accordion at the beginning
- tuba in the background
Please correct me if I'm wrong, though.

Obviously there are people whistling and singing in between as well so one instrument is definately the human voice, too.

I'm not sure about the following:
- some kind of flute (which one?) OR clarinette(s) OR oboe(s) OR a mixture of all ???

Maybe there's even more instruments such as further brass instruments at the end?

[Hink]

sure it's not a concertina?

[donkey tugger]

That little bit from 20 seconds to about 28 seconds or so sounds like someone blowing hard into a recorder. It's a sound that will forever be etched upon my memory from school 'music' lessons...

[BertKoor]

I hear no accordion or one of its cousins They usually totally dominate a piece when present.

Guitar strumming softly in the background, contrabass plucking. Snare drum with brushes also very soft, could just make it out at the very end. I think there's no tuba but rather a trombone.

Plenty clarinette and a flute. In Dutch it's a "blokfluit", in English bearing the confusing name "recorder". Overblown at 0:20 to mimick steam train flute. After 0:35 it sounds more (or is played) like a piccolo. Judging on the register it's a sopranino model.

[juno987654321]

This is very interesting to me! Many instruments sound so similar! I was wondering if they used a recorder or a flute in this example but you all seem sure that it's a (small) recorder. Would a flute definately sound different?

But what's the instrument right at the beginning? Right at the beginning as they sing "Ei-ne (Insel)..."?
Is it not a small version of an accordion or something like it (concertina) ? It sounds a bit like this?
What other instrument could it be that sounds similar?

To me it's also extremely difficult to tell the difference in sound between an oboe and a clarinette but you say there's clarinettes then. How can you tell the difference? Are you sure?

I'll have to check how trombones can sound in the lower registers (as opposed to tubas). This one was also a nice suggestion!

[BertKoor]

But what's the instrument right at the beginning?

There's no instrument in this ensemble that plays only in the intro. Me thinks it's the same trombone + clarinet + flute as you hear all through the same song. There could be two clarinets. The Bavarians love their clarinets...

I was wondering if they used a recorder or a flute in this example but you all seem sure that it's a (small) recorder. Would a flute definately sound different?
[...]
To me it's also extremely difficult to tell the difference in sound between an oboe and a clarinette but you say there's clarinettes then. How can you tell the difference? Are you sure?

Pay attention to timbre and range of the played notes.

Timbre: the oboe sounds nasal (compare to pulse wave 20% width) while the clarinet sounds much more woolly (triangle wave). This one I'm very sure of.

Range: Most flutes have a usable range (easy to play) of two octaves. A concert flute (dwarsfluit, Querflöte) is one octave lower than the soprano recorder, and the sopranino is a halve (or full) octave higher than the standard recorder. I have what they call "absolute pitch". I determined this song is in G without having to check pitch with an instrument at hand. I played the recorder, my sister did concert flute, so I know their limits.

This melody is too high pitched for a concert flute, which leaves sopranino recorder or picolo as candidates. Since their pitch is rather high the timbres are similar as well, you have to evaluate other things such as false air (typical for a flute you blow over instead of into) and the transient part of its sound. I always associate piccollos with US Civil War regiments marching bands playing Yankee Doodle. That's quite high, no regular flute plays comfortably that high. Fwiw imho sopranino recorder and piccollo are interchangeable. They differ in construction but sound very similar (to me at least)

[BertKoor]

Here:



The instrumental version makes it much easier to identify what's what, since the singer is pretty loud and masking what you're interested in.

Now I hear trumpet and trombone. What I thought was a guitar is more likely a banjo. These instruments were considered to be part of the rhythm section (before guitars got amplification and a foreground role)

Not 100% sure though it's the same ensemble and arrangement. Sounds similar, but I'm missing a cymbal crash on the start of first full bar for instance.
Correction: pretty sure it's a very different take, ensemble is quite similar. Going full dixieland at 0:45 is not what happened in the original.

[juno987654321]

Wow, how informative! So the high-pitched sounds must be from a recorder but some other sounds in the song come from a flute. Both flute and recorder can be heard in the song you say. I think I got you on that!

You also think the whole penetrating sound at the beginning (the obvious one in the foreground) is just by clarinets, no (small) accordion mixed in, etc.
I still have to familiarize myself with the clarinet sounds. They can sound much more expressive than I thought.
I found this video which also helped me to believe your suggestion about the clarinets much more:



I just never heard the clarinets play in certain ways so I took it for something that I was more familiar with which was the accordion and then Hink also mentioned the smaller versions of them. But to me the accordion sound comes somewhat close to the clarinet sound when played with these notes. Don't you think?

I still have to come to terms with some sounds from some instruments. That's actually something I'm currently trying to do (again).

I rediscovered some beautiful classical sounds from the Baroque Era (Händel). Sometimes I need this for a change (but only sometimes). But more often than not instruments sound almost the same to me like viola da gamba and cello. They only start to sound different as you get more familiar with them...

[BertKoor]

What type of flute exactly? I tried to be as specific as possible, but some occurrence of vague "flute" might have slipped through (or were generic on purpose)

Flute is a generic name for a whole group of windwood instruments, not specific enough here. I think I only heard sopranino recorder (sorry, NOT checking it again)

Clarinet and accordion have a thing in common: reed.

It takes more listening experience to discern eg trumpet from bugel.

[juno987654321]

Aaah, I got you now. You think there's no (concert) flute in the song, but only a recorder. OK.
("Flute" is one of the most confusing terms.)


More opinions on the instruments that were used here, please.
No accordion or concertina?

[juno987654321]

[juno987654321]

[juno987654321]

I've decided to completely restart this topic in a different section. Thanks to Bert for all the information so far!!! I'd like to have 2nd and 3rd opinions, too, though.