Questions: Instruments You Strum

Question 1

What does 'strum' mean?

• A. To blow into something
• B. To move your fingers across strings quickly and lightly
• C. To hit something hard
• D. To shake something back and forth

Answer: (B)

To strum means to move your fingers or a pick across the strings of an instrument. Guitars and harps are strum instruments!

Question 2

Which instrument would you strum?

• A. A drum
• B. A flute
• C. A guitar
• D. A bell

Answer: (C)

A guitar has strings, and you strum across those strings to make sound. That is why it is called a strum instrument!

Question 3

When you strum a guitar, different pitches come from different strings.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Yes! A guitar has many strings. Each string is different thickness or length, so each one makes a different pitch when strummed.

Question 4

Strum instruments are the same as shake instruments.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

No, they are different! Strum instruments have strings. You move your fingers across them. Shake instruments have things inside that rattle. You shake them.

Question 5

Show me how you would strum an imaginary guitar or harp.

Model answer: Move your fingers across an imaginary set of strings, moving across them like a brushing motion.

Good answers show a brushing or sweeping motion with the fingers, as if moving across strings from top to bottom or side to side.