1. SEMINAR ON ACTIVE ACADEMIC LISTENING AT THE UPM (ETSI CAMINOS)
TEXT REPERTOIRE FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
Prof. SANCHO GUINDA
Text 1: Exemplification
The flute, the clarinet, the bassoon and the bagpipe are wooden instruments. The trumpet and
the horn are made of brass. In the wooden group the air is made vibrate inside a wooden tube.
Both groups are played by blowing air into them and constitute the category of wind
instruments. The drum is played by banging it and is an example of a percussion instrument.
Other percussion instruments are played by striking them. And others, such as the guitar, have
strings. Other examples of stringed instruments are the harp, the violin, and the cello. The harp
and the guitar are played by plucking their strings and others, like the violin and the cello, by
drawing a bow across them.
Text 2: Numerical anticipation
There are three main of classes of musical instruments according to the way they are played:
wind, percussion, and stringed instruments. Wind instruments, played by blowing air into
them, are subdivided into two categories according to the materials they are made of:
woodwind and brass instruments. To the first subcategory belong four well-known examples:
the flute, the clarinet, the bassoon, and the bagpipe. To the second one belong these three
instruments: the trumpet, the horn, and the mouth-organ. Percussion instruments are played
by banging or striking them. One obvious example is the drum. Stringed instruments branch
out into two subclasses: those which are played by plucking their strings, and those played by
drawing a bow across them. Examples of the former subclass are the harp and the guitar. Of
the latter, the violin and the cello.
Text3: Metadiscourse
There are many different types of musical instruments. How are they classified? To begin with,
according to the way they are played. Secondly, subcategories maybe established according to
the materials with which they are built or to more specific ways of playing, or to the tools
needed to play them. Let us begin with the broader categories; that is, with the ways of
playing, which generate three major classes: wind, percussion, and stringed instruments. Wind
instruments are played by blowing air into them and may be divided into the woodwind and
brass subcategories. With regard to the former, the air is made to vibrate inside a wooden
tube, and familiar examples are the flute, the clarinet, the bassoon, or the bagpipe. Concerning
the latter, there are three well-known instances: the trumpet, the horn, and the mouth organ.
As for the second big category, that of the percussion instruments, they may be played by
banging or by striking them. The drum is an example of the first case. The guitar, of the
second. To conclude, the last big group, that formed by the stringed instruments, branches out
into those played by plucking the strings—and here we must include the guitar (both a
percussion and a stringed instrument)—and those played by drawing a bow across their
strings, among which we may list, for instance, the violin and the cello.

2. Text 4: Repetition
Musical instruments may be classified into several categories according to different criteria.
Three of these categories correspond to the criterion of how they are played, and some
subcategories to criteria such as the materials they are made of, more specific modes of
playing them, or the tools needed to do it. The first category is that of wind instruments,
played by blowing air into them. Wind instruments may be made of wood or of metal.
Woodwind instruments are the flute, the clarinet, the bassoon, and the bagpipe. Metal wind
instruments are the trumpet, the horn, or the mouth organ. The second category is that of the
percussion instruments, played by banging or striking them. A percussion instrument is the
drum. The third category is that of the stringed instruments, which have strings that can be
played either by plucking them or by drawing a bow across them. Stringed instruments played
by plucking are the guitar and the harp. Stringed instruments played by drawing a bow across
their strings are the violin and the cello.
Text 5: ‘Plain text’ (simplified version)
Musical instruments are classified into the wind, percussion and stringed families according to
the way they are played. Wind instruments make the air vibrate into a tube and subdivide into
the wood and brass subcategories depending on the tube material. The flute, the clarinet, the
bassoon and the bagpipe belong to the woodwind group and the trumpet, the horn and the
mouth-organ to the brass one. Percussion instruments, such as the drum, are played by either
banging and or plucking them. And stringed instruments have strings which may be plucked or
drawn a bow across. The guitar and the harp strings are plucked, whereas a bow is drawn
across those of the violin and the cello.
Original text
[Wallace, Michael J. (1980). Study Skills in English. Cambridge University Press, p. 55]
There are many different kinds of musical instruments. They are divided into three main
classes according to the way that they are played. For example, some instruments are played
by blowing air into them. These are called wind instruments. In some of these the air is made
to vibrate inside a wooden tube, and these are said to be of the woodwind family. Examples of
woodwind instruments are the flute, the clarinet, and the bassoon. Other instruments are
made of brass: the trumpet and the horn, for example. There are also various other wind
instruments such as the mouth-organ and the bagpipes.
Some instruments are played by banging or striking them. One obvious example is the
drum, of which there are various kinds. Instruments like this are called percussion instruments.
The last big group of musical instruments are the ones which have strings. There are
two main kinds of stringed instruments: those in which the music is made by plucking the
strings, and those where the player draws a bow across the strings. Examples of the former are
the harp and the guitar. Examples of the latter are the violin and the cello.