edHelper.com
Music

Hornpipes and Pibgorns

Hornpipes and Pibgorns
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.15

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    jigs, pibgorns, countryside, pibgorn, eighteenth, fairly, maximum, demand, musical, during, such, necessary, instead, cattle, century, amount
     content words:    Sailors Hornpipe, Middle East, Industrial Revolution

Print Hornpipes and Pibgorns
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Hornpipes and Pibgorns  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Hornpipes and Pibgorns
     Leave your feedback on Hornpipes and Pibgorns  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Hornpipes and Pibgorns
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     If you have ever listened to the music of Irish jigs and other folk dances, you may have heard of The Sailors Hornpipe. Have you ever wondered what a hornpipe is? It's a musical instrument!
 
2     A hornpipe is made with a narrow tube called a reed pipe. On either end are sections of horn, usually from a cow. The small horn cup at the top helps to concentrate and funnel the air into the reed pipe. The larger piece of horn at the bottom amplifies the sound as it comes out. Pibgorns are in this family.
 
3     Hornpipes were made by people all over the world, except the Aborigines of Australia. Sometimes the reed (wooden tube) had finger holes cut in the top so many notes could be played. Sometimes there were no holes so only a single note would sound.
 
4     Some people were not satisfied with just a single horn. They would put in two horns instead and make the sound from the instrument even louder. To get the maximum amount of sound, some hornpipes were attached to bagpipes.

Paragraphs 5 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper