PiccolosAt half the size of a standard flute, piccolos play the highest notes of all the woodwinds; in the orchestra one of the flute players will also play piccolo if that instrument is required. The high piping sound of the piccolo is also heard in traditional drum corps and marching band music.
Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, often made easier for the musicians to see by use of a conductor's baton. The conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo and shapes the sound of the ensemble.
The typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings (violin, viola, cello, and double bass).
Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire, including symphonies, opera and ballet overtures, concertos for solo instruments, and as pit ensembles for operas, ballets, and some types of musical theatre (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan operettas).
English horn, French cor anglais, German Englischhorn, orchestral woodwind instrument, a large oboe pitched a fifth below the ordinary oboe, with a bulbous bell and, at the top end, a bent metal crook on which the double reed is placed.
Five SeasonsChicago Symphony Orchestra - 1944-1945, 1951, 1956, 1988.Cincinatti Symphony Orchestra - 1944-1947, 1956, 1988.Los Angeles Philharmonic - 1944, 1950, 1955, 1982-1983.Orchestra della Teatro alla Scala, Milan - 1950, 1953, 1955, 1982, 1984.Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - 1944-1945, 1949-1950, 1984.
Gamelan in Wayang Kulit Performance The gamelan orchestra is a vital accompaniment for wayang kulit performance. Music supports the all-night performance almost non-stop, though the number of instruments that play may vary.
The Sections of the Orchestra. The typical orchestra is divided into four groups of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
Flute The flute is the highest sounding of the standard orchestra woodwind instruments (although the piccolo is higher). It's played played by blowing air across a hole in the mouthpiece.
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel
There are anywhere from 2 to 8 French horns in an orchestra, and they play both melody and harmony as well as rhythm. To play the French horn, hold it with the bell curving downward and buzz into the mouthpiece.
The violin, viola, and cello are tuned to beatless just perfect fifths and ensembles such as string quartets and orchestras tend to play in fifths based Pythagorean tuning or to compensate and play in equal temperament, such as when playing with other instruments such as the piano.
A modern full-scale symphony orchestra consists of approximately one hundred permanent musicians, most often distributed as follows: 16–18 1st violins, 16 2nd violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, 8 double basses, 4 flutes (one with piccolo as a specialty), 4 oboes (one with English horn as a specialty), 4 clarinets (one with ...
Chair violinistThe first chair violinist of an orchestra—known as the concertmaster—is a vital musical leader with widely ranging responsibilities, from tuning the orchestra to working closely with the conductor.
The simplest answer is to say that usually the second violins play a supportive role harmonically and rhythmically to the first violins which often play the melody and the highest line of the string section.
Typically, orchestras play for the public in spaces with carefully engineered acoustics. The acoustics are designed so that amplification should not be needed. So, when playing for an audience, orchestras usually do not use microphones.
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra composed by Britten in 1946, is based on a theme from Abdelazar written by Henry Purcell in 1695, and is played by the entire orchestra at the beginning, and then is scored for individual sections at a time: first the woodwinds, followed by the brass, then the strings, and ...
Violins are the most popular and most needed instrument of the group, usually employing one group to play the melody, and a second group to play the accompaniment.
Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra/Composers The Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 123, is a five-movement orchestral work composed by Béla Bartók in 1943. It is one of his best-known, most popular, and most accessible works.
Brass Family The Brass Family is one of the oldest families of the orchestra and includes the trumpet, French horn, tuba and trombone, which are all made of brass! Sound is produced when a brass player buzzes his or her lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece to produce vibrating air.
The primary responsibilities of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble, and to control the interpretation and pacing of the music. ... Typically, orchestral conductors use a baton more often than choral conductors.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Orchestral jazz is a jazz genre that developed in New York City in the 1920s. ... The fusion of jazz's rhythmic and instrumental characteristics with the scale and structure of an orchestra, made orchestral jazz distinct from the musical genres that preceded its emergence.