Orchestras most often play classical, instrumental music and you can quickly identify them by their characteristic mix of instruments from four main instrument families (more on those later). When orchestras are really large, we call them symphony orchestras.
The four most commonly used instruments in the string family are the violin, the viola, the cello and the double (string) bass.
Georgia Napolitano
Piccolo
Symphony
Second chair means that you're still very good at your instrument. You don't have the same leadership responsibility as first chair. Sure you might be called upon when they are sick once or twice a year. Instead, you have to follow first chair's lead, even if you don't fully agree.
A symphony orchestra and a philharmonic are the same thing - sort of. They're the same size and they play the same kind of music. ... “Symphony orchestra” is a generic term, whereas “philharmonic orchestra” is always part of a proper name.
Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments (such as in tempo, articulation, phrasing, repetitions of sections), work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the performers.
Generally speaking, they are the piccolo (highest note is the highest C on the piano, although it requires a skilled player to comfortably play the notes in the top half or so of the highest octave) and the contrabassoon (which can comfortably reach the lowest Bb on the piano, and some instruments with a low A ...
Baroque orchestra instruments usually included:strings - violins, violas, cellos and double basses. woodwind - recorders or wooden flutes, oboes and bassoon. brass - sometimes trumpets and/or horns (without valves)timpani (kettledrums)continuo - harpsichord or organ.
The brass instruments that are sometimes, but very rarely, used in the concert band:Flugelhorn. Tenor (alto) Horn. Piccolo trumpet. Wagner tuba.
An orchestra tunes itself to a very particular frequency, usually 440 hertz, a note known as A 440. The note is played by the oboist, and the rest of the orchestra tunes their instruments to match it. The oboe leads the tuning because of all the instruments, it is least affected by humidity or other weather conditions.
Orchestration
Generally, the Baroque orchestra had five sections of instruments: woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings, and harpsichord. The strings or harpsichord almost always carried the melody, with brass and woodwinds providing the harmonies.
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 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.
An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments.
Most importantly a conductor serves as a messenger for the composer. It is their responsibility to understand the music and convey it through gesture so transparently that the musicians in the orchestra understand it perfectly. Those musicians can then transmit a unified vision of the music out to the audience.
Britten
The orchestra of Paris Opera is ranked top, despite being a bloody-minded bunch who ran a woman conductor out of town, and Orchestre de Paris is next, overlooking its daily battle of wills with conductor Paavo Järvi. Few, however, would challenge Toulouse as the third of the top three.
The word derives from the ancient Greek part of a stage where instruments and the chorus combined music and drama to create theater. The first semblance of a modern orchestra came in the early 17th century when the Italian opera composer Claudio Monteverdi formally assigned specific instruments to perform his music.
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 ...