Percussion is, by its very nature, L O U D if you are close to it. Putting it at the back of an orchestra does two things. It allows a bit of space which mellows the sound, and second puts a lot of soft sound absorbers (other members of the orchestra) between the player and the audience.
The strings are the largest family of instruments in the orchestra and they come in four sizes: the violin, which is the smallest, viola, cello, and the biggest, the double bass, sometimes called the contrabass.
The Festive Basic Baroque Orchestra contained violins (divided into two groups, called violins 1 and violins 2), Violas, Cellos and Bass viol (playing the same music as the cellos an octave lower. To this was added 2 oboes, 3 trumpets, 2 timpani (kettledrums) and a keyboard instrument, generally a harpsichord.
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'The most obvious role of the Leader is liaising with the conductor in rehearsals to help the Orchestra interpret their ideas and make them sound as they imagine. This mainly affects the string section, but may also influence the rest of the Orchestra.
Conductor, in music, a person who conducts an orchestra, chorus, opera company, ballet, or other musical group in the performance and interpretation of ensemble works.
The Sections of the Orchestra. The typical orchestra is divided into four groups of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion.
The piano is an entire orchestra in itself – but sometimes its sound is a part of the big symphony orchestra.
They should be well versed in the theory and history of music, understand all the instruments and all the musical styles, be able to break a piece of music down into its component parts, be very familiar with all Western music, and understand several foreign languages.
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.
Solo concerto
Modern orchestras are a bit smaller than in the Romantic Era (symphony and other very large orchestras still exist). Some may focus on the unique (or even bizarre) sounds of individual instruments.
The orchestra also contains a wind section, but it is much smaller than a concert band. Basically, the concert band does not contain stringed instruments, except the occasional string bass or harp. Additionally, these ensembles traditionally play different styles of music.
Pt. Bassoon (fagotto) fg. ... Bassoon c'fg.
A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue.
Orchestra generally refers to any ensemble with sections of bowed string instruments. ... Band, outside the idiom of folk and pop music, generally refers to an ensemble of wind instruments plus percussion section, with or without a string bass.