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INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRA
STRINGS
The family of instruments which makes up the string section has survived three centuries in its role as the foundation of the orchestra. ...
The violin family is often supplemented by plucked instruments: harps are the most common, but guitars or mandolins may also be used.
VIOLIN
The most shapely and beautiful of all musical instruments, todays violin is the result of centuries of evolution. Established as the staple of the orchestra by the mid-17th Century, it carries the melodic burden of must baroque, classical and romantic music. ...
VIOLA
The alto member of the violin family, the viola is often called the Cinderella of the stringed instruments, not only because so little has been written for solo performances, but also for its elusive, mournful tone. ... It is one of the most big-hearted of the stringed instruments, noted for its expansive, singing melodies in romantic music.
DOUBLE BASS
This giant of an instrument, sounding a full octave below the cello, is used mainly to give weight to the bass line of the orchestra. ...
HARP
The most highly developed form of one of the most elementary of all instruments, the lyre - played by the first musician of classical legend, Orpheus, and dating back to biblical times. ...
RECORDER
The recorder, although familiar to children, only makes rare appearances in the orchestra.
Widely used by composers from medieval times to the 18th Century, it comes from a family of instruments that had almost dropped out of the orchestra by Mozarts time. Only in recent years, with a revival of interest in early music, has it re-emerged as an instrument of the orchestra. ...
CLARINET
A late arrival to the orchestra, the clarinet is only one of a group of woodwinds which share the unique feature of single-reed mouthpiece. Each clarinet player might be expected to play five instruments of the immediate family as well as the seven closely related types of saxophone. ...
SAXOPHONES
The saxophones are the brain-children of the Belgian instrument-maker Adolphe Sax, and were designed as military instruments. ...
The tenor is also to be found in the symphony orchestra. ...
BRASS
It was royal ceremony, military pomp and the tradition of the hunt that earnt the brass family its place in the orchestra. ...
The modern orchestra also contains trombones and tubas, and sometimes the cornet, the euphonium, the flugelhorn, the alphorn, the ophicleide and the giant Sousaphone – named after the American composer of marches.
Brass players control their instruments by means of valves, and have to master embouchure – the technique of using the mouth muscles to create notes of different pitch. ... Todays orchestra employs up to eight horn players for the great symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler; but even Haydn, in his oratorio The Seasons, asked for six in the hunting scene. To play, it is one of the most unpredictable if magnificent of brass instruments.
TROMBONE
Unique among brass instruments for their distinctive slide, trombones have hardly changed in their basic design since the middle of the 15th Century, when they were called sackbuts.
Approximate Word count = 2453
Approximate Pages = 9.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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