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The Orchestra
What is an orchestra?
The orchestra is made of four
families of instruments:
•Strings
•Brass
•Woodwinds
•Percussion
The string section has been a
major part of the orchestra for 200 years.
The sound is created by the vibration of
strings.
There are two types of stringed instruments,
bowed and plucked.
• Bowed strings are played with a bow, they
are the violin, viola, cello and bass.
• Plucked strings include the harp,
guitar, lute, mandolin, banjo, and
others.
The
strings
were originally
made out of cat gut,
just as tennis
racket strings used
to be made.
The larger the stringed
instrument the lower
the sound.
That’s the case with the
String
bass.
It is sometimes called
the double bass or
stand-up bass.
Large orchestras have 8
to 10 basses.
The cello is the
second largest of the string
section.
Of all the strings, the rich,
singing sound of the cello
make it sound the most like a
human voice.
Some people believe it is the
most expressive instrument
in the orchestra.
The
violin
plays an extremely
important part in
the orchestra, but
is the smallest of
the string family.
It plays the main
melody in most
orchestral music.
The Viola is bigger than the violin,
though it looks the same.
Its sound is warm, deep and powerful.
It is more difficult to play, due to violists
having to stretch their fingers further
between
notes.
The plucked strings
include the harp,
guitar, lute,
mandolin and banjo.
The strings are
plucked to make
sweet, delicate
music that is softer
than most other
instruments.
The harpsichord
also has strings that are plucked. It
looks similar to a piano.
The piano has strings that are actually
hit by small mallets instead of plucked,
so it is considered a percussion
instrument.
All brass instruments are made of
long pieces of coiled tubes of metal.
Their sound comes from the vibration of air
and of the vibration of the musician's lips
as they make a buzzing noise.
The sound coming out of a brass
instrument can be changed when the
player changes his lip tension.
Members of the brass section
include:
•French horn
•Tuba
•Trumpet
•Trombone
French horns are
the leaders of the brass section in the
orchestra.
They don't have valves.
Instead they have keys.
Tubas are the largest brass
instruments.
The first tuba was made in Germany by a
composer named Richard Wagner.
The trumpet also belongs to the
Brass family.
• Long ago trumpets were used
during battles.
• The soldiers would listen for
their special trumpet calls to
know what to do on the battlefield.
• Kings like trumpets to play at
their royal celebrations because
they sound so important
and special.
The trombone is another
member of the brass family.
You play the trombone by sliding tubing
back and forth to make the tube longer
or shorter.
This changes
the sound.
A woodwind
is an instrument that you
blow into or over.
The woodwinds include flutes, oboes,
clarinets, bassoons, and saxophones.
The sound is created by the vibration of air
and the reed that the musician attaches to
the mouthpiece.
They are called woodwinds because they
used to be made of wood, though saxophones
are included because they use a reed.
A Reed is a thin piece of cane, which is
attached to the mouthpiece of a
woodwind instrument to produce
sound by vibrating when the player
blows into the instrument.
There are two types of reeds:
Single and Double
The clarinet
is the most important
woodwind in the orchestra.
It has a very wide range.
A single reed is used on this
instrument.
It has 18 holes, six of which are
covered by fingers and the
remainder by keys.
The highest woodwind is the
flute.
Opening and closing holes in the body of
the instrument controls the pitch of the
tones.
This woodwind does not need a reed.
The vibration is created by the air
blowing over the mouthpiece.
Flutes were once
made of wood.
Today, they can be made of
all types of metal, including
silver, gold or platinum, or a
combination.
They are a descendant from
another woodwind which
does not need a reed called
a recorder.
The oboe is the soprano of the
double-reeded woodwinds.
The sound is produced by forcing a
column of air and the double reed to
vibrate.
The
bassoon
is the lowest and
largest of the
woodwinds.
This sound is also
produced by
forcing a column of
air and a double
reed to vibrate.
The saxophone is
considered a woodwind because
even though it is made of brass, it is
played in a very similar way to the
clarinet and uses a single reed.
It is the only woodwind that has
never been made of wood.
It is made of a long, bent tube with
holes in it, which are covered by
pads called keys. The saxophone
has three parts: the body, the neck
and the mouthpiece.
The percussion section
of the orchestra has many different
instruments in it.
It is usually in the back of the orchestra.
It is made up of instruments that use a
mallet, or other
device, to strike, shake
or rattle to
produce the
sound.
The Tympani is a definite
pitched drum in the percussion family.
It can be tuned to many different
pitches.
These
drums are
often called
“Kettle”
drums.
Another is the snare
drum which comes is different
types and sizes.
They have an upper head which is
played by striking and an underneath
head which has little strips of gut or
metal stretched across it.
These strips vibrate to make a rattling
sound.
Drums are probably the oldest type of
percussion instrument. People in the
Middle East used to put drums on either
side of their camels. The drummer sat
on top and played
them.
These percussion instruments are
smaller, hand held instruments.
Even though they are very different from
other percussion instruments and even
from each other, you still play them by
hitting, shaking or scraping.
Can you name them?
The xylophone and
glockenspiel are
tuned percussion instruments. They
hold their tune better that any of the
other percussion instruments.
The marimba is a larger,
deeper, more mellow-sounding type of
xylophone.
Can you name at least two instruments
from each family of the orchestra?
Can you recognize the distinct sound of
Each family?