What is an orchestra?
English Classical Players works in combinations from small “chamber”
orchestra of fewer than twenty players to full “symphony” orchestra of
nearly one hundred. Practically every instrument ever thought of has been
played in an orchestra at some time - including the bagpipes!
So orchestra is the word to describe any collection of people who use
some piece of equipment to make sounds?
Almost but not quite!
The central part of an orchestra is a number of groups of bowed stringed
instruments of various kinds: violins, their larger relatives the violas and
cellos and the more distantly related double-basses.
All these instruments are played in groups, and normally the smaller the
instrument the bigger the group. The total size of all these groups together
- called the “string section” - can be anything from about 15 to about 60
players.
Other instruments can be added to the string section to make a larger
orchestra. There are lots of different instruments which composers like to
use but, unlike the instruments of the string section which play in groups,
all the other instruments - even if there is more than one of each - play
their own line of music.
These other instruments are also grouped into sections depending on how
the sound is made. Altogether there are four sections -the strings, the
woodwind, the brass and the percussion. |