Instruments of the Orchestra and Music Theory Notes

Instruments of the Orchestra

String Family

• Four basic instruments:

  • Violin

  • Viola

  • Cello

  • Double Bass

• Each instrument has four strings.

• Neck: Area where fingers go; no frets, requiring precise finger placement for accurate pitch.

• Bow: Pulled back and forth over the strings.

• Pizzicato: Plucking the strings instead of bowing.

• YouTube Example: Demonstrates each of the four instruments.

• Viola: Larger than the violin, with a lower pitch.

• Cello: Played while sitting, supported by a spike; lower pitch than violin or viola.

  • Example: Bach cello sonata.

• Double Bass: Also known as string bass or upright bass; very tall instrument, often played standing.

  • Demonstrates both bowing and pizzicato styles.

• Harp: Not always included in orchestrations; depends on the composer.

• Other String Instruments: Guitar, bass guitar, mandolin; make guest appearances but are not regular members.

• Vibrating element: strings.

Woodwind Family

• Air goes through a tubing and holes in the tubing are covered up in order to change the pitch.

• Consists of instruments that create sound by air moving through a tube.

• All but the piccolo and flute have a reed in the mouthpiece.

• Piccolo: Short tube, high pitch; sound produced by blowing across it, similar to blowing across a bottle.

• Flute: Similar to the piccolo.

• Vibrating element: air molecules in the tube.

• Reed Instruments:

  • Clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone.

  • Use a reed (strip of cane) in the mouthpiece to create sound.

  • Some instruments use a single reed (clarinet), others use two reeds (oboe, bassoon).

  • The vibrating element is the reed.

• Each instrument has a unique timbre due to different lengths, shapes, and construction.

• Clarinet: Very versatile instrument with a wide range.

• Oboe: Important instrument in the orchestra; principal oboist tunes the orchestra to the oboe's clear and precise pitch.

• Bassoon: One of the lowest pitched instruments; long tube (9 feet) doubled back on itself.

  • Contrabassoon: Even lower than the bassoon.

• English Horn: A long oboe; makes occasional appearances.

• Saxophone Family:

  • Invented in the late 1800s by Adolf Sachs.

  • Different lengths, like other woodwinds.

  • Not permanently established in the orchestra.

  • Vibrating element is the reed.

  • Soprano Saxophone: A short, high-pitched saxophone.

  • Tenor and Alto Saxophones: More common in jazz and popular music.

• There also is a lower one than the tenor. There's a baritone sax.

Brass Family

• Instruments use a mouthpiece that is like a cup, in which the musician buzzes their lips to create sound.

• Vibrating element: The musician's lips.

• French Horn: Often associated with hunting calls; provides power to the music.

• Tuba: The bass instrument of the brass family.

  • Has a large cup mouthpiece.

Percussion Family

*Percussion instruments are instruments that you strike or shake or even rub. Two types:
* Definite Pitch: Produces a specific tone or melody (tuned).
* Indefinite Pitch: Produces more of a noise (untuned).

• Numerous around the world.

• Untuned Percussion:

  • Cymbals: Produces indefinite pitch, a noise.

  • Snare Drum: Has springy wires on the bottom; produces a sizzle or rattle sound.

• Tuned Percussion:

  • Timpani (Kettle Drums): Produces definite pitch; player uses a foot pedal to stretch the hide and change the tone.

  • Composers often call for specific frequencies.

• Xylophone: Tuned percussion instrument.

  • Has a keyboard layout similar to a piano.

Orchestral Instrument Specialization

• Players typically specialize in one instrument family; percussionists are expected to play all percussion instruments.

• All musicians read music with notes indicating when to play.

Ensembles

• String Quartet: Two violins, a cello, and a viola; a popular configuration for composers.

  • Example: Beethoven string quartet (Opus 59 No. 3).

  • Beethoven wrote 16 string quartets; considered some of the finest ever written.

• Wind Quintet: Clarinet, flute, French horn, oboe, and bassoon.

• Brass Ensemble: Two trumpets, a French horn, the tuba, and the trombone.

  • Example: Bach piece arranged for brass instruments.

Mutes

• Brass players use mutes (inserted into the bell of the horn) to change the timbre and soften the volume.

• Mutes can be made from plastic, rubber, or metal-lined with cork.

• In early jazz, players used rubber plungers to manipulate the sound, imitating speech.

Percussion Ensemble

• Instruments are struck, shaken, or rubbed.

• Includes instruments with definite and indefinite pitches.

Full Orchestra

• All four families playing together; showcases each instrument.
  *Tom and Jerry at MGM provides an example of how all four families playing together. It showcases each instrument from the orchestra.

Keyboards

• Organ: Earliest keyboard instrument; works by air going through tubes; multiple keyboards and stops for different sounds.

  • Carol Williams playing Flight of the Bumblebee on the organ.
    Stops can be pull out or push in to engage them; they make the keyboard sound a certain way.
    Gas pedals are often located underneath the keyboard for volume regulation.

  • Important consideration for organ players: air factor due to pipe lengths causing delays.

• Harpsichord: Most important between 1500 and 1750, before the piano.

  • Works by plucking the strings when a key is pressed; no dynamics.

  • Example: Bach piece for harpsichord.

• Pianoforte (Piano): Known for its dynamics (volume); piano means soft, forte means loud.

  • Invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori; uses a hammer to strike the strings.

  • Became the primary keyboard instrument around the time of Mozart and Beethoven.

  • Allowed for crescendos, shocking loud chords, and soft playing.

  • Originally called the pianoforte (soft-loud), later shortened to piano.

History of the Piano Brief Video

A brief history of the piano and it's invention is discussed in this video.

Electronics in Music

• First phonographic recording in 1857.

• Beginnings of amplification in 1878.

• Electric organ (Hammond organ) in 1929.

• Amplified guitar in 1935.

• Tape recording in 1935.

• Synthesizer and electric piano in 1950.
  *MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) in 1983: a protocol that allows electronic instruments and computers to communicate.
  *MIDI enables users to write songs without music theory knowledge.*

Keyboards Recommended Features

MIDI capability and weighted keys.

Synthesizers

• A system of electronic components that generate, modify, and control sound.

• Early synthesizers from the 50s were large contraptions.

• Developed in the late 1950s; system of electronic components that generate, modify, and control sound.

• The first voltage controlled synthesizer was developed in 1967 and marketed commercially.*
  *First band to use the Moog synthesizer: the Beatles (Abbey Road album).
  Moog synthesizer is still around today.

Performing Media Examined in the Course

Human voice, orchestra (four families), and keyboards.

Rhythm.

• Durations of tones (short, long) and pauses.

• Incorporates the interplay of short tones, long tones, and pauses to make a rhythm.

• Beat: repeating pulsation that divides music into equal units of time.

• Some beats are stressed or accented.

Meter

Duple: division of beats in pairs (two beats).
Triple: division of beats in threes (three beats).
*Quadruple: division of beats in fours (four beats). *The most common in Western culture.
One, two, three, four. One two three four: This is the most common in our music, in Western culture.
The drum roll often hits the sticks at the beginning of a song.
Music is highly march like.

• Syncopation: accenting on the offbeat or in between the beats; causes you to feel the beat and want to dance.

Examples of Rhythm and Meter Shown

1. Simple duple meter.

2. A triple meter

3. Curtis Mayfield.

4. Stevie Wonder- syncopation

5. Stravinsky- high syncopation

6. A shift from a triple meter to a quadruple meter.

Tempo.

• Speed of the music; comment on the tempo.

• Listen to various songs to practice these exercises.
  Is it slow or fast, but is it steady; did it slow down, did it speed up?
  What is a largo? A slow piece.
  What is Presto? A fast piece.
  Accelerando: to accelerate.
  Retardando: did the song slow down.
  Metronome- measures the time of the music.

Notating Meter.

• Time Signature: the fraction at the beginning of music that tells the musician what the meter is; how many beats per measure.
  What kind of note has the value of one beat?

• Four beats = triple meter.

• The kind of note gets the value of one beat.

Top Note.

That top note is called a whole note.
The whole note is worth four counts.
The half note gets a duration of two beats.
The quarter note underneath gets one snap.

• Rests also have value of duration.

Reading Notated Rhythm Classes Explained Visually

Practice exercises for a large group or class is discussed in this section.

Notating Pitch.

Show notes on a line or a space
Go higher in time by moving upward.
Practice moving left to right.

High notes or lower notes.

Bass or higher pitch notes.
*

Notes and letters in music.

• The letters used are A through G.

Musical Notes Explained in a Review by Watch This First: The Basics of Reading Music

A five-minute review has been provided for convenience.

Orchestra- Conductor Score

Orchestras often have that guy who's standing up there with that stick in his hand guiding them.
They all look at the orchestrator score.

Beethoven score

Everyone knows this score
Can listen to the music while the score moves along.
Any questions email the instructor.