Mr. Thomas K-4 Music
EXPLORING THE ORCHESTRA
Directions
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Today you will be taking a virtual tour of the instruments used in the
orchestra.
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To do this you will click on the words that are highlighted in orange. Once
you have completed a section the orange words will turn blue.
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You can return to the home or main page simply by left clicking on the
orange house icon.
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After you complete a page simply click the word next to move to the next
section.
Vocabulary
Here are some words that you
should watch for as you take your
virtual tour. Look for them while you
move along they will be highlighted
like this.
 Reed
 Brass
 Bow
 Pizzicato
 Percussion
 Orchestra
 Conductor
Let’s Explore the Orchestra
Strings
Instrument Sounds
Woodwinds
Percussion
Brass
Conductor
The Strings
Quick Facts
 The instruments of the string
family look very similar.
 They are made of wood with
steel, nylon, or gut strings.
 They can be played with a
bow or plucked with the
fingers.
 They are the largest section
in the modern orchestra.
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The String Family
Bow
Violin
Viola
Cello
Bass
Harp
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Strings/ A Closer Look
When playing a
stringed instrument
the bow is drawn
back and forth over
the strings causing
them to vibrate.
The strings can
also be plucked
with the fingers.
This technique is
called pizzicato.
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Violin
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The violin is a string instrument,
usually with four strings tuned in
perfect fifths.
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It is the smallest, highest-pitched
member of the family of string
instruments, which also includes the
viola, cello and double-bass.
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The violin is sometimes informally
called a fiddle.
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Someone who plays the violin is called
a violinist or a fiddler.
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The modern European violin evolved
from various bowed stringed
instruments from the Middle East and
the Byzantine Empire.
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The earliest stringed instruments
were mostly plucked (e.g. the Greek
lyre).
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Bowed instruments may have
originated in the equestrian cultures
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of Central Asia.
Viola
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The viola is similar in material and
construction to the violin.
A full-size viola's body is between 1 inch
and 4 inches longer than the body of a
full-size violin.
A person who plays the viola is called a
violist or a viola player.
The technique required for playing a
viola has certain differences compared
with that of a violin, partly because of
its larger size: the notes are spread out
farther along the fingerboard and often
require different fingerings.
In early orchestral music, the viola part
was frequently limited to filling in
harmonies and little melodic material
was assigned to it.
Mozart liberated the viola when he
wrote his six string quintets, some of
which are considered to be among his
greatest works.
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Cello
• The cello has been described as the
closest sounding instrument to the
male human voice.
• It is the second-largest bowed string
instrument in the modern symphony
orchestra.
• The cellos are a critical part of
orchestral music. All symphonic works
involve the cello section.
• Often, the cello section plays the
melody for a brief period, before
returning to the harmony.
• The cello is typically made from
wood, although other materials such
as carbon fiber or aluminum may be
used. A traditional cello has a spruce
top, with maple for the back, sides,
and neck.
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Double Bass
• The double bass is also called the string
bass, upright bass, bass fiddle, bass violin,
doghouse bass, contrabass, bass viol,
stand-up bass, bull fiddle or simply bass.
• A person who plays this instrument is
called a bassist, double bassist, double
bass player, contrabassist, contrabass
player, or bass player.
• The bass the largest and lowestpitched bowed string instrument of the
violin family in the modern symphony
orchestra.
• The double bass stands around 180 cm
(six feet) from scroll to endpin.
• Double bassists either stand or sit to
play the instrument.
• Like many other string instruments,
the double bass is played either with a
bow (arco) or by plucking the strings
(pizzicato).
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Harp
• The harp is tall, about six feet in
height.
• The harp has 47 strings of varying
lengths, which are tuned to the notes
of the white keys of the piano.
• There are usually one or two harps
in an orchestra
• You play the harp sitting down
with your legs on either side. The
neck of the harp leans on your right
shoulder.
• Each string sounds a different
note (they come in different colors to
help you tell one from another) and
you play them by plucking the strings
with your fingertips and thumb.
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The Woodwinds
Quick Facts
 The woodwinds use wind or
breath to produce sound.
 Not all wood winds are made of
wood.
 Some of the wood wind
instruments use a reed or
double reed to make sound.
 Some woodwinds don’t use a
reed but air moving over a hole
produces the sound.
The Woodwind Family
Saxophone
Oboe
Clarinet
Flute
English Horn
Bassoon
Woodwinds / A Closer Look
 Woodwind
instruments
require the player
to blow or push air
across either a
hole or a reed.
 Reeds are typically
made of wood and
are attached to a
mouthpiece.
Bassoon
•The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in
the double reed family that typically plays
music written in the bass and tenor clefs.
•The modern symphony orchestra typically
calls for two bassoons, often with a third
playing the contrabassoon.
•The bassoon is held diagonally in front of
the player, but unlike the flute, oboe and
clarinet, it cannot be supported by the
player's hands alone.
•The complicated fingering and the
problem of reeds make the bassoon more
difficult to learn than some of the other
woodwind instruments.
•Prices range from $8,000 up to $25,000
for a good-quality instrument.
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English Horn
• The English horn is an
orchestral woodwind
instrument.
• It is essentially a large oboe
pitched a fifth below the
ordinary oboe.
• It has a bulbous bell and a
bent metal crook at the top
end on which the double reed
is placed.
• The name first appeared in
Vienna about 1760.
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Clarinet
•The clarinet is a type of woodwind
instrument that has a single-reed
mouthpiece.
•A person who plays the clarinet is
called a clarinetist or clarinettist.
•Clarinet bodies have been made
from a variety of materials
including wood, plastic, hard
rubber, metal, resin, and ivory.
•The instrument uses a single reed
made from the cane of Arundo
donax, a type of grass. Reeds may
also be manufactured from
synthetic materials.
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Saxophone
• Saxophones are usually made
of brass and played with a singlereed mouthpiece similar to that
of the clarinet.
• The saxophone was invented
by the Belgian instrument maker
Adolphe Sax in 1846.
• The saxophone consists of an
mostly conical tube of thin brass,
sometimes plated with silver,
gold, or nickel, flared at the tip to
form a bell.
• At intervals along the tube are
between 20 and 23 tone holes of
varying size.
• The saxophone mouthpiece is
larger than that of the clarinet.
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Oboe
•The oboe is a soprano-ranged,
double reed musical instrument
•It is made from a wooden tube
roughly 60 cm long.
•It has metal keys along a conical
bore ending in a flared bell.
•With an oboe, sound is produced
by blowing into the reed and
vibrating a column of air.
•The distinctive oboe tone is
versatile, and has been described
as "bright".
•In comparison to other modern
woodwind instruments, the oboe
has a clear and penetrating voice.
• The oboe first appeared in the
mid-17th century.
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Flute
• The western concert flute is an
aerophone or reedless wind instrument
that produces its sound from the flow of
air across an opening.
• A musician who plays the flute can be
referred to as a flute player, a flautist, a
flutist, or, less commonly, a fluter.
• Aside from the voice, flutes are the
earliest known musical instruments.
• Some have been dated as many as
43000 years ago.
• The flute has circular tone holes, larger
than the finger holes.
• Beginner's flutes are normally made of
nickel, silver or brass that is silver plated.
• Some professional flutes can be made
from solid silver, gold, or even sometimes
platinum.
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Brass
Quick Facts
 Brass instruments are
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usually made of metal.
Brass instruments are
basically long tubes
wrapped in different
shapes.
Players use their lips to
produce sound.
Brass instruments are loud
and their sound carries
well.
Brass instruments have
spit valves!
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The Brass Family
Trombone
Trumpet
Tuba
French Horn
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Brass / A Closer Look
The Player forces air
through a conical
mouthpiece while
vibrating the lips.
 Slides, valves,
crooks, or keys are
used to change
length of tubing of
brass instruments
this is how different
notes are achieved.
Trumpet
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Trombone
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French Horn
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Tuba
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Percussion
Quick Facts
 The Percussion family
has the greatest variety
of different instruments.
 Percussion instruments
make sound when the
are banged, shaken, hit,
or tapped.
 The percussion section is
usually located at the
back of the orchestra.
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The Percussion Family
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Percussion / A Closer Look
 Percussion
instruments are
too numerous to
list.
The Conductor
Quick Facts
 The conductor is the boss.
 The conductor helps all the
musicians keep time and
play together.
 He or she tells the musicians
when to play.
 The conductor controls the
dynamics by telling
musicians how loud or soft
to play.
 The conductors wand is
called a baton [buh-tawn]
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Standards and Objectives
Standard 6.0 Listening and Analyzing
Students will listen to, analyze and describe music.
The student will...
6.2 Identify and classify, visually and aurally, orchestral instruments individually
and/or by family.
6.2 Classify, visually or aurally, given instruments into their orchestral families.
6.3 Select appropriate vocabulary from a word bank to describe a musical
selection.
Today we will be taking a virtual field trip that will teach us to identify
the many different instruments of the orchestra both by sight and by
sound. We will also learn how to classify them into families.