About Orchestra
A symphony orchestra usually includes strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and sometimes keyboard, harp, voices, or unusual instruments. Musicians read coordinated parts that fit into a full score.
String Section
Violins, violas, cellos, and double basses form the largest section of many orchestras.
Learn MoreWoodwinds
Flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons provide distinct colors.
Learn MoreBrass
Trumpets, horns, trombones, and tubas can produce both powerful and gentle sounds.
Learn MorePercussion
Timpani and other percussion add rhythm, color, and dramatic accents.
Learn MoreConductor
The conductor helps coordinate tempo, entrances, balance, and interpretation.
Learn MoreScore
A full score displays many instrumental parts aligned vertically.
Learn MoreRehearsal
Large ensembles require repeated coordination.
Learn MoreHistory
The orchestra changed over centuries.
Learn MoreString Section
They can sustain notes, play rapidly, create many articulations, and blend into a large unified sound.
Woodwinds
Composers often use them for solos as well as blended harmony.
Brass
They add brilliance, weight, fanfare, and warm sustained harmony.
Percussion
Large works may use cymbals, snare drum, bass drum, mallet instruments, bells, and many other sounds.
Conductor
Professional musicians also watch and listen closely to one another.
Score
Conductors and composers use it to see how the whole ensemble fits together.
Rehearsal
Sections may rehearse separately before the full orchestra works on balance, timing, and interpretation.
History
Baroque ensembles were generally smaller, while nineteenth and twentieth-century composers expanded size, instrumentation, and sound.