Orchestral Instruments:

Orchestral music has often been considered the music of geniuses. This appraisal comes in part due to the stylistic brilliance of master composers like Mozart or Beethoven as well as the dedication and talent of conductors and musicians. An orchestra is a music group like no other, with small ones consisting often of no less than a dozen players and the largest on record having a staggering 7,548 players! Orchestras are all about making a single entity out of a multitude of instruments, and typically they are comprised of violins, violas, double basses, cellos, harps, and are often accompanied by woodwinds, percussion, and brass winds.

Violins are jokingly called “the baby” of orchestras because they produce the highest sounds and play melody and harmony parts. Violas are slightly larger than violins and thus produce a deeper, warmer sound. The cello is larger than the viola, is played in an upright position, and produces a sound similar in tone to the human voice, meaning it has a wide degree of flexibility. The double bass, at 6 feet tall, is easily the largest of the stringed instruments and plays very low sounds, helping it play the harmony pieces of a symphony. Finally, the harp is a unique stringed instrument reminiscent in shape to the number 7 and has 47 strings, each corresponding to the white keys on a piano.

Each of the orchestral stringed instruments are more than capable of being played on their own, as one can see from the midnight performances of unsung virtuosos abound in New York subways. But the true strength of the orchestral strings is their ability to come together to create something far greater than any of them could individually. While it may be true that this can be said about all genres of music, the scale of an orchestra allows for more nuance and subtlety, thus creating a wider, more enveloping sound. Just listen to Mozart’s requiem and you will understand just how powerful the joined forces of an orchestra can be.