Instruments Of The Orchestra :: essays research papers

Instruments of the OrchestraStrings The genus genus Viola is an important member of the orchestra, but is not often heard by itself. Because it is bigger than the violin, with longer strings, it makes a rich, warm phone that is lower in pitch. In contrast to the genus Viola the violin is the smallest member of the string family. Because its strings be the shortest, it produces the highest sound. The viola is a little heavier, and its shape is slightly different, too. But it is still played on the violists left arm, just like the violin. Unlike the viola, the violins play in two different groups with the first violins playing the highest-pitched part and the second violins playing the second highest. Both the viola and the violin are placed to rest on one shoulder, and held in its place by the chin and the left hand. You have to hold the bow in your right hand, and draw it across the strings. Pitches can be change in two ways by drawing the bow across different strings, and by pres sing on the strings with the fingers of his left hand. The viola plays a beautiful middle part in the orchestras harmony. The violas can be hard to pick out when the whole orchestra is playing, but you would really ignore the violas if they werent there In the other hand the violin has stayed pretty much the same ever since the 1500s. Thats almost 500 years The current violin has four strings, but the earliest ones had only three. Fiddlers played them on the streets, which hoped that people passing by would like their tunes and toss them a few pennies.ViolaViolinWoodwinds The bassoon is a double-reed woodwind instrument. It has almost 8 feet of wooden tubing, bent into a narrow U-shape. The reed is secured in a curved metal tube. Bassoons are the largest woodwind instruments in the orchestra - except for the contrabassoons, which are much bigger and plays a whole octave, lower than the bassoon In contrast to the bassoon, you can hear the smooth, velvety sound of the clarinet in th e orchestras, military bands, and in jazz groups. Clarinets are made of wood or molded plastic, and can be found in the different melt down of notes. The standard B-flat clarinet is a little more than two feet long. An orchestra also often includes an E-flat clarinet, which is smaller and plays a higher range of notes, and a bass clarinet, which plays an octave lower.