An orchestra is a band made up of musicians who play different instruments.
An orchestra is a group of musicians who perform musical works with different instruments . Orchestra is also the place between the stage and the seats .
The term comes from the Greek language and means "place to dance." The concept arose in the 5th century BC , when theaters had a separate space for singers, dancers and musicians that was precisely called the orchestra.
Characteristics of an orchestra
An orchestra of musicians can have various compositions. In general, it has four groups of players: strings (which includes violins, cellos, violas, double basses, harps and pianos), woodwinds (flutes, piccolos, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, contrabassoons and English horns), brass (trombones, trumpets, horns and tubas ) and percussion ( timbales , snare drums and others).
In the same way, the existence of what is known as a young orchestra should not be overlooked. This term is frequently used to refer to those that are made up entirely of people who are studying a degree in Music.
And all this without forgetting that, in a much more general and colloquial way, the term orchestra is also used to refer to any musical group that is responsible for enlivening popular festivals and celebrations with songs of a specific genre or through medleys of all kinds of compositions.
Orchestras have a conductor.
a philharmonic
The symphony or philharmonic orchestra is one that has about eighty musicians and includes instruments from all families (string, woodwind, brass and percussion). Historians believe that the first symphony orchestras were born in the cities of Mannheim and Vienna .
In the 19th century , philharmonic orchestras began to include the figure of the orchestra director, a person in charge of keeping the time of the work and indicating the input of each instrument so that the piece is performed perfectly. Daniel Barenboim and Zubin Mehta are some of the most famous conductors of recent decades.
The chamber orchestra , likewise, is made up of a small number of musicians (usually less than twenty). String instruments predominate in these orchestras. The notion of a chamber refers to the fact that the musicians fit in a small room.
Orchestra man
It is interesting that we also highlight that the term we are analyzing is also used to define a very specific type of artists. We are referring to what is known as a one-man band . We can say that this is one that carries several instruments that it plays at the same time. Thus, as a general rule, you can carry cymbals, harmonica, flute, drum and guitar.
In addition to all this, we must not forget what is known as orchestration . Under this name there is an art that consists of either writing music for an orchestra or arranging compositions so that they can be performed by a musical group of this type. Thus, we find the orchestration that is fundamentally in charge of what classical music is and on the other hand, there is that which focuses more on what would be soundtracks for films or plays.