| Family Name | Instrument : Sounding Range Concert pitch is written pitch | Written Range Open string tunings for stringed instruments Note:
string players are sometime required to mistune their strings. This is
called scordatura (e.g. Biber's Rosary Sonatas; the viola part in
Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra). |
| Bowed Strings (1) |  | Violin | more ... sounds at written pitch
|   | | Violino piccolo | more... the small violin information about tuning
| | Viola | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Viola d'amore | more... instrument with six bowed strings and six steel strings, the latter neither bowed nor plucked (tuning, from 18th century: A, d, a, d', f#', a', d'')
| | Tenor Violin | more ... tuned an octave below the standard violin
| | Violoncello piccolo | more... a small cello with an extra e'-string above the normal strings (C, G, d & a)
| | Violoncello (Cello) | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Double Bass | more ... with four strings sometimes fitted with a fifth string tuned to low C sounds an octave below written pitch
| | Rebec | more...
| | Renaissance Violin | more...
| | Baroque Violin | more...
| | The 20th century Violin Octet | more ... |
| Bowed Strings (2) |  | Pardessus de Viol | more ... sounds at written pitch
|  | | Treble Viol | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Alto Viol | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Tenor Viol | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Lyra Viol A
small bass viol popular in England during the 17th century. It differed
otherwise little from the standard bass viol. Its repertory, notated in
tablature, is pre-dominantly polyphonic and played mainly with the bow.
The sources include pieces for one lyra viol or more, and lyra viol
accompaniment for songs, by composers such as Coprario, Jenkins,
William Lawes and Tobias Hume. At least 60 different tunings have been
noted.
| | Division Viol An
English form of bass viola da gamba, used in the 17th century for
performing free ornamentation by varying given melodies. It was the
equivalent of the European viola bastarda, and was smaller than a
consort bass viol but larger than a lyra viol.
| | Bass Viol | more ... sometimes a seventh string added tuned to A below bass clef sounds
at written pitch: also sometimes called the 'Viola da Gamba' although
strictly all viols are 'da gamba', that is they are played down on the
lap or between the player's legs (gamba being the Italian for 'leg')
| | Consort of Viols The
viol consort was introduced to England in the early sixteenth century
and was mainstay of domestic music until the middle of the seventeenth
century. After the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660,
things rapidly changed with the rise in popularity of the violin
amongst court musical lfe and amateurs. Composers soon ceased to
contribute to the viol consort repertory, with some of Purcell's
contemporaries such as Roger North regretting the change. North
acknowledged that the violin was 'very excellent in it's kind', but
thought that the 'noble Base Viol' embodied all its 'sublimitys'. As
North recognised, the viol was not entirely supplanted by the violin in
the Restoration period. The bass viol remained in use as a continuo
instrument in chamber music until the early eighteenth century, and the
instrument acquired a new repertory of solos, duet and trios with
continuo.
Violone | more... (Italian,
literally 'large viol') In modern terminology, the double bass viol,
the direct ancestor of the double bass. Historically, the term has
embraced a variety of meanings: any viol, a large viol (in particular a
low-pitched viola da gamba), and even (in some Italian sources) the
cello. The term is known as early as 1520.
Electric Viola da Gamba | more...
one of the most exciting extensions of this remarkable family of bowed
stringed instruments, the Ruby Electric Viola da Gamba is a
seven-string bass viol.
|
| Plucked Strings |  | Guitar | more ... sounds an octave below written pitch
|   | | Lute | more ... The
archlute is a lute with two pegboxes, the first being used for the main
courses of strings (6 to 8 in number) that were played with the fingers
of the left hand, and the second holding the longer strings, either
courses or single strings, that were only played as open strings in the
bass register. The archlute was particularly well adapted to continuo
work, but nevertheless had a repertoire of solo pieces written for it.
The archlute was the Italian baroque lute by definition. The theorbo
was apparently an extension of the archlute, its body being larger and
the neck containing the second pegbox for the lower strings being even
longer. The theorbo could reach a total of two metres in length. There
were, however, various other differences, the theorbo often being
strung with single strings and not in courses. Its tuning was also
individual in that the first two strings were tuned an octave lower,
this occurring because the main neckpiece was approximately 20
centimetres longer than the archlute's. The third string was therefore
the highest. Even though the instrument seems to have been almost
specifically used for continuo work, there are some instances of its
use as a solo instrument.
| | Mandolin | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Ukelele/Ukulele | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Five String Banjo | more ... sounds an octave below written pitch
| | Early Plucked & Fretted Instruments | more... |
| Harp |  | Orchestral Harp | more ... written on two staves sounds at written pitch
|  | | Celtic Harp | more...
| | Baroque Harp | more... A History of the Harp |
| Flutes |  | Piccolo in C | more ... sounds an octave above written pitch
|  | | Flute | more ... sounds at written pitch
| | Alto Flute in G | more ... sounds a perfect fourth below written pitch
| | Bass Flute | more ... sounds an octave below written pitch
| | Renaissance Flute | more...
| | Baroque Flute | more ...
| | Classical Flute | more ... Historical Flutes: general information Rick Wilson's Historical Flute Page |
| Clarinets |  | Clarinet in E flat | more ... sounds a minor third higher than written pitch
|  | | Clarinet in B flat | more ... sounds a major second below written pitch
| | Clarinet in A | more ... sounds a minor third lower than written pitch
| | Alto Clarinet in E flat | more ... sounds a major sixth lower than written pitch
| | Bass Clarinet in B flat | more ... sounds one octave below the Clarinet in B flat
| | Contra Alto Clarinet in E flat | more ... sounds one octave below the Alto Clarinet in E flat
| | Contra Bass Clarinet in B flat | more ... sounds one octave below the Bass Clarinet in B flat |
| Saxophones |  | Sopranino Saxophone in E flat sounds a minor third above written pitch
|  | | Soprano Saxophone in B flat sounds a major second below written pitch
| | Alto Saxophone in E flat sounds a major sixth below written pitch
| | Tenor Saxophone in B flat sounds a major ninth below written pitch
| | Baritone Saxophone in E flat sounds one octave plus a major sixth below written pitch
| | Bass Saxophone in B flat sounds one octave plus a major ninth below written pitch
Saxophone Family
The saxophone was originally patented as two families, each of seven
instruments. The "orchestral" family consisted of instruments in the
keys of C and F, and the "band" family in Eb and Bb. Each family
consisted of Sopranino, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass and
Contrabass although some of these were never made (Sax also planned -
but never made - a subcontra).
Of these the orchestral family are now rarely found, and of the
band family only the soprano, alto, tenor and baritone are in common
use (these form the typical saxophone sections of both military and big
bands). The C-melody saxophone, a non-transposing instrument, was
popular in the 1920s and could be played from sheet music for guitar
and piano. The soprano has regained a degree of popularity over recent
decades, and the bass, sopranino and even contrabass are still
manufactured. Sopranino, bass and contrabass are rarely used except in
large saxophone ensembles and saxophone orchestras.
The wide bore of the saxophone means that the larger saxes are
extremely large and heavy, and recently (1999) an alternative
contrabass, the "tubax," has been developed with a narrower bore.
Although not a true saxophone, its bore leads to a more reasonable size
and weight.
At the other end of the spectrum, construction difficulties mean
that only recently has a true sopranissimo saxophone been produced.
Nicknamed the "soprillo," this piccolo-sized saxophone is an octave
above the soprano, and its diminutive size necessitates an octave key
on the mouthpiece.
|
| Double Reeds |  | Oboe sounds at written pitch The
baroque oboe as it was used at the end of the 17th century had its
origin in such Renaissance instruments as the bombards, the shawms and
the pifferi. Originally one of a family of instruments, the soprano
oboe was the principal oboe that was still in use at the end of the
17th century. As was also the case with practically every other
woodwind instrument at that time, its conical bore became narrower and
its exterior became increasingly elaborate (cf. the recorder) with
decorative mouldings and circlets. It was at first an orchestral
instrument, particularly so in France but it soon went on to establish
its own repertory in chamber music and sacred music. The oboe was also
very popular in Italy, while J.S. Bach was to make it one of the
instruments he used most frequently for obbligato lines in his cantata
arias. The two keys are used to overcome a limitation of fingering (for
the low C) and to improve the quality of a note in the lower register
(for the E flat).
|  | | Oboe d'amore in A | more ... sounds a minor third below written pitch This
is a typically German instrument that dates from the first half of the
18th century, it being an oboe in A that sounds a third lower than the
normal oboe. It also possesses a bell shaped bulge at its lower end
that gives the instrument its characteristically warm timbre. It was
mainly used as a solo instrument in chamber music although J.S. Bach
also used it as an obbligato instrument in cantata arias.
| | Cor Anglais in F (English Horn) sounds a perfect fifth lower than written pitch The baroque equivalent of the cor anglais was the alto oboe known in France as the taille de hautbois. It was first used in the second half of the 17th century in the French ensembles known as the bandes de hautbois,
in which it played the inner lines of polyphonic compositions. J.S.
Bach was also to make use of it when a low pitched oboe was needed to
double the viola parts in the cantatas. The oboe da caccia,
always referred to by its Italian name, appears frequently in works by
J.S. Bach. It is also quite probable that Bach himself caused this
particular type of oboe to be built. Several years ago various pieces
of an instrument were discovered in the collections of the Copenhagen
Instrumental Museum; these were carefully assembled and this enigmatic
instrument was the result. It had a double reed, it was bigger than the
normal oboe and had a curved body whose separate components were held
together by a strip of leather, the whole ending in a metallic bell.
What was more, it was noted with great surprise that the instrument had
been first made by Eichentopf, the most well-known instrument maker of
Leipzig of Bach's time. The puzzle over exactly what type of instrument
Bach's oboe da caccia was had finally been solved. The oboe da caccia sounds a fifth lower than the normal oboe and can thus be linked with the alto oboe in F.
| | Heckelphone in C | more ... sounds one octave below written pitch The
heckelphone was a musical instrument invented by Wilhelm Heckel and
introduced in the late 19th century. It is similar to a oboe but with a
wider bore and a deeper sound. Richard Strauss's 1905 opera Salome calls for a heckelphone. The
piccolo heckelphone is a very rare woodwind instrument. It is a variant
of the heckelphone, that is pitched in F, a fourth above the oboe. It
was developed and produced by the Wilhelm Heckel GmbH in Biebrich,
Germany
| | Bassoon It sounds at written pitch The
precursor of the modern bassoon, the dulcian (meaning soft and sweet in
Latin) was invented about 500 years ago. It was built in one piece and
had a double reed made from cane. In England the dulcian was called the
curtal. In the period 1643 to 1715, French instrument makers developed
a new curtal that had four separate pieces and between 4 and 8 keys. It
is remarkably similar to the modern instrument. During the 1700s, more
keys were added as the range was extended. The most important change
came in 1820 when Carl Almenader and his partner, Adam Heckel,
developed a bassoon with a better sound. Their design, the German
bassoon, is the model most often used today.
| | Contrabassoon sounds one octave below written pitch |
| Trumpets |  | Piccolo Trumpet in A sounds a major sixth above written pitch
|  | | Trumpet in F sounds a perfect fourth above written pitch
| | Trumpet in E sounds a major third above written pitch
| | Trumpet in E flat sounds a minor third above written pitch
| | Trumpet in D sounds a major second above written pitch
| | Trumpet in C sounds at written pitch
| | Trumpet in B (rare) sounds a minor second below written pitch
| | Trumpet in B flat (Cornet) sounds a major second below written pitch
| | Trumpet in A sounds a minor third below written pitch
| | Bass Trumpet in E flat sounds a major sixth below written pitch
| | Bass Trumpet in C sounds one octave below written pitch
| | Bass Trumpet in B flat sounds a major ninth below written pitch |
| Trombones |  | Alto Trombone sounds at written pitch
|  | | Tenor Trombone sounds at written pitch
| | Bass Trombone sounds at written pitch |
| Horns |  | French Horn in F sounds a perfect fifth below written pitch The two terms, Hunting Horn and Trompe de Chasse are both often used for the same instrument. The trompe de chasse
first came to prominence at the end of the 17th century in France; the
French court's behaviour was much imitated at the time and the
instrument thus became part of European hunting tradition. The hunting
horn came in various sizes, depending on how many concentric circles
were formed by the body of the instrument. This instrument that is so
characteristic of the hunt and the countryside began to be used in
instrumental music at the beginning of the 18th century, as can be seen
from French and German works of the period, Bach's 1st Brandenburg
Concerto being one of the most famous examples. In this work and in
many others for the instrument by Bach's contemporaries, the instrument
is called the corno da caccia. Like the trumpet, the horn is
limited in its melodic ability because of its reliance on the harmonic
series, although a few more notes are nevertheless available; it has
the same intonation problems as the trumpet in this respect. This
problem was, however, solved during the 18th century around 1750 by one
Anton Joseph Hampel, who discovered the stopped note technique. This
consists of placing the hand into the bell of the horn, thus changing
the length of the column of air and thereby correcting the tuning of
certain notes and even obtaining several that do not form part of the
natural harmonic scale. There is no mention of this technique in any
source prior to this date, either in scores, essays, or paintings which
could lead us to believe either that the players of Bach's, Handel's
and Telemann's works had a special lip technique or that what appear to
us today to be intonation faults were then accepted because they were
an unavoidable part of the instrument. This being said, it seems that
the instrument that was used for "learned" music then began slowly to
differ from the hunting horn proper. The shape of the bell changed, its
progressive widening making Hampel's technique possible. A system of
crooks was also invented that enabled the instrument to be played in
different keys (also sometimes used for the trumpet), these crooks
being different lengths of tubing that were inserted between the
mouthpiece and the body of the instrument, thereby varying the
fundamental pitch of the instrument (C, D, E, F, G etc.) according to
their length and allowing the horn to play many different types of
music. It was undoubtedly for reasons of balance with other instruments
that the horn's timbre softened and darkened in contrast to the brassy
and brilliant colour of the trumpet, which had to keep its bright and
loud tone for obvious reasons.
|  | | Flugelhorn in B flat B flat Alto Horn (rare) sounds a major second below written pitch
| | Alto Horn in A sounds a minor third below written pitch
| | French Horn in G sounds a perfect fourth below written pitch
| | French Horn in E sounds a minor sixth below written pitch
| | French Horn in E flat sounds a major sixth below written pitch
| | French Horn in D sounds a minor seventh below written pitch
| | French Horn in C sounds an octave below written pitch
| | Baritone Horn (Euphonium) Treble Clef sounds a major ninth below written pitch
| | Baritone Horn (Euphonium) Bass Clef sounds at written pitch |
| Tubas |  | B flat Tenor Wagner Tuba sounds a major second below written pitch
|  | | F Bass Wagner Tuba sounds a perfect fifth below written pitch
| | Tuba sounds at written pitch |
| Tuned Percussion |  | Timpani sounds at written pitch |  | | Glockenspiel sounds two octaves above written pitch
| | Xylophone sounds one octave above written pitch
| | Vibraphone sounds at written pitch
| | Tubular Bells sounds at written pitch
| | Marimba sounds at written pitch |
| Voices |  | Soprano sounds at written pitch (see music dictionary for information about different kinds of soprano voice) Mezzo-soprano with
a range from A below middle C to F an eleventh above middle C,
mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker (or lower) vocal tone than
sopranos, and their vocal range is between that of a soprano and that
of an alto. The terms Dugazon and Galli-Marié are
sometimes used to refer to light mezzo-sopranos, after the names of
famous singers. A castrato with a mezzo-soprano voice was called a mezzo-soprano castrato
|  | | Alto (Contralto) sounds at written pitch (see music dictionary for information about different kinds of contalto voice: alto here refers to the lowest female voice)
| | Castrato a male voice with the same range as a female soprano (see music dictionary for more information) Countertenor a falsetto male voice with the same range as a female alto (contralto) (see music dictionary for more information)
| | Tenor sounds one octave below written pitch (see music dictionary for information about different kinds of tenor voice)
| | Baritone sounds at written pitch (see music dictionary for information about different kinds of baritone voice)
| | Bass sounds at written pitch (see music dictionary for information about different kinds of bass voice) |
|
Recorders |  | Sopranino in F sounds one octave above written pitch
|  | Descant (Soprano) in C sounds one octave above written pitch
| Treble (Alto) in F sounds at written pitch
| Tenor in C sounds at written pitch
| Bass in F sounds one octave above written pitch |
|
English | Italian | German | French | Recorder | Flauto dolce | Blockflöte | Flûte à bec | Flute | Flauto | Flöte | Flûte | Piccolo | Flauto piccolo | Kleine Flöte | Petite Flûte | Alto Flute | Flauto contralto | Altflöte | Flûte en sol | English Horn (U.S.) or Cor anglais | Corno inglese | Englischhorn | Cor anglais | Oboe d'amore | Oboe d'amore | Liebesoboe | Hautbois d'amour | Clarinet | Clarinetto | Klarinette | Clarinette | Bass Clarinet | Clarinetto basso | Bassklarinette | Clarinette basse | Bassoon | Fagotto | Fagott | Basson | Contrabassoon | Contrafagotto | Kontrafagott | Contrebasson | French Horn | Corno | Horn | Cor | Natural Horn | Corno naturale | Waldhorn | Cor simple | Valve Horn | Corno ventile or Corno cromatico | Ventilhorn | Cor à pistons or Cor chromatique | Trumpet | Tromba | Trompete | Trompette | Cornet | Cornetta | Kornett | Cornet à pistons | Trombone | Trombone | Posaune | Trombone | Tuba | Tuba | Tuba | Tuba | Drum | Tamburo | Trommel | Tambour | Kettle Drums | Timpani | Pauken | Timbales | Side Drum | Tamburo piccolo | Kleine Trommel | Tambour militaire | Bass Drum | Cassa | Grosse Trommel | Grosse Caisse | Cymbals | Piatti | Becken | Cymbales | Castanets | Castagnette | Kastagnetten | Castagnettes | Triangle | Triangolo | Triangel | Triangle | Tambourine | Tamburino | Tamburin | Tambour de Basque | Glockenspiel | Campanelli | Glockenspiel | Jue de timbres | Xylophone | Xilifono | Xylophon | Xylophone | Vibraphone | Vibrafono | Vibraphon | Vibraphone | Celesta | Celesta | Celesta | Célesta | Harp | Arpa | Harfe | Harpe | Strings | Archi | Streicher | Cordes | Violin | Violino | Violine | Violon | Viola | Viola | Bratsche | Alto | Cello | Violoncello | Violoncello | Violoncelle | Double Bass | Contrabasso | Kontrabass | Contrebasse | Harpsichord, Harpsicon, Harpsical, Cymbel, Clavicymbal | Arpichordo, Cembalo, Clavicembalo, Claricembalo, Gravicembalo | Flügel | Clavecin | Virginals | | Tafelklavier | Épinette | Spinet, Triangle | | Tafelklavier | Épinette | Clavichord | | | |
Instrument Name | Abbreviation |
Piccolo |
Picc. |
Flute |
Fl. |
Alto Flute (in G) |
Alto Fl. |
Oboe |
Ob. |
English Horn |
E. Hn., (E. H.) |
Eb Clarinet |
Bb Clarinet |
Clarinet |
Cl. |
Alto Clarinet |
Alto Cl. |
Bass Clarinet |
B. Cl. |
Contrabass Clarinet |
Cb. Cl. |
Bassoon |
Bn. |
Contra Bassoon |
C. Bn. |
Double Bassoon |
D. Bn. |
Saxophone |
Sax. |
Eb Alto Saxophone |
A. Sax. |
Bb Tenor Saxophone |
T. Sax. |
Eb Baritone Saxophone |
Bar. Sax. |
Horn |
Hn. |
Trumpet |
Tpt. |
Cornet |
Cor. (Crt., Cnt.) |
Bass Trumpet |
B. Trumpet |
Trombone |
Trb. (Tbn., Tenor) |
Bass Trombone |
B. Tbn. |
Baritone/Euphonium |
Bar. |
Tuba |
Tb. |
Percussion |
Perc. |
Timpani |
Timp. |
Kettle Drums |
K. Dr. |
Bass Drum |
B.D. (B. Dr. ) |
Snare Drum |
S.D.(S. Dr., Sn. Dr.) |
Tenor Drum |
T.D. (T.Dr., Ten. Dr.) |
Cymbals |
Cym. |
Antique Cymbals |
Ant. Cym. |
Finger Cymbals |
fing. Cymbals |
Gong |
G. |
Tambourine |
Tamb. |
Triangle |
Trgl. |
Castanets |
Casts. |
Chimes/Bells |
Bells (Tubular) |
Glockenspiel/Chime-Bells |
Glock. (Glsp.) |
Bongos |
Bong. |
Claves |
- |
Guiro/Rasper |
- |
Maracas |
- |
Rattle/Ratchet |
- |
Sandpaper Blocks |
Sand Bl. |
Siren |
- |
Slapstick/Whip |
- |
Sleighbells |
- |
Temple Blocks |
Temp. Bl. |
Wind Machine |
- |
Wood Block |
Wd. Bl. |
Xylophone |
Xyl. |
Vibraphone |
Vib. |
Marimba |
- |
Harp |
Hp. (Hrp.) |
Celesta |
Cel. |
Harpsichord |
Hpscd. |
Organ |
Org. |
Piano |
P. (Pn., Pft.) |
Violin |
Vn. (Vln.) |
Viola |
Va. (Vla.) |
Violoncello/Cello |
Vc. (Vcl.) |
Bass |
B. |
Double Bass |
Db. |
Contrabass |
Cb. |
String Bass |
St.B. |
Soprano |
S. |
Alto |
A.. |
Tenor |
T. |
Baritone |
Bar. |
Guitar |
Gtr. |
Conductors
and orchestras today tend to follow the disposition of instruments
established in the 1930s by Leopold Stokowski. He broke with the
arrangment that Toscanini, Koussevitzky, Klemperer, Kubelik and Boult
had grown up with and were to continue to use to the end of their
conducting careers. We illustrate an earlier, pre-Stokowski layout
below.  Always
innovative, Stokowski changed the layout of an orchestra to suit
different halls' acoustics. In the change that was most copied by other
orchestras at the time and is still used widely today, Stokowski moved
the 2nd violins next to the 1st violins, and placed the violas and
cellos sequentially to the 2nd violinist's left. The double-basses were
positioned behind and between the violas and cellos. In addition, the
percussion was moved to the back of the orchestra. We illustrate this
revised layout below.  Stokowski
changed his orchestra's layout in particular to overcome problems
experienced during early monoaural recording. The higher strings tended
to play the tune while the lower strings were restricted to the
accompaniment. By physically separating the higher and lower strings,
Stokowski's recordings emphasised more clearly the role within the
musical score that each of different string sections played. Today,
however, when recording is invariably in stereo, the Stokowski layout
is thought, by some, to create a lopsided effect drawing the listener's
attention to the left where the high strings are sitting so spoiling
the overall balance. There has been some interest in returning to
the earlier pre-Stokowski layout. For this reason. it should not be
assumed that today there is only one standard orchestral layout. Stokowski interest in optimal orchestral layouts in the recording studio led to some remarkable results. Robin Maconie in Gossip: The Fantastical Fictions of Baron Stockhausen (1999) writes: "Despite
claims to the contrary, avant-garde music did not erupt spontaneously
in 1950. The generation of Boulez, Berio, and Stockhausen was born in a
decade of rapid and significant technological innovation. Public radio
started up in 1922, electrical recording came on stream in 1925, and
sound film in 1927. Already by 1931, when Stockhausen was three years
old, conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra were
assisting RCA and Bell Labs in experimental hi-fi stereo broadcasts,
and with the arrival of optical sound in 1932 the same team began
movie-related experiments in stereo and surround-sound recording. In
England at this time Alan Blumlein working for His Master's Voice was
single-handedly developing microphone and disc-cutting technology for
two-channel 'binaural' sound, some 25 years before stereo was launched
commercially in 1956. In the mid-1930s a chance meeting between
Stokowski and Walt Disney in a Beverly Hills restaurant led to the
commercial development of Fantasound surround-sound technology for the
movie Fantasia which eventually premiered with surround-sound in 1941,
an incredibly short ten years after the first stereo experiments, and a
full fifty years before Dolby Pro-Logic came on the home theatre
market." "These Stokowski sessions throughout the thirties
involved experiments in new orchestra layout for optimum balance in
front of a microphone, techniques of multiple orchestras, multi-speaker
sound systems, and systems of recording and reproducing sounds that
appear to rotate around the heads of an audience. The main
stumbling-block to reproducing sounds in rotation is preserving phase
information which varies with spatial movement according to frequency.
There is a kind of Doppler effect that on a sliding scale from low to
high stretches or compresses the individual frequencies of a musical
sound from a moving source. To reproduce the sound of a moving trumpet
for example one has to find a way of reproducing a pattern of frequency
alteration that is different for each individual harmonic. A seemingly
impossible task, but the team who created Fantasound claimed to have
achieved it, perhaps by rotating the microphone and not the player. Now
that the remastered original sound-track is freely available on double
CD (DSTCD-452 D) it is open to the public to hear and evaluate the
surround-sound effect for themselves using an appropriate decoder. The
music really does fly. So when Stockhausen in 1971 tells his Cambridge
(England) audience an amusing story about asking whether the Cologne
chapter of the musicians' union in 1955 would allow players to be
suspended in chairs from the auditorium ceiling and rotated over the
audience's heads, what the anecdote is really saying is that the audio
technicians of North West German Radio had heard about the rotational
movement of instrumental sounds in space actually happening in the
movie Fantasia but that they couldn't tell him how it was done." "Radical
inventions and discoveries in the field of audio have ways of impacting
on musical consciousness even though the relevant technologies remain a
mystery to the composers involved. Bartók's Music for Strings,
Percussion and Celesta of 1936 and Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
of 1937, as well as Bohuslav Martinu's Concerto for Double String
Orchestra, Piano and Timpani of 1938 form a cluster of compositions
sharing the distinction of being laid out in triptych formation, with
central percussion flanked by carefully balanced forces (string
orchestras or pianos) to left and right. The deliberately symmetrical
layout conforms in a very obvious fashion to the practical requirements
of the RCA-Bell three-channel stereo system of 1932. Stokowski does not
seem to have been involved in performances of any of these works at
this time. In fact both orchestral works were commissioned by the
conductor Paul Sacher for his Basel Chamber Orchestra, giving rise to
the intriguing question of whether Sacher might have had plans to make
a concert film in stereo, perhaps as a counter to Disney's Fantasia,
the idea of which was not warmly received in the best musical circles."
When the Royal Festival Hall in London was being designed a lot
of time was spent finding the orchestral layout best suited to the
players and the audience. We quote below from The Acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall "The
acoustics team from BRS carried out detailed studies of platform design
and orchestral layout, in discussion with various musicians including
Malcolm Sargent. It was decided that the platform should be as compact
as possible, to avoid time delays between the sounds of different
instruments reaching the audience, and thus aid definition. Special
music stands were designed, which moved on wheels in grooves along the
fronts of the tiers, rather than taking up floor space." "In
keeping with the ‘hill and lake' scheme, the original height of the
platform was only 9 inches above the level of the front stalls, with
the players arranged on tiers on the platform. After a few years the
platform was raised to its present height, largely because soloists did
not like performing on such a low stage. It was also realised that a
higher platform would assist the projection of sound to the seats under
the balcony, by reducing the absorption of direct sound by the audience
in the stalls." "Wooden reflecting surfaces were placed around
and behind the platform to assist the players in hearing each other,
thereby contributing to the balance and blend of the orchestra. These
surfaces also produced short reflected sound paths to the audience, to
increase definition of the sound heard. The ‘little lake' required by
Bagenal, to reflect sound from the orchestra to the audience, is
provided by an area of green slate embedded in the auditorium floor
between the stalls and the stage." "In examining different
orchestral layouts, the BRS team considered that placing all the
strings on the left, enabling as much string tone as possible to be
projected into the hall, would be a successful arrangement." The public's response was, initially, enthusiastic. "When
the hall opened it was widely praised by audiences, critics, conductors
and performers for its clarity, although there was some disquiet over
its lack of ‘warmth'. The violinists Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin
thought it had the best acoustics of any hall they had played in; Joan
Hammond the singer ‘found the acoustics excellent'; and the pianist
Denis Matthews enjoyed both playing and listening in the hall." "Among
conductors Leopold Stokowski said it was the finest hall in the world;
Malcolm Sargent thought the acoustics were excellent; Adrian Boult
‘liked it very much indeed'; and Josef Krips said it was the most
perfect hall he knew. Other conductors, however, were more critical.
For example, Otto Klemperer cancelled a performance of Elgar's Enigma
Variations as he felt the acoustics of the hall were ‘not suited to the
sonorities of Elgar's masterpiece.'" "The hall's extreme clarity
allowed even minor errors by players to be heard easily. Bill Allen
reported that when he later asked Adrian Boult what he thought of the
hall he replied that ‘Malcolm loves it because he is a disciplinarian',
whereas he himself preferred York Minster where ‘it doesn't matter if a
player is a bar late'!" "On 9 June 1951, Leopold Stokowski
conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
with the orchestra arranged as suggested by BRS, with all the strings
to one side. The music critics present were unanimous in their praise
for the sound, commenting on the ‘ideal balance between blend and
definition', ‘the richness of the string tone', and the ‘clarity and
fullness of tone' of the strings." "Over the years, criticism by
the public and musicians about the lack of warmth, increased. In the
early 1960s Peter Parkin invented the system of assisted resonance.
Inspiration for the assisted resonance system came from his work in the
1950s on the speech reinforcement system in St Paul's Cathedral. The AR
system was tested in the hall in 1964 and installed in 1965, in time
for the hall's reopening following major refurbishment. With the system
fully operational conductors, performers, critics and audiences agreed
that the problem of lack of warmth had been overcome, and that the hall
had become one of the best in the world. The system was in use for 30
years before being switched off permanently in the late 1990s." Contemporary
composers have changed the layout of orchestras to clarify the
structure of their works. The Sheffield-born composer Bernard Rands,
interviewed on a work commissioned by Carnegie Hall in honor of its
centennial and given its premiere there under Riccardo Muti's baton on
March 18, 1991, comments on the enormous potential in spacing them,
reseating or regrouping them "if intelligently handled." An example of these 'special' layouts is that chosen by Andrzej Panufnik for his symphony entitled Sinfonia Rustica
and written in 1948. The composer decided to emulate symmetrical
paper-cuts. The orchestral layout is symmetrical with flute, two oboes,
two bassoons, two horns and trumpet in the middle of the concert
platform, flanked by two string orchestras engaged in ‘stereophonic’
dialogue. Again with his Sinfonia di Sfere (Symphony no 5)
written in 1975, Panufnik utilizes a spherical concept that even
affected the composer’s instrumentation. Drums became the dominant
force in the orchestration. Three percussionists, each with four drums,
are placed around the outside of the platform, arranged so that the
sound constantly orbits the orchestra, clockwise or anti-clockwise.
Four brass soloists with their circular bells stand as soloists at the
centre front of the stage. Orchestral layout is also something that concerns those keen to give 'historically informed' performances. Jay Nordlinger, reviewing a concert given in the Carnegie Hall February 28, 2001, writes: "On
the stage the following night was a much different orchestra, the
Orchestra of St. Luke’s, under Roger Norrington, its former chief
conductor. Norrington is a leader of the “original instruments”
movement, which is also devoted to “original performance practices.” He
is usually a stirring musician, and his program at Carnegie was an
appetizing one: a Mahler arrangement of various movements from Bach’s
Orchestral Suites; a great and beloved Bach cantata (sung by Emma
Kirkby); and the Mahler Fourth (with Kirkby as soloist)." "Before
beginning, Norrington made a little speech to the audience, explaining
the links between the pieces to be performed, and offering a little
apology, or defense: he is now interested, not only in original
instruments and original performance practices, but in “original size,”
and original everything else. He and the orchestra would attempt to
perform all of these works just as they were done at the time of their
debuts. Such things as the layout—the physical layout—of the orchestra
would be the same. Most significantly, the strings would use no vibrato
(called “the V word” by Norrington). The conductor regretted that we
could not know for sure, how the pieces sounded at the moment they were
unveiled, in such matters as dynamics. You at times have to wonder
whether Norrington and his comrades consider themselves real
flesh-and-blood musicians or museum curators. The museum mentality
seems to have taken over much of music." Note: The
descriptions above are schematic. That is, they show the general layout
for modern orchestras. The exact layout will vary according to the
forces required and the space available on the concert platform. reference:
Seating Plans from various Philharmonia concerts during the 2001/2 season'The
Sound Orchestras Make' by Sir Roger Norrington; published in Early
Music, Vol. XXXII/1 February 2004 (Oxford University Press)'Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra', edited by Colin Lawson; published Cambridge University Press 2003)

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