All Topics  
String section

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

String section
 
 
  Topics String section Topic Home

The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
 and consists of bowed
Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
 string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s of the violin family
Violin family

The Violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century. The modern violin family consists of the violin, viola and cello, along with the double bass....
. It normally comprises five sections: the first violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, the second violins, the viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s, the cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
s, and the double basses (or basses). The abbreviation "and strings" is understood thus in descriptions of instrumentation.

In music of the classical period
Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1825. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the 9th century to the present....
, the cellos and double basses often play from the same music, their parts being usually notated on a single staff
Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch , or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments....
, with the bassist's written notes sounding one octave
Octave

In music, an octave The octave is occasionally referred to as a diapason.The octave above an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated 8va, and the octave below 8vb....
 lower than written..

An orchestra consisting solely of a string section is called a string orchestra
String orchestra

A string orchestra is understood as an orchestra composed solely of instruments of the violin family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass ....
.

Seating arrangement
The most common seating arrangement is with first violins, second violins, violas and cellos clockwise around the conductor, with basses behind the cellos on the right.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'String section'
Start a new discussion about 'String section'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
 and consists of bowed
Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
 string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s of the violin family
Violin family

The Violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the sixteenth century. The modern violin family consists of the violin, viola and cello, along with the double bass....
. It normally comprises five sections: the first violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, the second violins, the viola
Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
s, the cello
Cello

The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
s, and the double basses (or basses). The abbreviation "and strings" is understood thus in descriptions of instrumentation.

In music of the classical period
Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1825. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the 9th century to the present....
, the cellos and double basses often play from the same music, their parts being usually notated on a single staff
Staff (music)

In standard Western musical notation, the stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces, each of which represents a different musical pitch , or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments....
, with the bassist's written notes sounding one octave
Octave

In music, an octave The octave is occasionally referred to as a diapason.The octave above an indicated note is sometimes abbreviated 8va, and the octave below 8vb....
 lower than written..

An orchestra consisting solely of a string section is called a string orchestra
String orchestra

A string orchestra is understood as an orchestra composed solely of instruments of the violin family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass ....
.

Seating arrangement


The most common seating arrangement is with first violins, second violins, violas and cellos clockwise around the conductor, with basses behind the cellos on the right. In the 19th century it was standard to have the first and second violins on opposite sides (violin I, cello, viola, violin II), rendering obvious the crossing of their parts in, for example, the opening of the finale to Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony
Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky)

The Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Path?tique, Opus 74 is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's final symphony, written between February and the end of August 1893....
.

If space or numbers are limited, cellos and basses can be put in the middle, violins and violas on the left (thus facing the audience) and winds to the right; this is the usual arrangement in orchestra pits. The seating may also be specified by the composer, as in Béla Bartók
Béla Bartók

B?la Viktor J?nos Bart?k was a Hungarian people composer and pianist, considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of ethnomusicology....
's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Sz. 106, BB 114 is one of the best-known Musical composition by the Hungary composer B?la Bart?k. Commissioned by Paul Sacher to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the score is dated September 7, 1936....
 which uses antiphonal string sections, one on each side of the stage.

Numbers


The size of a string section may be expressed with a formula of the type (for example) 10-10-8-10-6, designating the number of first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The numbers can vary widely; thus in a large orchestra they might be 14-14-12-12-10; the band orchestra in Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six - also known as the Groupe des Six - and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century....
's La création du monde
La Création du Monde

The composition "La cr?ation du monde", opus 81a is a 20-minute-long ballet with music composed by Darius Milhaud, in 1922-1923,which outlines the Creation of the World, based on African folk mythology....
 is 1-1-0-1-1. Mozart's mass
Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
es and offertories written for the Salzburg
Salzburg

is the List of cities and towns in Austria#List of cities and towns by population size in Austria and the capital city of the states of Austria of Salzburg ....
 cathedral routinely dispensed with violas, while famous works without violins include the Serenades of Brahms and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms
Symphony of Psalms

The Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky was written in 1930 and was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra....
. György Ligeti
György Ligeti

Gy?rgy S?ndor Ligeti was a composer, born in a Hungarian History of the Jews in Romania family in Transylvania, Romania. He briefly lived in Hungary before later becoming an Austrian citizen....
, besides writing some of the densest string divisi in history in Atmospheres and the Requiem, has also led the fashion of substituting solo string quintets for larger sections, as in the Cello Concerto and Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre

Le Grand Macabre is Gy?rgy Ligeti's only opera. The opera has two acts and its libretto, loosely based on a Play by the Belgian author Michel De Ghelderode, was written by Ligeti in collaboration with Michael Meschke....
.