Instruments of the Orchestra 1

FeaturesMusic Curriculum
Written By Edward Wolfe

The symphony orchestra arguably is one of the greatest inventions of humanity.  The variety of sounds, the music it plays, the range of dynamics and pitch, its amazing diversity and unity, its emotional range, its connection to history and the transcendent, all indicate something unmatched in human experience. 

To get acquainted with the instruments that make up the modern orchestra, listen to Benjamin Britten's masterpiece, The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.  Play it on good speakers, and you'll probably want to listen to it several times.  An article in the Britannica about this piece is here. 

Listen to a performance of the entire piece before a live audience here: Young Person's Guide

The 17-minute piece is in two parts.  In today's blog, I'll only talk about Part 1, a Theme and Variations.  The theme, originally from Baroque English composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695), is varied 17 times. 

Theme, full orchestra

  1. Woodwind family

  2. Brass family

  3. String family

  4. Percussion family

Theme, played again by the full orchestra. 

There follows then a series of 13 variations played by small groups of instruments from each of the families:

  1. Flutes and piccolo (woodwinds)

  2. Oboes (woodwinds)

  3. Clarinets (woodwinds)

  4. Bassoons (woodwinds)

  5. Violins (strings)

  6. Violas (strings)

  7. Cellos (strings)

  8. Double basses, contrabasses (strings)

  9. Harp

  10. French horns (brass)

  11. Trumpets (brass)

  12. Trombones and Tuba (brass); tuba solo and in canon (meaning 5) with trombones

  13. Members of the percussion family, beginning with timpani (kettle drums), then on to bass drum, crash cymbals, tambourine, triangle, snare drum, wood block, xylophone, castanets, gong, and whip

Now, at about 14 minutes into the video, we hear a brief moment of quiet tension and expectation before the magnificent fugue, Part 2 of the piece. 

This is the first of two posts about this magnificent music and the instruments of the orchestra. 

Next post: Instruments of the Orchestra 2

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
Previous

The Bible is beautiful and Jesus most of all
Next

Happy 4th!