Grade Five Music Theory - Lesson 15: The Instruments of the Orchestra

Families of Instruments

There are four families of instrument. Each family is defined by the way the instruments produce sound.

Instruments which use strings are called string instruments (funnily enough!), and instruments which produce sound when they are hit or shaken are called percussion. Instruments which use air are divided into two groups- those that are always made of metal and which are played with a funnel-shaped mouthpiece are brass instruments, and those which can be made of wood are called woodwind.

Family Members of Instruments

Here’s a table to summarise the standard orchestral instruments.

In each family the instruments are listed in order from the smallest (=highest) to the biggest (=lowest). You can see which clef the instruments normally use, and if they are transposing.

Family	Instrument	Picture	Clef	Transposing?
String	Violin			No
	Viola			No
	Cello			No
	Double bass			8ve down
Woodwind	Flute			No
	Oboe			No
	Clarinet			Yes (Bb/A)
	Bassoon			No
Brass	Trumpet			Yes (Bb)
	French horn			Yes (F)
	Trombone			No
	Tuba			No
Percussion	The percussion family is very big. Click this link to learn more about some of the more common instruments:  http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percussion

Non-Standard Instruments

There are plenty more instruments around as you probably know! They are not considered to be "standard" orchestral instruments though, because they are not used in a basic "standard" symphony orchestra.

Some examples include the guitar, the saxophone, the harp, the piano and the recorder.

Brass and woodwind instruments come in a variety of different sizes. A small flute is called a piccolo, whereas a big flute is called a bass flute. Clarinets come in many sizes too - you might have seen a small clarinet called an E flat clarinet, or a very big one which is a bass clarinet. A variant of the oboe is the cor anglais.

These instruments are often used in symphony orchestra, but they are not "standard" because they are used in addition to (and not instead of) the standard instruments. Many brass instruments are used mainly in brass bands, and not so often in symphony orchestras, for example, the cornet or the flugelhorn.

For Grade 5 Theory, you need only to know about the "standard" instruments, but you will not be penalised if you want to show off your knowledge! If you are asked "What is the highest member of the woodwind family?", you may answer "flute" (standard instrument), or "piccolo" (non-standard instrument).

However, you would not be right if you answered "recorder", because it is not used in symphony orchestras.

The Voice

There are four basic ranges of voice. Women’s voices can be soprano (the highest voice) or alto, and men’s voices can be tenor or bass (the lowest voice).

In between soprano and alto, there is another female voice called mezzo-soprano, and between tenor and bass there is another male voice which is called baritone.

Here is the complete range from highest to lowest:

Soprano - Mezzo Soprano - Alto - Tenor- Baritone - Bass