A concert stage hides a spatial logic refined over more than two centuries. Click an instrument in the seating chart below, or use the section buttons to focus — meet the instrument at every seat and its character.🔊 Best experienced with sound on.
A typical modern double- to triple-wind layout. Hover a seat to see the instrument's name; click to hear its timbre.
The bone and flesh of the orchestra. The largest group, driving both melody and harmony. All of them sound by bowing or plucking.
The melodic face of the orchestra. The concertmaster (Concertmaster) sits front right of this section, the most influential seat after the conductor: they decide the bowings, greet the conductor on behalf of the orchestra, and take almost all the solos.
Often mistaken for "lesser violins" — in fact they carry the inner rhythms, inner melodies and harmonic filling of the texture, the very thing that gives music depth. Without them the first violins sound thin.
The middle voice of the strings: rich, slightly nasal, touched with melancholy. It reads the alto C clef) — their own badge of identity. Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and Berlioz's Harold in Italy are their home ground.
The instrument closest to the human voice — especially a baritone's range and warmth. It can sing a moving lyrical theme (the Dvořák and Elgar concertos) and also lay foundations alongside the double basses. Its body sits between violin and double bass; it is held between the knees with an endpin on the floor.
The foundation of the whole string section. It sounds an octave below what is written — so the notes don't fall off the bottom of the staff. In a jazz group the bass is usually plucked (Pizzicato), while the orchestra bows it.
The orchestra's colour palette. Each woodwind part usually has only two players, and every one of them is a soloist in standard — because each timbre has such character it is easily picked out in the tutti.
The only woodwind that uses no reed, sounding instead by splitting the airstream against the edge of a hole. Bright and clear, it suits light flourishes and fast runs. The piccolo (Piccolo) sounds an octave above the flute and is the highest voice in the orchestra.
The whole orchestra tunes to it before the concert — its pitch is the most stable and least affected by weather. Its tone is nasal, focused, sweet with a bitter edge, ideal for lyrical solos. The cor anglais (Cor anglais) is its alto sibling, a fifth below the oboe.
The widest range and the largest dynamic range of any woodwind, and the only one that can play four continuous octaves. From an almost inaudible ppp to a fff. The bass clarinet (Bass Clarinet) sounds an octave lower and is a regular in modern scores.→ Explore the clarinet in depth
The lowest woodwind (only the contrabassoon goes lower), with 2.5 metres of tubing folded in half. Stravinsky gave it the most famous opening solo of all in The Rite of Spring — a bassoon pushed into a shockingly high register.
The orchestra's climax machine. All of them sound by buzzing the lips into a cup mouthpiece — no reed, no air stream split against an edge. Their volume and power are formidable, so they sit at the very back and let distance balance the room.
The softest-toned brass, blending perfectly with woodwinds yet able to carry brass tension — often the bridge between the brass and everyone else. The right hand reaches into the bell to adjust tone and pitch, a posture unique to the horn.
The brightest, most piercing brass, the very embodiment of the fanfare. Once its three valves became standard in the 19 century, it became a fully agile melodic instrument. In jazz it stands on the front line with clarinet and trombone.
It changes notes by sliding the tube longer or shorter — no valves. That gives it a glissando no other brass instrument can match (Glissando). The bass trombone reaches down to B♭1, the bass pillar of the brass.
The foundation of the brass family, 1835 , a young member of the family. There is usually only one, but it holds up the whole brass bass line. Its coiled tubing weighs over 10 kilos and rests on the player's lap.
The rhythmic skeleton and the colour accents. From pitched timpani to a triangle that appears for one instant, a single percussionist often covers five instruments. The harp is usually grouped here too.
The one member of the percussion family with definite pitch — a pedal changes it instantly. A standard set is 2–4 drums; after Haydn and Brahms it became an indispensable source of symphonic tension.
The three warhorses. The snare gives military rhythm, the bass drum gives weight, and cymbals supply the flash at the climax. One percussionist often runs between all three in a single concert.
Triangle, tambourine, xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, wood block⋯These are the instruments composers use to dab in colour. The crystalline sound of the Sugar Plum Fairy dancing in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker comes from the celesta (Celesta）。
Not a percussion instrument, yet it usually sits beside them. Its pedals raise or lower each string by a semitone — the secret that lets it play in every key. Debussy and Ravel used it as light and shadow; Tchaikovsky turned it into a dream.