for Teachers for Schools for Enterprise
for Teachers for Schools for Enterprise
Course Navigator
Tempo: Definition and Uses in Musical FormsNext Lesson 

Instrument Families of the Orchestra: String, Woodwind, Brass & Percussion

Chapter 1 /  Lesson 8   Transcript
Start Your Free Trial Today

An error occurred trying to load this video.

Try refreshing the page, or contact customer support.

Coming up next: Tempo: Definition and Uses in Musical Forms

You're on a roll. Keep up the good work!

Take Quiz Watch Next Lesson
 Replay
Your next lesson will play in 10 seconds
  • 0:33 The Four Families
  • 0:53 Strings
  • 2:31 Woodwinds
  • 4:50 Brass
  • 6:29 Percussion
  • 7:28 Lesson Summary
Add to Add to Add to

Want to watch this again later?

Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course.

Login or Sign up

Timeline
Autoplay
Autoplay

Recommended Lessons and Courses for You

Lesson Transcript
Instructor: Liz Diamond-Manlusoc

Liz has taught music for K-12 and beyond. She holds a master's degree in Education Media and Design Technology.

There are so many instruments in the orchestra! What similarities and differences can one find between them? How do the instruments work? Find out about the string, woodwind, brass and percussion families in this lesson!

The Orchestra

Ah, the orchestra. The pinnacle of sophistication, acting as the backdrop for the hoity-toity elite and commercials for expensive cars. But really, it's just a group of musicians getting together to make music. How do they make these instruments work? Which instruments are related and why?

The Four Families of the Orchestra

To start, we can break the instruments into four families. Each family is grouped by the way the instrument produces vibration. This kind of classification gives us the string family, the woodwind family, the brass family and the percussion family.

The String Family

When you think of the orchestra, you most likely think of the violin, or at least some sort of string instrument. This is probably because they make up the majority of the instruments in the orchestra, so good thinking! All string instruments use string vibration to produce sound, so it makes sense that they are called the string family! There are four main string instruments. These are the violin, the viola, the cello and the bass. Each of these instruments can be plucked or bowed.

The instruments in the string family vary in size.
String Family

As you can see here, the main difference between the four instruments is their size. As with any instrument, the smaller it is, the higher the pitches it plays, and the larger the instrument is, the lower the pitches it plays. A very common arrangement would have the violins playing the melody and the violas, cellos and basses playing supporting roles. This is not always the case, but it's important to know.

These instruments are some of the oldest instruments made for the modern orchestra, and some early orchestral music is even written solely for this section. Lastly, the harp and the piano are sometimes included in the string family, just depending on the time period when the music was being played.

The Woodwind Family

The next largest section of the orchestra is usually the woodwind family. Most woodwind instruments use a small piece of wood called a reed to produce their vibration. The reed vibrates when air is blown across it. This is how instruments like the clarinet work. Saxophones also use a reed. This is why they are classified as a woodwind and not a brass instrument. As far as instruments go, saxophones are fairly new, having only been created in the mid-1840s. Because of this, there aren't really many orchestral pieces that include saxophones.

Some woodwind instruments have a reed that has two parts called a double reed. Instruments like the oboe and the bassoon use a double reed. In this case, both reeds vibrate and tend to create a nasal sound.

There's also one woodwind which uses just the 'wind' part - it's the flute. The flute does not have a reed. Instead, the player just blows across a hole in the instrument, much like you would do if you were blowing across the top of a pop bottle.

You might have noticed that this family has all the instruments with a ton of buttons, or keys as they're actually called, on them. One of the most challenging parts of playing a woodwind instrument is just knowing which keys to press down and getting your fingers to the right spots without getting tangled. Once mastered, a woodwind player can play quickly with ease, as you can hear in Bach's 'Partita for Flute.' In the orchestra, the higher-pitched woodwinds, like the flute and oboe, tend to play the melody, while lower-pitched woodwinds, like the bassoon, tend to play supporting harmonic parts.

To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account

Register for a free trial

Are you a student or a teacher?

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.
Become a Member  Back
What teachers are saying about Study.com
Free 5-day trial
Description

Earning College Credit

Did you know… We have over 160 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.

To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school.

Browse Articles By Category

Browse an area of study or degree level.

Recommended Articles
You are viewing lesson Lesson 8 in chapter 1 of the course:

 Back To Course

Music 101: Intro to Music

12 chapters | 100 lessons

Ch 1. Elements of Music
Ch 2. Medieval Music

Instrument Families of the Orchestra: String, Woodwind, Brass & Percussion Related Study Materials

Create an account to start this course today
Try it free for 5 days!
Create an account

Explore our library of over 75,000 lessons

Browse by subject
Support