An orchestra is a group of musicians playing various instruments. But it should not be confused with an ensemble. This article will tell you what types of orchestras there are. And their compositions musical instruments will also be sanctified.

Types of orchestras

An orchestra differs from an ensemble in that in the first case, identical instruments are combined into groups that play in unison, that is, one common melody. And in the second case, each musician is a soloist - he plays his own part. "Orchestra" is a Greek word and is translated as "dance floor." It was located between the stage and the audience. The choir was located on this platform. Then it became similar to modern orchestra pits. And over time, musicians began to settle there. And the name “orchestra” went to groups of instrumental performers.

Types of orchestras:

• Symphonic.
• String.
• Wind.
• Jazz.
• Pop.
• Orchestra of folk instruments.
• Military.
• School.

Composition of tools different types orchestra is strictly defined. Symphonic consists of a group of strings, percussion and winds. Strings and brass bands consist of instruments corresponding to their names. Jazz bands can have different compositions. The pop orchestra consists of winds, strings, percussion, keyboards and

Types of choirs

A choir is a large ensemble consisting of singers. There must be at least 12 artists. In most cases, choirs perform accompanied by orchestras. The types of orchestras and choirs differ. There are several classifications. First of all, choirs are divided into types according to their composition of voices. These can be: women's, men's, mixed, children's, and boys' choirs. Based on the manner of performance, they distinguish between folk and academic.

Choirs are also classified according to the number of performers:

• 12-20 people - vocal and choral ensemble.
• 20-50 artists - chamber choir.
• 40-70 singers - average.
• 70-120 participants - a large choir.
• Up to 1000 artists - consolidated (from several groups).

According to their status, choirs are divided into: educational, professional, amateur, church.

Symphony orchestra

Not all types of orchestras include this group: violins, cellos, violas, double basses. One of the orchestras, which includes a string-bow family, is a symphony. He will make up several different groups musical instruments. Today there are two types of symphony orchestras: small and large. The first of them has a classic composition: 2 flutes, the same number of bassoons, clarinets, oboes, trumpets and horns, no more than 20 strings, and occasionally timpani.

It can be of any composition. It may include 60 or more string instruments, tubas, up to 5 trombones of different timbres and 5 trumpets, up to 8 horns, up to 5 flutes, as well as oboes, clarinets and bassoons. It may also include such varieties from the wind group as oboe d'amour, piccolo flute, contrabassoon, English horn, saxophones of all types. It may include huge amount percussion instruments. Often a large symphony orchestra includes an organ, piano, harpsichord and harp.

Brass band

Almost all types of orchestras include a family. This group includes two varieties: copper and wooden. Some types of orchestras consist only of wind and percussion instruments, such as brass and military. In the first variety the main role belongs to cornets, bugles different types, tubas, baritone euphoniums. Secondary instruments: trombones, trumpets, horns, flutes, saxophones, clarinets, oboes, bassoons. If the brass band is large, then, as a rule, all the instruments in it increase in number. Very rarely harps and keyboards may be added.

The repertoire of brass bands includes:

• Marches.
• European ballroom dancing.
• Opera arias.
• Symphonies.
• Concerts.

Brass bands most often perform in open street areas or accompany the procession, as they sound very powerful and bright.

Folk Instruments Orchestra

Their repertoire includes mainly compositions folk character. What is their instrumental composition? Each nation has its own. For example, the Russian orchestra includes: balalaikas, gusli, domras, zhaleikas, whistles, button accordions, rattles, and so on.

Military band

The types of orchestras consisting of wind and percussion instruments have already been listed above. There is another variety that includes these two groups. These are military bands. They are used to voice ceremonies, as well as to participate in concerts. There are two types of military bands. Some also consist of brass instruments. They are called homogeneous. The second type is mixed military bands; they, among other things, include a group of woodwinds.

Brass band instruments. Wind instruments

The core of the brass band consists of wide-bore brass instruments with a conical bore: cornets, flugelhorns, euphoniums, altos, tenors, baritones, tubas. Another group consists of copper narrow-bore instruments with a cylindrical bore: trumpets, trombones, horns. The group of woodwind instruments includes labial - flutes and lingual (reed) - clarinets, saxophones, oboes, bassoons. The group of main percussion instruments includes timpani, bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam. Jazz and Latin American drums are also used: rhythm cymbals, congos and bongos, tom-toms, claves, tartarugas, agogos, maracas, castanets, pandeiras, etc.

Orchestra

A brass band is an orchestra that includes wind (wooden and brass or only brass) and percussion musical instruments, one of the mass performing groups. As a stable performing association, it was formed in a number of European countries in the 17th century. Appeared in Russia at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. ( military brass bands with the regiments of the Russian army).

Instrumental composition D. o. gradually improved. The modern brass band has 3 main varieties, which are mixed-type orchestras: small (20), medium (30) and large (42-56 or more performers). The composition of the large D. o. includes: flutes, oboes (including alto), clarinets (including snare, alto and bass clarinet), saxophones (sopranos, altos, tenors, baritones), bassoons (including contrabassoon), horns, trumpets, trombones, cornets, altos, tenors , baritones, basses (brass tubas and bowed double bass) and percussion instruments with and without a specific pitch. When performing concert works as part of the D. o. the harp, celesta, piano and other instruments are occasionally introduced.

Modern D. o. conduct diverse concert and popularization activities. Their repertoire includes almost all outstanding works of domestic and world musical classics. Among Soviet conductors D. o. - S. A. Chernetsky, V. M. Blazhevich, F. I. Nikolaevsky, V. I. Agapkin.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Structure of a brass band

Main groups, their role and capabilities

The basis of a brass band is a group of instruments that exists under common name"saxhorns". They are named after A. Sachs, who invented them in the 40s of the 19th century. Saxhorns were an improved type of instruments called bugles (bugelhorns). Currently, in the USSR this group is usually called the main copper group. It includes: a) high tessitura instruments - sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone (cornets); b) instruments of the middle register - altos, tenors, baritones; c) low register instruments - saxhorn-bass and saxhorn-double bass.

The other two groups of the orchestra are woodwinds and percussion. The group of saxhorns actually forms the small brass band. With the addition of woodwinds to this group, as well as horns, trumpets, trombones and percussion, small mixed and large mixed compositions are formed.

In general, a group of saxhorns with a conical tube and a wide scale characteristic of these instruments have a fairly large, strong sound and rich technical capabilities. This especially applies to cornets, instruments of great technical flexibility and bright, expressive sound. They are primarily entrusted with the main melodic material of the work.

Instruments of the middle register - altos, tenors, baritones - perform two functions in a brass band. important tasks. Firstly, they fill the harmonic “middle”, that is, they perform the main voices of harmony, in a wide variety of types of presentation (in the form of sustained sounds, figuration, repeated notes, etc.). Secondly, they interact with other groups of the orchestra, primarily with the cornet (one of the usual combinations is the performance of the theme by cornets and tenors in an octave), as well as with the basses, which are often “helped” by the baritone.

Directly adjacent to this group are brass instruments typical of a symphony orchestra - horns, trumpets, trombones (according to the terminology of a brass band adopted in the USSR - the so-called “characteristic brass”).

An important addition to the main brass band is the woodwind section. These are flutes, clarinets with their main varieties, and in large composition also oboes, bassoons, saxophones. Introduction to Orchestra wooden instruments(flutes, clarinets) allows you to significantly expand its range: for example, the melody (as well as harmony) played by cornets, trumpets and tenors can be doubled one or two octaves up. In addition, the importance of woodwinds lies in the fact that they, as M. I. Glinka wrote, “serve primarily for the color of the orchestra,” that is, they contribute to the colorfulness and brightness of its sound (Glinka, however, meant a symphony orchestra, but clearly , that this definition of his is also applicable to the wind orchestra).

Finally, it is necessary to emphasize the particularly important importance strike group in a brass band. Given the very unique specificity of the brass band and, above all, the high density, massive sound, as well as frequent cases of playing in the open air, on the march, with a significant predominance of marching and dance music in the repertoire, the organizing role of the drum rhythm is especially important. Therefore, a brass band, in comparison with a symphony band, is characterized by a somewhat forced, emphasized sound of the percussion group (when we hear the sounds of a brass band coming from afar, we first of all perceive the rhythmic beats of the big drum, and then we begin to hear all the other voices).

Small mixed brass band

The decisive difference between a small brass orchestra and a small mixed orchestra is the pitch factor: thanks to the participation of flutes and clarinets with their varieties, the orchestra gains access to the “zone” of the high register. Consequently, the overall volume of sound changes, which has a very great value, since the fullness of the orchestra’s sound depends not so much on absolute strength, but on register breadth and spaciousness of arrangement. In addition, opportunities arise to compare the sound of a brass orchestra with a contrasting wooden band. Hence a certain reduction in the boundaries of the “activity” of the brass group itself, which to a certain extent loses the universality that is natural in a small brass orchestra.

Thanks to the presence of the wooden group, as well as the characteristic brass (horn, trumpet), it becomes possible to introduce new timbres that arise from mixing colors both in the wooden and copper groups, and in the wooden group itself.

Thanks to the great technical capabilities, the wooden “brass” is relieved of technical force, the overall sound of the orchestra becomes lighter, and does not feel typical for technology brass instruments"viscosity".

All this taken together makes it possible to expand the boundaries of the repertoire: a small mixed orchestra has access to more wide circle works of various genres.

Thus, a small mixed brass band is a more advanced performing group, and this, in turn, imposes broader responsibilities both on the orchestra members themselves (technique, ensemble coherence) and on the leader (conducting technique, selection of repertoire).

Large mixed brass band

The highest form of brass band is a large mixed brass band, which can perform works of considerable complexity.

This composition is characterized primarily by the introduction of trombones, three or four (to contrast the trombones with the “soft” group of saxhorns), three parts of trumpets, four parts of horns. In addition, a large orchestra has significantly more full group woodwinds, which consists of three flutes (two large and piccolo), two oboes (with the replacement of the second oboe by an English horn or with its independent part), large group clarinets with their varieties, two bassoons (sometimes with a contrabassoon) and saxophones.

In a large orchestra, helicons are, as a rule, replaced by tubas (their structure, principles of play, and fingering are the same as for helicons).

The percussion group is added by timpani, usually three: large, medium and small.

It is clear that a large orchestra, compared to a small one, has significantly greater colorful and dynamic capabilities. It is typical for him to use more diverse playing techniques - the widespread use of the technical capabilities of wooden instruments, the use of “closed” sounds (mute) in a brass group, a wide variety of timbre and harmonic combinations of instruments.

In a large orchestra, it is especially advisable to contrast trumpets and cornets, as well as the widespread use of divisi techniques for clarinets and cornets, and the division of each group can be increased to 4-5 voices.

Naturally, a large mixed orchestra significantly exceeds small orchestras in terms of the number of musicians (if a small brass orchestra has 10-12 people, a small mixed orchestra has 25-30 people, then a large mixed orchestra has 40-50 musicians or more).

Brass band. Brief essay. I. Gubarev. M.: Soviet composer, 1963

As soon as I heard the sound of a military band...

What emotions does it evoke in you? instrumental music? Most likely positive. How do you feel when you hear solemn drum sounds and brass instruments? Undoubtedly, cheerfulness, cheerfulness, high spirits. The role of a military orchestra in the life of every person is amazing and irreplaceable. In childhood, delighted boys run after the mustache trumpeters, dreaming of being like them; in adulthood, not a single wedding ceremony takes place without the famous Mendelssohn March, at the end of life orchestra sounds accompany the deceased on his final journey. If you think about it, music performed by a military brass band accompanies us everywhere. Moscow railway stations, hospitably welcoming and seeing off passengers, are filled with a variety of sounds: loudspeakers, the voice of dispatchers, screams, noise, din. But there is one song that immediately comes to mind if you remember the crowd on the platform and the train sounding its last whistle. Yes, this is the “Farewell of the Slav” March, again performed by a military brass band. In Russia, historically, such orchestras played an important role in society. After the decree of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, who in 1547 ordered the creation of the first court military brass band, it was difficult to imagine any significant event in the vast country without a march. Remember Soviet film“Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession”, the troops leave the capital city on the orders of the tsar to the famous “Marusya”, since then they went to war with music and came back from the war to the sounds of percussion and wind instruments.

Today at peacetime any military band song evokes emotions among contemporaries, because it is associated with the events of the recent past - the Great Patriotic War. Annually May 9 In every city in the country, trumpeters and drummers in beautiful military uniforms walk along the avenues, boulevards, parks and stadiums. Solemn sounds trombones, trumpets, horns, clarinets, saxaphones, drums and timpani resound through the city streets, announcing to residents that they need to celebrate, rejoice, remember their exploits and live peacefully today.
IN modern world The brass band performs military marches not only during parades, shows, and special events that need to be given a certain flavor. Nowadays, orchestra members are invited to weddings and anniversaries; a popular service is ordering a military orchestra for corporate events and large-scale city holidays. Their repertoire includes music from different times and genres; do not be surprised if at the wedding ceremony you hear the song “Yesterday” by the legendary The Beatles from a military orchestra or some jazz composition.
In European countries, people are creative in their own way, they invite groups of trumpeters and drummers to the discharge of a newborn from a maternity hospital, to graduations from schools and colleges, military bands are presented on YouTube in videos various options, you can admire these vibrant and unusual performances.
If you also have an idea to decorate your holiday, add solemnity to some event, add a musical zest to the evening, invite a military band. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, Vladivostok - let high-quality live music, let every event be held on an unprecedented scale.

Military band

Military band- a special full-time military unit designed to perform military music, that is musical works during drill training of troops, during military rituals, ceremonies, as well as for concert activities.

Central Band of the Czech Army

There are homogeneous military bands, consisting of brass and percussion instruments, and mixed ones, which also include a group of woodwind instruments. The leadership of a military orchestra is carried out by a military conductor. The use of musical instruments (wind and percussion) in war was already known to ancient peoples. The use of instruments in the Russian troops is already indicated in the chronicles of the 14th century: “and the many voices of the military trumpets began to blow, and the jew's harps teput (sound), and the warriors roared without wolf."

Admiralty Band of the Leningrad Naval Base

Some princes had 140 trumpets and a tambourine with thirty banners or regiments. Old Russian military instruments include kettledrums, which were used under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the Reitar cavalry regiments, and nakrys, currently known as tambourines. In the old days, tambourines were small copper bowls covered with leather on top, which were struck with sticks. They were tied in front of the rider at the saddle. Sometimes the tambourines reached extraordinary sizes; They were carried by several horses, and eight people struck them. These same tambourines were known to our ancestors as timpani.

History of military music

Peter the Great cared about improving military music; were discharged from Germany knowledgeable people to train soldiers who played from 11 to 12 noon on the Admiralty Tower. During the reign of Anna Ioannovna and later, at operatic court performances, the orchestra was reinforced by the best musicians from the guards regiments. Currently, our military orchestra has reached such perfection that it is possible to give an annual monster concert for the benefit of the disabled, in which several hundred musicians harmoniously perform very complex pieces. Our regimental bands consist of woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments, or only brass instruments (horn music; see French horn). Military music should also include choirs of regimental songbooks.

See Kastner, "Manuel de musique militaire", "Proceedings of the First Archaeological Congress" and general works on the history of music.

Notes

Additional links

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See what “Military Band” is in other dictionaries:

See Brass Band...

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See brass band. * * * MILITARY ORCHESTRA MILITARY ORCHESTRA, see Brass band (see BRASS BAND) ... Encyclopedic Dictionary

A brass band, which is a regular unit of a military unit. See Brass Band, Military Music... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Full-time honor guard musical group Russian Army. Created in December 1956 on the basis of the exemplary demonstration orchestra of the 40th Minsk detachment of the Convoy Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region and the orchestra of the 1st motorized rifle regiment 1... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

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- (from the Greek ορχήστρα) a large group of instrumental musicians. Unlike chamber ensembles, in an orchestra some of its musicians form groups that play in unison. Contents 1 Historical sketch ... Wikipedia

- (from the Greek orxestra, a round, later semicircular platform of the ancient theater, where, making rhythmic movements, the choir of tragedy and comedy sang their parts, from orxeomai I dance) intended for the joint performance of music. prod. group of musicians... Music Encyclopedia

Noun, m., used. compare often Morphology: (no) what? orchestra, why? orchestra, (I see) what? orchestra, what? orchestra, about what? about the orchestra; pl. What? orchestras, (no) what? orchestras, why? orchestras, (I see) what? orchestras, what? orchestras, about what? about… … Dictionary Dmitrieva

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For several centuries, military brass bands have created a special atmosphere at celebrations, ceremonies of national importance and many other events. The music performed by such an orchestra can intoxicate every person with its special ceremonial solemnity.

A military brass band is a regular orchestra of a military unit, a group of performers playing wind and percussion instruments. The orchestra's repertoire includes, of course, military music, but not only: when performed by such a composition, lyrical waltzes, songs, and even jazz sound great! This orchestra performs not only at parades, ceremonies, military rituals, and during drill training of troops, but also at concerts and generally in the most unexpected situations (for example, in a park).

From the history of the military brass band

The first military brass bands were formed in the medieval era. In Russia, military music occupies a special place. Its rich history dates back to 1547, when, by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the first court military brass band appeared in Russia.

In Europe, military brass bands reached their peak under Napoleon, but even Bonaparte himself admitted that he had two Russian enemies - frosts and Russian military music. These words once again prove that Russian military music is a unique phenomenon.

Peter I had a special love for wind instruments. He ordered the best teachers from Germany to teach soldiers how to play instruments.

At the beginning of the 20th century in Russia there was already enough large number military brass bands, and under Soviet rule they began to develop even more actively. They were especially popular in the 70s. At this time, the repertoire expanded noticeably, many methodological literature.

Repertoire

Military brass bands of the 18th century suffered from an insufficient supply of music. Since at that time composers did not write music for wind ensembles, they had to make transcriptions of symphonic works.

In the 19th century, music for brass bands was written by G. Berlioz, A. Schoenberg, A. Roussel and other composers. And in the 20th century, many composers began to write music for wind ensembles. In 1909 English composer Gustav Holst wrote the first piece specifically for a military brass band.

Composition of a modern military brass band

Military brass bands can consist only of brass and percussion instruments (then they are called homogeneous), but they can also include woodwinds (then they are called mixed). The first version of the composition is now extremely rare; the second version of the composition is much more common.

Usually there are three types of mixed brass band: small, medium and large. A small orchestra has 20 musicians, while the average is 30, and a large orchestra has 42 or more.

Woodwind instruments in the orchestra include flutes, oboes (except alto), all types of clarinets, saxophones and bassoons.

Also, the special flavor of the orchestra is created by such brass instruments as trumpets, tubas, horns, trombones, violas, tenor trumpets and baritones. It is worth noting that altos and tenors (varieties of saxhorns), as well as baritones (varieties of tuba) are found exclusively in brass bands, that is, in symphony orchestras these tools are not used.

Not a single military brass band can do without such percussion instruments as small and large, timpani, cymbals, triangles, tambourine and tambourine.

Leading a military band is a special honor

A military orchestra, like any other, is controlled by a conductor. I would like to draw attention to the fact that the location of the conductor in relation to the orchestra members can be different. For example, if a performance takes place in a park, then the conductor takes a traditional place - facing the orchestra and with his back to the audience. But if the orchestra performs at the parade, then the conductor walks ahead of the orchestra members and holds in his hands an attribute that is necessary for every military conductor - a tambour pole. The conductor who directs the musicians in the parade is called a drum major.