The orchestra and its instruments

_Charm of the violin; voice of the violin; parts of the violin; construction of the violin; bridge, bass-bar and sound-post; ancestry of the violin; the vielle, or viole; evolut...

_The viol family; the tenor viol; technique of the viola; viola’s place in the orchestra; Mozart’s use of the viola; Beethoven’s use of the viola; Berlioz’s “Harold Symphony”; W...

_The viola da gamba; violin responsible for the development of the violoncello; instruments of the Seventeenth Century distinguished for their delicacy of tone; Italians the fir...

_Strings and compass of the double-bass; double-bass a descendant of the violone; voice of the double-bass; how Gluck, and Mozart treated the double-bass; Beethoven makes the do...

The Woodwind Family consists of instruments that may be described as wooden tubes, or pipes, through which the performer blows, stopping the holes in these pipes with his finger...

First notice the large bell that spreads out to a diameter of about twelve inches. Then notice that there is a tube that holds the funnel-shaped mouthpiece. If this long brass t...

_The kettledrums; the side-drum; the bass drum; the triangle; the cymbals; the tambourine; the tambourin; the castanets; the carillon, or glockenspiel; the celesta; the xylophon...

_The Orchestra as an instrument; instruments of the Sixteenth Century,—Chitaroni, theorbo, lutes; Claudio Monteverde (1567-1643); Marc Antonio Ingegneri; Orchestra of Orfeo; Chi...

He enters, takes his stand before his men, raises his tiny white _bâton_, and the large body is vitalized into sound. All these many vibrations and voices reach our ears; and we...

_Berlioz on the harp; construction of the harp; the harp an ancient instrument; the Egyptian harp; Greek and Roman harps; the Irish harp; quotation from Giraldus; the Welsh harp...

_The dulcimer and the psaltery or psaltérion; ancestors of the pianoforte; the jacks; the spinet; the virginal, the gravicembalo or harpsichord; the Ruckers of Antwerp; the pian...