- Seating In An Orchestra Schedule
- Seating In An Orchestra Definition
- Seating In An Orchestra Is Made
- Seating In An Orchestra Diagram
Why are the flutes hidden behind the violins? How come the tubas can’t sit next to the conductor? Who said the drums need to be way in the back?
What we consider today the ‘traditional’ arrangement of an orchestra — with the violins to the left of the conductor, the violas at the center, and the cellos and double basses to the right — wasn’t always how orchestras were laid out.
Band/Orchestra Seating Chart Generator. A few years ago, my dad, an elementary school band teacher, asked me if I could create a tool that would make it easier to create seating charts. I though it sounded like a fun little exercise, so I did. The most standard seating arrangement in a modern symphony orchestra looks approximately like this: (See below for legend) Percussion & Timpani sections (PNO) FH FH FH FH FH.
In the 18th and 19th-century, the second violins were seated opposite the first violins. This seating arrangement supported the conversational music of composers like Mozart and Mahler.
It was in the early-mid 20th century that the orchestra seating chart you know today was actually developed. We can thank Leopold Stokowski for changing the game. The conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski radically experimented with different seating arrangements.
Some of his arrangements were so bold the board was outraged. But in the 1920s, Stokowski made a move that’s stood the test of time (at least thus far). He placed the string from high to low, left to right. This arrangement, he argued, allowed the musicians to better hear one another. The updated arrangement became known as the ‘Stokowski Shift.’
Instruments & Their Seating Arrangements
1: Conductor
STRINGS
2: First Violin
3: Second Violin
4: Violas
5: Cellos
6: Double Basses
18: Harp
WOODWINDS
7: Flutes
8: Oboes
9: Clarinets
10: Bassoons
BRASS
11: Horns
12: Trumpets
13: Trombones Tuba
PERCUSSION
![Seating Seating](https://franspianostudio.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/orchestra_seating.gif)
14: Bass Drum
15: Chimes
16: Cymbals
17: Timpani
FUN MUSICAL TERMS
Concert Master / Mistress
The most important violinist in the orchestra. He or she will sit in the front seat directly to the left of the conductor. It is the duty of the concert master to tune the orchestra before a performance.
Conductor
The leader of an orchestra. He or she is involved in selecting music and deciding how it will be performed. The conductor stands in front of the orchestra and leads the musicians
and helps them play together during the performance.
Seating In An Orchestra Schedule
Dynamics
The loudness and softness of sounds.
Meter
The way beats of music are grouped, often in sets of two or in sets of three, four or six.
Orchestra Chairs
Orchestra musicians are given seats in accordance with their abilities and experience on their instrument. The most skilled musician sits in the first chair of each section and plays any solo parts for that instrument. The next most skilled player would sit in the second chair and the least skilled musician would sit in the last chair of his or her section.
Solo
A complete composition or passage for a single instrument.
Seating In An Orchestra Definition
Style
The unique way in which the elements of melody, rhythm, tone color, and harmony are produced to create a special “sound.”
Tempo
The speed of the beat.
Seating In An Orchestra Is Made
Theme
An important melody that occurs several times in a piece of music.
Theme & Variations
A composition, each section of which is an alternation of the initial theme. A variation may alter the theme by changing musical elements such as its dynamics, meter, style, tempo, tone color and/or harmony.
Published by:
Related Articles
Concert Remarks for Opening Night 2021
10/03/21 at 07:00amRead MoreMeet Visiting Guitarist René Izquierdo
09/13/21 at 03:11pmRead MoreCelebrating Hispanic History Month
09/13/21 at 10:16amRead MoreRewind #6: Mahler & More
08/27/21 at 08:00amRead More
![Seating In An Orchestra Seating In An Orchestra](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/seating-chart-musical-instrument-symphonic-band-illustration-collection-different-sections-philharmonia-symphony-orchestra-31877973.jpg)
Seating In An Orchestra Diagram
positions may vary depending on the work,the venue the orchestra and other factors'. Even the same orchestra can vary their seating positions as shown below.The Philharmonia site provides some examples of different seating charts showing a variety of seating positions: (used by permission from Philharmonia)
A seating layout with Triple woodwind, five horns
and four trumpets for a strong line of brass.
cellos right, 1st and violins stage left. Trombones right, horns left.
and four trumpets for a strong line of brass.
cellos right, 1st and violins stage left. Trombones right, horns left.
A large orchestra with C. von Dohnyani's favoured position for the cellos to the left of the conductor. Note: violins are split across the stage. Trombones left rear, horns right
Vladimir Ashkenazy's favoured layout, but with a vastly expanded orchestra.
Quadruple wind, seven horns (stage left), piano, celeste, harp, organ, etc.!
CVD = Christoph von Dohnyani. His favoured string seatings once again,
but note the positions of the basses, brass and percussion. Presumably
the hall was a factor on this occasion. Violins split across the stage, cellos left, trombones left rear (trumpets in front), horns right
This is the seating plan for a performance of Bartók's Music for
Strings, Percussion and Celeste which has an unusual symmetrical arrangement.
Brahms Symphony No. 1, as laid out for Maestro von Dohnyani.
And a CVD seating plan for quadruple woodwind.