Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Understanding Orchestras

Episode Date: March 20, 2021

Even if you aren’t a fan of classical music, you are probably at least familiar with what an orchestra is. But have you ever wondered why orchestras use the instruments they do? Or why they have them in that combination, or why it is even called an orchestra at all? And what exactly is a symphony or a philharmonic? Learn all about orchestras on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even if you aren't a fan of classical music, you're probably at least familiar with what an orchestra is. Have you ever wondered why orchestras use the instruments they do, or why they have them in that combination? Or why is it even called an orchestra at all? And what exactly is a symphony or a philharmonic? Learn all about orchestras on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thulein podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by Skillshare. If you're interested in music or want to learn an instrument, then Skillshare has dozens and dozens of courses and videos for you. They have instructional videos on how to compose music and film scores, as well as videos on almost every instrument you can think of.

And of course, it isn't just music. They have videos on almost every topic that you might be interested in. With Skillshare Premium, you can have unlimited access to everything for as low as 825 per month. Go to everything-dash everywhere.com slash Skillshare to get a free two-week trial of Skillshare premium membership, or just click on the link in the show notes. As with most subjects, it's necessary to define what you're talking about before you start getting into it. So with that, what's an orchestra? An orchestra is a group of musicians who play together.

That's it. That's what an orchestra is. The term orchestra to refer to a collection of musicians didn't begin until the late 17th century in France and Italy. Prior to that, an orchestra in Latin meant the seating section of an arena for distinguished people, a.k.a. the VIP section. You might be thinking that there is more to it. For example, orchestras can have a large number of people, but that isn't necessarily the case. You can have a chamber orchestra, which only has as few as far as. for people. Does the type of instrument use determine if something is an orchestra? Again, not really.

A rock band might have someone that plays the violin, and an orchestra might have someone that plays guitar. Anything used in a band can be used in an orchestra, and vice versa. Plus, there are bands like marching bands, which have lots of people in them like an orchestra, and instruments, which are closer to an orchestra. So if you want to get technical, a band and an orchestra are pretty much synonymous when it comes to music. So to that, extent, the electric light orchestra really is an orchestra. However, in our everyday use of the word, if you say you're going to see the orchestra, you don't mean you're going to go to a bar on Friday night to watch one of your friends play. If you say you're going to the orchestra, you're probably

going to something that calls itself a symphony orchestra. Okay, so what's a symphony? A symphony is simply a long-form piece of music. To compare it to literature, a symphony would be a novel compared to a short story. So the song Bitter Sweet Symphony is not a symphony, but the full version of Inagata-Davita just might be. The Greek origins of the word mean agreement or concord of sound, and it eventually came to mean a longer musical work in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Today, it can be used as a shorthand for symphonic orchestra. If you say, I'm going to the symphony, most people wouldn't try to correct you. There are also groups that call themselves Philharmonics. How is that different than a symphony orchestra?

The word philharmonic means loving harmony, and the word English was originally used as an adjective. You would have philharmonic societies. Today, it's pretty much synonymous with symphony orchestra, albeit a bit more fancy. There are some cities which have both a symphony orchestra and a philharmonic, although there really isn't a difference between the two. They just use separate names to distinguish them from each other like having two sports teams in the same town. So with that, when we're talking about an orchestra, we're almost always always. talking about a symphony orchestra, and that means we're talking about the type of musical ensemble

that consists of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion instruments. Each of the instruments in an orchestra could probably have an entire episode devoted to them. They all have different histories and different timelines. Most of them had ancient versions of the instrument before the development of modern varieties. For example, flutes of some type have been around for almost as long as civilization. They were mostly hollow tubes with holes in them. The modern metastews The metallic version with movable valves originated in only the 19th century. Over time, more instruments were added to orchestras, as more composers created music that used them. The number of musicians in an orchestra can vary.

There's no set size, but they're usually between 70 to 120 members for a full symphony orchestra. Just to give an example, I went and counted all the musicians currently listed on the Berlin Philharmonic website. They have 41 violins, 15 violas, 14 violas. cellos and 11 double bases in their string section. The woodwinds consist of five flutes, five oboes, four clarinets, and five bassoons. The brass section has six French horns, three trumpets, five trombones, and one tuba. And the percussion section is just one timpany and four general percussionists. So if we look at it by section, we notice there is a huge imbalance between them. 81 string instruments, 19 woodwinds, 15 brass, and just five percussionists.

and they also have a single harpist on their roster. Why are there more than twice as many stringed instruments as there are everything else combined? The answer is shockingly simple, and it also explains why everyone is seated where they are in an orchestra. Volume. The loudest instruments are the ones that require the fewest people. That's why there are so few percussionists and brass instruments in an orchestra, and it's why they're also located in the back of the orchestra. string instruments, especially violins, can only produce so much sound.

That's why their position closest to the conductor in the audience, and why there are so many of them. You might be wondering, where does the piano fit into this? While an orchestra may have a pianist on its roster, it will usually bring in a solo pianist for performances that require a piano. Likewise, they will sometimes bring in soloists for other instruments as well, more as a draw for ticket sales than anything else. anyone on their roster could certainly play any solo part if they were asked to do so. An orchestra is organized in a couple different ways. Each section will usually have a principal or first chair. That person is responsible for leading the section as well as performing any solos which might be required.

The principal first violinist has a special position in any orchestra. They are known as the Concert Master or Concert Mistress. They are the lead musician in most orchestras. Their primary job is to make sure that everyone is in tune before a concert starts. The lead to oboist is the person who provides the note that everyone has to be in tune with, and this is mostly just due to tradition. The conductor is the leader of every orchestra. The most obvious thing that a conductor does is keep the tempo.

That's what all the hand-waving is for during a concert. Originally, conductors used a giant staff that they would pound to keep time. Legend holds that one conductor in 1687, Jean-Bautier, Lully slammed his staff on his foot, he developed gangrene, and then died. The conductor also has to communicate to the orchestra how they want a piece to be played. Not just the tempo, but what parts might be played louder or given more emphasis are decisions of the conductor. It might seem like every orchestra is playing every symphony the same way, but if you compare different performances with each other, the difference between them would become pretty obvious.

The conductor also has to determine, or at least has to determine, or at least has to, a major say in what the orchestra is going to play. An orchestra season will be set at least a year in advance. Finally, the conductor is the public face of the orchestra. If they do well, it's the conductor which gets the credit, and likewise, they get the blame if things go bad. Most of the top orchestras rehearse shockingly little. A play on Broadway may have weeks or months of rehearsals before opening night. A major orchestra might be playing several concerts a week, a cursory glance at the New New York Philharmonic calendar shows that they had 17 days with scheduled concerts of some sort in May of 2021, all of which were canceled due to COVID, with at least a dozen different pieces scheduled and with several days that had multiple concerts.

The majority of the time that an individual musician spends practicing will be alone and not with the full orchestra. A major orchestra can also be really big business. The New York Philharmonic has an $87 million annual operating budget. If you're a musician for a major orchestra, you can easily make over $100,000 per year. In 2015, the Los Angeles Philharmonic offered a base salary for musicians of $153,400. Concert masters for some orchestras can make many hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Top conductors can make millions or even tens of millions of dollars per year. However, most orchestras are not major orchestras.

There are many more mid- or lower-level orchestras where musicians don't earn nearly as much. In fact, in many of them, the musicians are only part-time performers. Their regular jobs might be teaching music or performing for weddings. You might be wondering, what about vocalists? Orchestras usually don't have vocalists. If there's a need for a soloist, they'll usually bring someone in. If they're performing a piece that has a part for a chorus like Beethoven's Night Symphony, they will usually work with another group for the performance.

operas are totally different beasts and an opera company would be a totally separate organization from an orchestra. They might share musicians as an opera will usually have fewer performances and require fewer musicians. Many musicians in New York, for example, might play for an orchestra and also play for Broadway musicals on the side. So, an orchestra is no simple thing. There are lots of moving parts, potentially over 100 performers, and millions of dollars

of budget, all to create a single sound and to perform. some of the world's greatest music. The associate producer of Everything Everywhere daily is Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please donate over at patreon.com. There is content only available to supporters, merchandise, and even opportunities for a show producer credit. If you know someone you think would enjoy the show, please share it with them. Also remember, if you leave a five-star review, I'll read your review on the show.