The Dohnanyi Orchestra performing. The conductor of this orchestra has the second violins on his right. The double basses are at the back, according to the German layout
String Orchestra Seating Plan Lesson The set-up of a string orchestra can be a bit bewildering to beginners. One of the first things I do in September is use this handout with my beginning students to illustrate how a string orchestra is seated.
These places look amazing and at times wonderfully futuristic: seating surrounds the stage rising up in close rows like the sloping terraces of a vineyard. In a top-notch Vineyard Style hall, you won't find a bad seat for sound – the only question is how close to the orchestra do you want to be. The Opera House. Metropolitan Opera New York. The orchestra pit is the closest to the audience. Auditorium: The section of the theatre designated for the viewing of a performance. Includes the patrons main seating area, balconies, boxes, and entrances from the lobby.
An orchestra is a group of musicians playing instruments together. They make music. A large orchestra is sometimes called a 'symphony orchestra' and a small orchestra is called a 'chamber orchestra'. A symphony orchestra may have about 100 players, while a chamber orchestra may have 30 or 40 players. The number of players will depend on what music they are playing and the size of the place where they are playing. The word 'orchestra' originally meant the semi-circular space in front of a stage in a Greek theatre which is where the singers and instruments used to play. Gradually the word came to mean the musicians themselves.
The conductor[change | change source]
The orchestra is directed by a conductor. He/she helps the players to play together, to get the right balance so that everything can be heard clearly, and to encourage the orchestra to play with the same kind of feeling. Some small chamber orchestras may play without a conductor. This was usual until the 19th century when the orchestras got very big and needed a conductor who made decisions and stood in front so that all the players could see him.
The instruments[change | change source]
An orchestral layout. There are various ways of positioning instruments. Quite often the woodwind are in straight lines instead of a curve as in this diagram, and the extra woodwind more often sit with the others: the piccolo with the flutes etc.
The instruments of the orchestra are divided into districts: the strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. Each section (group of instruments) will have a player who is the 'Boss'. The principals will make decisions about seating arrangements, and about technical ways of playing the music: for example the principal of the string sections will make sure all the players move their bows up and down in the same direction. The violins are divided into first and second violins. The first violins usually have the tune while the seconds, most of the time, are part of the accompaniment. The principal of the first violin is the leader (or concertmaster) of the orchestra. In a professional orchestra they will be the most highly paid member of the orchestra.
The string family[change | change source]
The strings are the biggest section, although there are only five kinds of instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass, and harp. This is because they are playing most of the time and usually form the basis of the music. If they are not playing the tune they will probably be accompanying. The first and second violins play different notes: the firsts usually have the tune. The final station 1 0. The strings sit at the front of the stage in a fan-shape in front of the conductor. The first violins are on the conductor's left, then come the second violins, then the violas and then the cellos. The double basses are behind the cellos. Some conductors prefer to have the second violins on their right and the cellos between the first violins and violas (see image of the Dohnanyi Orchestra).
Orchestra Sitting
The woodwind family[change | change source]
The woodwind sit in one or two rows (depending on the size of the orchestra) behind the strings. There are five main woodwind instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon. Each of these instruments also come in different versions:
The flute has a small version called the piccolo which plays an octave higher. It is the highest instrument in the orchestra. Occasionally there is an alto flute which is longer and plays a fifth (half an octave) lower than the flute. Most woodwind instruments need a reed, but the flute does not have a reed.
The bassoon has a larger version: the contrabassoon or double bassoon which sounds an octave lower. It is one of the lowest instruments in the orchestra.
The clarinet has a larger version as well; the bass clarinet. It reaches the same depth as a bassoon. Usually only one is found in a modern orchestra. There is also an alto clarinet but because it plays the same part an alto saxophone plays, it is typically regarded as an unnecessary instrument.
A formal orchestra will always consist of two of the four main instruments. The variations of the instruments are used where the piece asks for it. Usually, the newer pieces written after 1850 will have more instruments.
Sometimes a player will double on these extra instruments, for example: one of the flute players may also play the piccolo in the same piece. It depends on the piece of music. Obviously a player cannot play the flute and piccolo at the same time. If the two instruments do play at the same time an extra player will be needed for the piccolo.
The brass family[change | change source]
The brass section has four sections: trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba. Some of these come in several sizes. The article on transposing instruments explains more about it. The trumpet may have several slightly different sizes. The lowest kind is a bass trumpet. The trombone may be an alto, tenor, bass or contrabass trombone. The French horn, like the other brass instruments, has changed over the years. Modern horns have at least three valves and are usually in F. They often sit in a different place to the other brass. The tuba comes in different sizes and the player or conductor must decide which to use for the piece they are playing. There are large ones called contrabass tubas. A small tuba is commonly also seen and is called a euphonium or a baritone horn.
The percussion family[change | change source]
The percussion section has the largest variety of instruments. The timpani (or 'kettle drums') can be tuned to particular notes. They are the most common percussion instrument. Composers such as Haydn and Mozart nearly always used them, even with their small orchestras. This is the most commonly used percussion instruments and is used in almost all pieces.
The rest of the percussion section can include tuned percussion instruments like the xylophone. Non-tuned percussion can be other kinds of drum like bass drum, snare drum, and a variety of others: simple to name the most common ones. The principal percussion player will have to decide which player will play which instrument(s). Textsoap 8 1 – automate tedious text document cleaning. The percussionists have to work well together as a team so all parts can be covered.
The history of the orchestra[change | change source]
Orchestra Positions Seating Chart
It is difficult to say when the orchestra was invented because instruments have played together for many centuries. If we say that an orchestra is a group of string instruments with several players playing the same part, and that there may be wind instruments (i.e. woodwind and brass) or percussion playing as well, then the 17th century is the time that orchestras started. In Paris in 1626KingLouis XIII had an orchestra of 24 violins (called '24 Violons du Roi'). Sketchup pro 2016 crack mac sierra. Later in the century the English king Charles II wanted to be like the French king and so he, too, had a string orchestra. Gradually the other instruments were added. At this time there was usually someone playing the harpsichord (the continuo part). It was often the composer himself, who would have conducted from the keyboard at important moments like the beginning and end of the piece.
Clarinets came into the orchestra at the end of the 18th century, and trombones at the beginning of the 19th century. Orchestras were still quite small, though. The saxophone was invented in the middle of the 19th century, but although they started to use it in orchestras, it soon became an instrument that was used in wind bands and later jazz bands. The opera composer Richard Wagner made the orchestra much bigger because he kept asking for extra instruments. He asked for a bass clarinet in his opera Lohengrin, and for his cycle of four operas called The Ring of the Nibelung he asked for an exact number of players: 16 first violins, 16 second violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, 8 double basses, 3 flutes and piccolo, 3 oboes and cor anglais, 3 clarinets and bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 3 trumpets and bass trumpet, 3 tenor trombones and a double bass trombone, 8 horns with 4 of them playing a specially designed tuba, a bass tuba, percussion, and 6 harps.
Not all pieces written after that need quite such a large orchestra, but concert halls had become bigger and composers had got used to a bigger variety of sounds. Later composers sometimes added all sorts of unusual instruments: wind machine, sandpaper block, bottles, typewriter, anvils, iron chains, cuckoo, Swannee whistle etc. None of these are normal orchestral instruments. Sometimes a piano is used in the percussion section, e.g. Igor Stravinsky used one in Petrouchka. Sometimes voices are also used.
The orchestra today[change | change source]
The Vienna Mozart Orchestra is a chamber orchestra (small orchestra)
Today orchestras can usually be heard in concert halls. They also play in opera houses for opera and ballet, or in a large stadium for huge open-air concerts. Orchestras may record in studios for making CDs or recording music for movies. Many of them can be heard easily and cheaply every summer in London at the BBC Proms.
Some of the greatest orchestras today include: the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo). Opera houses usually have their own orchestra, e.g. the orchestras of the Metropolitan Opera House, La Scala, or the Royal Opera House.
In many countries there are opportunities for school-age children who play instruments well to play in youth orchestras in their areas. In Britain some of the very best are selected to play in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Other world-famous youth orchestras include the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
References[change | change source]
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980; ed. Stanley Sadie; ISBN1-56159-174-2
- Orchestration by Walter Piston, London 1965.
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Types of theatres[edit]
- Arena: A large open space with seating capacity for very large groups. Seating layouts are typically similar to theatre in the round, or proscenium (though the stage will not have a proscenium arch. In almost all cases the playing space is made of temporary staging (risers) and is elevated a few feet higher than the first rows of audience.
- Black box theatre: An unadorned space with no defined playing area. Often the seating is not fixed allowing the room to be re-configured for the demands of a specific production. Typically the seating and performance space are on the same level.
- Proscenium: The audience directly faces the playing area which is separated by a portal called the proscenium arch. The stage is often raised a few feet higher than the first rows of the audience.
- Theatre in the round: The playing area is surrounded by audience seating on all sides.
- Thrust: The playing area protrudes out into the house with the audience seating on 3 sides.
- Traverse: The elongated playing area is surrounded by audience seating on two sides. Similar in design to a fashion show runway.
Stage[edit]
Areas of a typical (proscenium) stage.
The area of the theatre in which the performance takes place is referred to as the stage.
Stage directions or stage positions[edit]
In order to keep track of how performers and set pieces move around the space, the stage is divided up into sections oriented based on the performers perspective to the audience. Movement is choreographed by blocking which is organized movement on stage created by the director to synchronize the actor's movement onstage in order to use these positions.
- Upstage: The area of the stage furthest from the audience.
- Downstage: The area of the stage closest to the audience.
- Stage Left: The area of the stage to the performer's left, when facing downstage (i.e. towards the audience).
- Stage Right: The area of the stage to the performer's right, when facing downstage (i.e. towards the audience).
- Center Stage: The center of the playing (performance) area.
- Center Line: An imaginary reference line on the playing area that indicates the exact center of the stage, travelling from up to downstage. That is why it is called so
- Onstage: The portion of the playing area visible to the audience.
- Offstage: The area surrounding the playing space not visible to the audience. Typically this refers to spaces accessible to the performers but not the audience, such as the wings, crossovers, and voms.
Note that for performance spaces with audiences in more than one orientation, typically one direction is arbitrarily denoted as 'downstage' and all other directions reference that point.
Stage components[edit]
- Apron: The area of the stage in front of the proscenium arch, which may be small or, in a thrust stage, large.
- Backstage: Areas of the theatre adjacent to the stage accessible only to performers and technicians, including the wings, crossover, and dressing rooms. Typically this refers to areas directly accessible from the stage and does not include spaces such as the control booth or Orchestra pit
- Crossover: The area used by performers and technicians to travel between sides of the stage out of sight of the audience; sometimes created onstage with flats, or masking and drapery.
- Plaster Line: An imaginary reference line on the playing area that indicates where the proscenium arch is. Typically, the plaster line runs across the stage at the back face (upstage face) of the proscenium wall.
- Proscenium: The portal that divides the audience from the stage in traditional Western theatres.
- Prompt corner: Area just to one side of the proscenium where the stage manager stands to cue the show and prompt performers.
- Rake: A slope in the performance space (stage), rising away from the audience.
- Safety curtain: A heavy fireproof curtain, in fiberglass, iron or similar material placed immediately behind the proscenium.
- Shell: A hard, often removable surface, designed to reflect sound out into the audience for musical performances.
- Smoke Pocket: Vertical channels against the proscenium designed to contain the safety curtain.
- Thrust stage: A performance space projecting well in front of the proscenium arch, usually with the audience on three sides.
- Wings: Areas that are part of a stage deck but offstage (out of sight of the audience). The wings are typically masked with legs. The wing space is used for performers preparing to enter, storage of sets for scenery changes and as a stagehand work area. Wings also contain technical equipment, such as the fly system.
In the dressing room there is a makeup bench ,chairs and mirrors.
House[edit]
A view from the stage of Knjaževsko-srpski teatar showing the control booths, a balcony, and some catwalks,
The house can refer to any area which is not considered playing space or backstage area. Outside the theatre itself this includes the lobby, coat check, ticketing counters, and restrooms. More specifically, the house refers to any area in the theatre where the audience is seated. This can also include aisles, the orchestra pit, control booth, balconies and boxes.
- Orchestra or Orchestra Pit: In productions where live music is required, such as ballet, folk-dance groups, opera, and musicals, the orchestra is positioned in front and below of the stage in a pit. The pit is usually a large opening ranging from 4–6 feet (1.2–1.8 m) wide, 20–40 feet (6.1–12.2 m) long and 6–10 feet (1.8–3.0 m) deep. Some orchestra pits have lifts or elevators that can raise the floor of the pit up to the same height as the stage. This allows for easier movement of instruments among other things. Often an orchestra pit will be equipped with a removable pit cover which provides safety by eliminating the steep drop off and also increases the available acting area above. In most cases, some sort of lattice or sound port is built into the front of the orchestra pit, to allow audience members in the front rows to hear the music while still having a wall to keep them separated from the orchestra. The orchestra pit is the closest to the audience.
- Auditorium: The section of the theatre designated for the viewing of a performance. Includes the patrons main seating area, balconies, boxes, and entrances from the lobby. Typically the control booth is located in the back of the auditorium, although for some types of performance an audio mixing positing in located closer to the stage within the seating.
- Vomitorium: A passage situated below or behind a tier of seats.
- Control booth: The section of the theatre designated for the operation of technical equipment, followspots, lighting and sound boards, and is sometimes the location of the stage manager's station. The control booth is located in the theatre in such a way that there is a good, unobstructed view of the playing area without causing any (or minimal) distraction to the audience (i.e. preventing distracting light leak or noise), and is generally an enclosed space.
- Catwalks: A catwalk is a section of the house hidden in the ceiling from which many of the technical functions of a theatre, such as lighting and sound, may be manipulated.
Front of house[edit]
- Lobby: The lobby is a room in a theatre which is used for public entry to the building from the outside. Ticket counters, coat check, concessions and restrooms are all usually located in, or just off the lobby.
- Box office: A place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue
- Marquee: Signage stating either the name of the establishment or the play and the artist(s) appearing at that venue.
Backstage or offstage[edit]
The areas of a theatre that are not part of the house or stage are considered part of backstage. These areas include dressing rooms, green rooms, offstage areas (i.e. wings), cross-overs, fly rails or linesets, dimmer rooms, shops and storage areas.
- Dressing rooms: Rooms where cast members apply wigs, make-up and change into costumes. Depending on the size of the theatre, there may be only a male and female dressing room, or there might be many (i.e. one for each member of the cast). Often in larger spaces, cast members in lead roles have their own dressing room, those in supporting roles share with one or two others and those in the background or 'chorus' roles share with up to 10 or 15 other people. Dressing rooms generally feature a large number of switchable outlets for accessories like hair dryers, straightening irons, and curlers. They also feature mirrors, which are often lit. Sinks are present for the removal of makeup and sometimes a dressing room will have showers and restrooms attached. Lockers, or costume racks are generally used for storage of costumes. In some performances, dressing rooms are used as a secondary green room because of space limitation or noise, especially by performers with long breaks between stage appearances.
- Green room: The lounge backstage. This is the room where actors and other performers wait in when they are not needed onstage or in their dressing rooms.
- Crossover: A crossover is a hallway, room, or catwalk designed to allow actors in a theater to move from wings on one side of a stage to wings on the other side without being seen by the audience. Sometimes this is built as a part of the theater, sometimes exiting the building is required, and still other times the set includes a false wall to create a temporary crossover. A trap room, orchestra pit, or even the front of house can be used as crossovers.
- Fly system: A fly system is a system of ropes, counterweights, pulleys, and other such tools designed to allow a technical crew to quickly move set pieces, lights, and microphones on and off stage quickly by 'flying' them in from a large opening above the stage known as a fly tower/flyspace.
- Catwalk: A catwalk is an elevated platform from which many of the technical functions of a theatre, such as lighting and sound, may be manipulated.
- Dimmer room: The room backstage which contains the dimmer racks which power the lighting rig in the theatre. Often dimmer racks may not be housed in dedicated room, instead they may be in a mechanical room, control booth, or catwalk, or even on the side of the stage as is often the case on Broadway, touring shows, or at corporate events. When the dimmers are stored onstage, this area of the stage is known as the 'Dimmer Beach'. In the UK it is known as 'Dimmer City'.
- Shops and storage areas: Depending on the space available a theatre may have its own storage areas for old scenic and costume elements as well as lighting and sound equipment. The theatre may also include its own lighting, scenic, costume and sound shops. In these shops each element of the show is constructed and prepared for each production.
- Call board: Literally a backstage bulletin board which contains information about a theatrical production including contact sheets, schedules, rehearsal time changes, etc.
- Trap room: A large open space under the stage of many large theatres. The trap room allows the stage floor to be leveled, extra electrical equipment to be attached, and most importantly, the placement of trap doors onto the stage (hence the name). It is usually unfinished and often doubles as a storage area. It is often also used as a substitute for a crossover.
References[edit]
- Carter, Paul (1994). Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information. Preface by Sally Friedman Carter, illustrations by George Chiang (3rd ed.). Shelter Island, N.Y.: Broadway Press. ISBN9780911747294. OCLC32108801.
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