The keyboard section of an orchestra or concert band includes keyboard instruments. Keyboard instruments are not usually a standard members of a 2010-era orchestra or concert band, but they are included occasionally. In orchestras from the 1600s to the mid-1750s, a keyboard instrument such as the pipe organ or harpsichord was normally played with an orchestra, with the performer improvising chords from a figured bass part. This practice, called basso continuo, was phased out after 1750 (although some Masses for choir and orchestra would occasionally still have a keyboard part in the late 1700s).

Members

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Common members of this section are:

Less common members

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Although technically not a keyboard instrument, the cimbalom, a concert hammered dulcimer, is usually placed in the keyboard section, as in Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and Béla Bartók's First Rhapsody for violin and orchestra. In some cases, one or more concert harps may be placed in the keyboard section, such as in Joseph Marx's Eine Herbstsymphonie.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Adey, Christopher. Orchestral Performance: A Guide for Conductors and Players. United Kingdom, Faber & Faber, 2012.