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Each seat is labelled with the name of the instrument that would go there and is coloured according to the family of instruments it is from. Orchestral instruments are divided into four categories - Strings, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion. For the PLAY.orchestra we've chosen the following colours so you can see which section you're in: |
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| Why doesn't my seat make a sound? Not every seat will be playing all of the time. This is because in most music not every instrument plays all of the time - it would be too exhasuting for the player. We've chosen music that uses the full orchestra a lot of the time, so wait for 20 seconds and listen carefully. You might find however that you still can't hear any noise from your seat. This could be because your instrument isn't involved in the piece at all!! Although an orchestra nearly always has a certain instruments in it, the orchestration (instruments involved) changes from piece to piece. This is because different composers want to use different instruments, and sometimes because certain instruments hadn't been invented when the piece was composed. The instruments that often get left out are the cor anglais, bass clarinet and contrabassoon. However in our new pieces of music we've asked our composers to write for the full orchestra, so you'll always be able to hear a sound from your seat.
These are our 'hotspots' - designed to allow people in wheelchairs or buggys to enjoy the orchestra. They work just like the seats - put your weight on them and the instruments play - the speakers are cunningly hidden in the seat next door or in the hoardings. Is this a full size orchestra? Well yes and no. The instruments in an orchestra have changed over the years and we've gone for an orchestra with a medium orchestration, involving instruments that are often used, but missing out some of the less common ones (Eb Clarinet, Saxophones, complicated percussion). For reasons of space (and cost of cubes!) we've also got a smaller than usual string section. The Philharmonia Orchestra tends to play with 16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos and 8 double basses (60 players - more than our whole orchestra!!!!). We write this down like this 16:14:12:10:8 on our planning documents. For the PLAY.orchestra our string strength is cut to 10:8:6:6:4 (but we have the advantage of being able to turn up the string instruments so they balance with the wind and brass better...) How was the music chosen? We chose pieces of music that the Philharmonia Orchestra will play in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in the forthcoming season. We also had to think about the orchestration of the extracts and find moments when the orchestra was busy, so that the seats were active for a lot of the time. What if I've got more questions? Ask us! Click here to go to the forum and ask about the PLAY.orchestra. |
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What are the coloured spaces between the seats for?