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Notes, Strings & Symphonies
Instruments, composers and the words written on every score.
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How many strings does a standard violin have?
Instruments of the Orchestra
Orchestral instruments are sorted by how the sound is produced, not by what they are made of, which is why one of the woodwinds is made of brass. Start here.
About this topic
An orchestra looks like a crowd of unrelated objects, but it is organised on a simple principle: instruments are grouped by the mechanism that sets the air moving. Strings are bowed or plucked, woodwinds use a reed or a sharp edge, brass instruments use the player's vibrating lips, and percussion is struck. Once you know the mechanism, the family follows. That is also why the classification occasionally looks wrong. The saxophone is metal but belongs with the woodwinds. The flute has no reed but is still a woodwind. These ten questions cover the families, a few instruments that sit awkwardly inside them, and the small mechanical details that decide what each one can play.
Questions & answers
Instruments of the Orchestra: all 10 questions and answers
Every question in this quiz is listed below with its correct answer and the reasoning behind it. Play first if you would rather not see the answers — or read through as a study sheet.
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1Which section of a symphony orchestra normally contains the most players?
- A Woodwind
- B Brass
- C Percussion
- D Strings Correct
Answer: D. Strings
Why: A full orchestra of around a hundred players usually devotes about sixty of them to violins, violas, cellos and double basses. The strings need the numbers because a single bowed instrument is much quieter than a single trumpet.
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2Which standard orchestral woodwind instrument uses no reed at all?
- A Clarinet
- B Bassoon
- C Flute Correct
- D Oboe
Answer: C. Flute
Why: The flute produces its sound when the player directs a stream of air across a sharp edge, splitting it into vibrations. The clarinet uses a single reed, while the oboe and bassoon both use a double reed made of two blades tied together.
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3Which instrument does an orchestra traditionally tune to before a concert?
- A Violin
- B Oboe Correct
- C Flute
- D Clarinet
Answer: B. Oboe
Why: The oboe holds its pitch reliably and its tone cuts through a hall full of other instruments, so it gives the reference A. When a piano is involved the orchestra tunes to the piano instead, since a piano cannot be retuned in a few seconds.
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4On a modern concert harp, what is used to raise or lower the pitch of the strings?
- A Seven foot pedals Correct
- B A row of levers on the neck
- C Valves beside the soundboard
- D A small keyboard
Answer: A. Seven foot pedals
Why: Each pedal controls every string of one note name across the whole range and has three positions for flat, natural and sharp. Smaller folk harps use hand levers instead, which is why they cannot change key mid-piece.
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5Which brass instrument changes pitch using a slide rather than valves?
- A Trumpet
- B French horn
- C Tuba
- D Trombone Correct
Answer: D. Trombone
Why: The trombone lengthens and shortens its tubing with a telescoping slide, giving seven standard positions. It is also the only brass instrument that can slide smoothly between two notes rather than stepping between them.
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6Which is the lowest-sounding member of the orchestral string section?
- A Viola
- B Violin
- C Double bass Correct
- D Cello
Answer: C. Double bass
Why: The double bass sits at the bottom of the string range and is written an octave higher than it actually sounds, to keep the notes on the staff. It is also the only orchestral string instrument usually tuned in fourths rather than fifths.
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7What makes the timpani unusual among the drums of an orchestra?
- A They are never struck with sticks
- B They can be tuned to definite pitches Correct
- C They are always played in pairs
- D They have no drumhead
Answer: B. They can be tuned to definite pitches
Why: A pedal tightens or slackens the head, letting the player set an exact note and change it during a piece. Most other orchestral drums produce a sound with no clear pitch at all.
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8The saxophone belongs to which instrument family?
- A Woodwind Correct
- B Brass
- C Percussion
- D String
Answer: A. Woodwind
Why: It is made of brass but sounds through a single reed, and family membership depends on how the sound is produced. Adolphe Sax patented it in the 1840s, aiming for an instrument with the power of brass and the agility of woodwind.
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9Which keyboard instrument sounds its strings by plucking them rather than striking them?
- A Piano
- B Clavichord
- C Celesta
- D Harpsichord Correct
Answer: D. Harpsichord
Why: A harpsichord key raises a jack fitted with a small plectrum that plucks the string as it passes. Because the pluck is the same however hard the key is pressed, the player cannot make one note louder than the next.
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10On a pipe organ, what does the player use to select which sets of pipes will sound?
- A Valves
- B Mutes
- C Stops Correct
- D Frets
Answer: C. Stops
Why: Each stop admits wind to one rank of pipes with its own tone colour, and the organist combines them to build a sound. The phrase about pulling out all the stops comes from exactly this, since engaging every rank produces the loudest possible result.
Read alongside this quiz
Why some notes sound right together
Harmony is not a matter of taste alone. Simple ratios, overtones, and the compromise hiding inside every piano.
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