How to listen to an orchestra

In the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth, the “Ode to Joy” tune starts quietly in the low strings and is passed upward until the whole orchestra plays it.

Follow the tune

A symphony can last forty minutes or more, and it is easy to get lost in a wall of sound. A good first habit is to follow the tune. Ask which instrument has the melody right now and where it goes next. Composers love to pass a theme from one family to another: a melody first heard on the oboe may return on the violins, then in the horns. Each time the tune sounds different because the tone colour, or timbre, has changed.

The model lets you hear this on purpose. The same Ode to Joy melody is played first by the violins over cellos and basses. Add the woodwinds and the flute doubles it an octave higher, the oboe plays it at the same pitch and the clarinet an octave lower. Add the brass and the trumpet joins the tune while horns hold chords and trombones and tuba strengthen the bass. Add percussion and the timpani mark the strong beats with D and A. The notes of the tune never change; only the instruments do.

Hearing the difference between instruments

Why does an oboe sound different from a flute playing the same A? Every note from a real instrument is a mix of a fundamental and many overtones, and each instrument strengthens different overtones. HyperPhysics lists favoured overtone bands, called formants: around 800 Hz for the flute, around 1,400 Hz for the oboe and 1,200 to 1,400 Hz for the trumpet, but only 200 to 400 Hz for the tuba. The synthesized voices in the model copy a little of this idea with filters, which is why they are only approximations. Try picking the flute and then the oboe, and listen for the brighter, nasal edge of the oboe.

Balance matters too. HyperPhysics gives the greatest measured output of a large orchestra as about 67 watts, while a single flute gave about 0.055 watts. A lone flute is easy to lose in a loud passage, so when composers hand the melody to a quiet instrument they thin out the accompaniment around it. Listen for those moments: the texture suddenly opens and one voice comes forward.

Where to start listening

All of these works are old enough to be out of copyright, so you can find free scores and many recordings. Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 (1792) shows the small Classical orchestra and its famous loud chord. Beethoven’s Fifth (1808) begins with a four-note idea and ends with trombones and piccolo blazing in C major. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (1830) tells a dream story with a huge orchestra and many special effects. Beethoven’s Ninth (1824) ends with chorus and soloists singing Schiller’s Ode to Joy.

At a concert, a few small habits help. Read the programme notes before the music starts. Watch the conductor’s left hand to see which section is about to come in. Many symphonies have several movements with short pauses in between, and many listeners wait until the end of the whole work to clap. Above all, choose one family to follow for a few minutes, then switch to another; the same passage reveals different layers each time.