The string section

More than half of the players in a symphony orchestra usually sit in the string section, and the first violins are closest to the audience.

One family in four sizes

Look at the front half of the stage in the model and you see mostly wood: dozens of violins, violas and cellos, with double basses standing behind. These instruments belong to the violin family. Their names already tell you their sizes. A violin is a “little viola”, a violone was a “big viola”, and violoncello, shortened to cello, means a “small big viola”. The modern double bass mixes features of the violin family and an older family called viols.

Every member has four strings stretched over a bridge, a hollow wooden body that makes the sound louder, and a fingerboard without frets. The player shortens a string by pressing it with a finger, and a shorter string vibrates faster and sounds higher. The bow is a wooden stick strung with horsehair. Rosin on the hair grips the string, pulls it sideways and lets it slip again and again, which keeps the string vibrating for as long as the bow moves. Plucking with a finger is called pizzicato.

Tuning in fifths, and the bass in fourths

The violin is tuned G, D, A, E, each string a fifth above the one before. Its lowest note is G3, which vibrates 196 times a second. The viola uses the same pattern a fifth lower: C, G, D, A, starting from C3 at about 131 Hz. The cello is tuned C, G, D, A again, one octave below the viola, so its lowest note C2 vibrates at about 65 Hz, exactly half the frequency of the viola’s C. The double bass breaks the pattern and is tuned in fourths, E, A, D, G, down to E1 at about 41 Hz. Its part is written an octave higher than it sounds, to keep the notes on the staff.

Who sits where

In the model the first violins sit at the front left, next to the conductor. Their leader, the concertmaster, sits in the first chair closest to the audience and leads the tuning before the concert. The second violins play the same instrument but have their own part, often a harmony or accompaniment a little lower. Violas sit in the middle, cellos at the front right, and the double basses stand or perch on tall stools behind the cellos. Some orchestras use an older plan with the second violins on the right, facing the firsts, so that melodies passed between them move across the stage.

Why so many strings? One violin is much quieter than one trumpet. According to the HyperPhysics reference, a full orchestra may have twenty-two to thirty-five violins, eight to fourteen violas, six to twelve cellos and five to ten double basses. Many players on one line also blend into a smooth, rich sound that a single player cannot make. String players in a section share a music stand in pairs, called desks.

The harp is also in the string section of the model, at the back left. A concert pedal harp has 47 strings and seven pedals. Each pedal changes all the strings with one letter name, for example every C, so the harp can play in any key. Composers usually use one harp, or two in a larger orchestra.