some general terms, just in case

As I was looking over my last entry, I realized I should have explained some of the “departments” in the orchestra and other musical ensembles. The orchestra is made up of several different divisions: the strings, the brass, the woodwinds, and the percussion. The strings are made up of, from highest to lowest: the violins, the violas, the cellos, and the basses. The latter two are considered the lower strings. Violas kind of get shuffled around in the mix, and thus tend to be the butt of many jokes. The harp is also part of the string family, but is often is own entity...as are, often, the musicians who play harp. The woodwinds, in score order (meaning the order they appear in a full score of music which the conductor looks from), are made up of: the flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons. The brasses, also in score order, are made up of: the horns, trumpets, trombones, and tuba. The first two are typically considered high brass, while the latter two are low brass. The percussion is pretty explanatory, and I’m not going to list all the possible percussion instruments, as I think, that would take forever. Some typical ones include the snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, timpani (or kettle drums), triangle, etc., etc. The piano and celeste (the instrument that you may know better as "Trolley" from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood) are also technically considered percussion instruments, but are also a part of the keyboard family. These are just the basic instruments. Often there are many more playing, but they will fit into one of these groupings.

In case I suggest listening to chamber music, here are some typical chamber groups.

Strings:

A string quartet, the most common ensemble, is made up of two violins, a viola, and a cello. When strings have a quintet ensemble, it is referred to as whatever instrument is added to a standard quartet. So, a piano quintet is made up of a piano, two violins, a viola, and a cello. A viola quintet is a viola plus a typical string quartet, and so on. A piano quartet, however, is a string quartet minus a violin which is replaced with a piano. A string trio is made up of a violin, viola, and a cello. And finally, a piano trio is usually a piano, violin, and a cello.

Woodwinds:

A woodwind quintet, the most common ensemble, or commonly known as a wind quintet, is made up of a flute, clarinet, oboe, horn, and bassoon. A wind quartet is typically a flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and a wind trio is made up of a flute, oboe and clarinet.

Brass:

A brass quintet, the most common ensemble, is made up of two trumpets, a horn, a trombone, and a tuba. A brass quartet is typically two trumpets and two trombones, but can also be made up of two trumpets, a trombone, and a horn. Unlike the strings, when a group is referred to by the instrument, such as a 'trumpet' quintet, or a 'trombone' quartet, this simply means five trumpets, or four trombones, respectively. Brass players keep it simple…and use common sense.

Of course all of these ensembles have exceptions to the rule, thus throwing anything I just wrote out the window.