Interactive seating chart
Twenty-two instruments in their usual places on stage, grouped into string, woodwind, brass and percussion sections, with harp and keyboards at the side.
Instruments of the Orchestra: Hear Every Sound
Click a seat to hear each orchestra instrument, see its range and family, then test your ear with a quiz.
Meet the orchestra in three steps
No signup and nothing to install. It works on a laptop, a tablet or the classroom projector.
- 01
Pick a family or a seat
Choose strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion or keyboards, or click any seat on the stage. The family lights up so you see where it sits.
- 02
Listen and read
Every instrument plays a short phrase in its own register. The card explains how it makes its sound and shows its range on a piano keyboard.
- 03
Take the listening quiz
Switch to the quiz, play the mystery sound and guess the family or the exact instrument. The score and streak count along.
An orchestra you can click
Made for curious listeners, music lessons and anyone who wants to tell an oboe from a clarinet.
Real instrument sounds
Each instrument plays a short phrase in a register that suits it, so you hear the dark low clarinet, the bright piccolo and the rumble of the timpani.
Listening quiz with two levels
Start by naming the family, then move up to the exact instrument. The four answers often come from the same family, so the quiz trains the ear.
Classroom screen mode
One button puts the tool in full screen with larger text for the projector. Pupils can answer by pressing 1 to 5, and nobody needs an account.
The instruments of the orchestra and their ranges
A symphony orchestra groups its instruments into families by the way they make sound. String instruments vibrate a string with a bow or a finger. Woodwind instruments make air vibrate against an edge or a reed. Brass instruments use the player’s buzzing lips. Percussion instruments are struck, shaken or scraped. That is why a metal flute is a woodwind and a wooden xylophone is percussion.
The table lists every instrument in the tool with its approximate sounding range for an orchestral player, written in scientific pitch, where C4 is middle C. Professionals can often play a few notes beyond these limits, and transposing instruments such as the clarinet and the horn are listed at the pitch you hear.
| Instrument | Range | Family |
|---|---|---|
| Violin | G3 - A7 | Strings |
| Viola | C3 - E6 | Strings |
| Cello | C2 - C6 | Strings |
| Double bass | E1 - G4 | Strings |
| Harp | C1 - G7 | Strings |
| Piccolo | D5 - C8 | Woodwinds |
| Flute | C4 - D7 | Woodwinds |
| Oboe | B♭3 - A6 | Woodwinds |
| Clarinet | D3 - B♭6 | Woodwinds |
| Bassoon | B♭1 - E♭5 | Woodwinds |
| Trumpet | E3 - C6 | Brass |
| French horn | B1 - F5 | Brass |
| Trombone | E2 - D5 | Brass |
| Tuba | D1 - F4 | Brass |
| Timpani | D2 - C4 | Percussion |
| Snare drum | no fixed pitch | Percussion |
| Cymbals | no fixed pitch | Percussion |
| Xylophone | F4 - C8 | Percussion |
| Glockenspiel | G5 - C8 | Percussion |
| Tubular bells | C4 - F5 | Percussion |
| Piano | A0 - C8 | Keyboards |
| Celesta | C4 - C8 | Keyboards |
String instruments
The string section is the largest part of the orchestra and sits right in front of the conductor. From high to low it has first and second violins, violas, cellos and double basses. All four are played with a bow, a stick strung with horsehair, or plucked with a finger, which musicians call pizzicato. Because the strings can play for a long time without breathing, they carry most of the melodies and harmonies in classical music.
The harp is also a string instrument, but it is only ever plucked. With seven pedals it can play in every key, and its sweeping glissandos are one of the most recognisable sounds of the orchestra.
Woodwind instruments
The woodwinds sit in the middle of the stage, usually in two rows: flutes and oboes in front, clarinets and bassoons behind. The flute and the piccolo make their sound by splitting a stream of air on an edge. The clarinet uses a single reed, and the oboe and the bassoon use a double reed made of two blades of cane.
Each woodwind has a strong personality, which is why composers give them solos: the bird song of the flute, the pastoral oboe, the smooth clarinet and the bassoon, which can sound comic or deeply sad. In the quiz, telling the oboe from the clarinet is one of the best ear tests there is.
Brass instruments
Behind the woodwinds sit the brass: trumpets, French horns, trombones and the tuba. Every brass player buzzes their lips into a cup or funnel-shaped mouthpiece, and the length of the tube decides which notes are possible. Valves add extra tubing on the trumpet, the horn and the tuba, while the trombone uses a slide.
Brass can play very softly, but it is famous for power: fanfares, hunting calls and the big chords at the end of a symphony. The French horn blends with both woodwinds and brass, so composers often use it to tie the two sections together.
Percussion instruments
The percussion section stands in the back row. Some percussion instruments play real notes, such as the timpani, the xylophone, the glockenspiel and the tubular bells. Others, like the snare drum, the bass drum, the cymbals and the triangle, have no fixed pitch and add rhythm, colour and accents.
The timpani are the most important drums of the orchestra. A player tunes each kettle drum with a pedal, so the timpani can play the bass note of the chord and build tension with a roll.
Peter and the Wolf: which instrument plays whom
Prokofiev wrote Peter and the Wolf in 1936 to introduce children to the instruments of the orchestra. Every character has its own instrument: the bird is the flute, the duck the oboe, the cat the clarinet, the grandfather the bassoon, the wolf three French horns and Peter the string section. The hunters’ gunshots are played by the timpani and the bass drum.
Before listening to the piece in class, play each of these instruments in the tool and let pupils guess which animal it could be. The quiz then checks whether they can recognise the sounds without seeing them.
For music teachers
Teach the orchestra, then let your class compose
Put the seating chart on the projector and play the quiz together, with no login for you or your pupils. When your class is ready to make its own music, Make a Beat gives you a whole classroom: students join with a code and their name, no email addresses, and you set assignments, listen to what they hand in and grade it. GDPR, FERPA and COPPA ready, servers in Germany, and every school licence starts with a free trial.
Questions about orchestra instruments
What are the four families of instruments in the orchestra?
The four families are strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. They are grouped by how the sound is made: strings vibrate, air vibrates across an edge or a reed, lips buzz into a mouthpiece, or something is struck. Harp, piano and celesta are often shown as a fifth group of keyboards and plucked strings.
How many instruments are in a symphony orchestra?
A full symphony orchestra has around 80 to 100 players. Most of them play strings: about 30 violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos and 8 double basses. The woodwinds and brass usually have two to four players per instrument, plus timpani, percussion, harp and keyboards.
Why is the flute a woodwind if it is made of metal?
The flute is a woodwind because of how it makes its sound, not because of its material. The player blows across an edge, like other woodwinds that use air and keys. Brass instruments are defined by the player’s buzzing lips, so a metal flute and a wooden one are both woodwinds.
What is the lowest and the highest instrument in the orchestra?
The highest instrument in the orchestra is the piccolo, reaching about C8. The lowest are the double bass and the tuba, down to about E1 and D1. A contrabassoon, when a score calls for one, reaches even lower. Press a seat in the seating chart above to hear each one.
Where does each instrument sit in the orchestra?
The strings sit closest to the conductor, with violins on the left and cellos and basses on the right. Woodwinds sit in the middle behind them, brass behind the woodwinds, and percussion in the back row. Harp, piano and celesta usually stand at the side. Orchestras vary this seating chart slightly.
Which instruments play in Peter and the Wolf?
In Peter and the Wolf the flute plays the bird, the oboe the duck, the clarinet the cat and the bassoon the grandfather. Three French horns play the wolf, the string section plays Peter, and the timpani and bass drum play the hunters’ shots. You can hear each instrument here.
How does the listening quiz work in class?
The listening quiz plays a short phrase on a hidden instrument and offers four instruments or the five families as answers. Pupils can answer with the keys 1 to 5, and the score and streak count along. On a projector, the full-screen button makes everything large enough to read from the back.
Is this orchestra instruments tool free?
Yes. The seating chart, all 22 instrument sounds and the listening quiz are free, with no account and no download. It runs in any current browser on a laptop, a tablet, a phone or the classroom screen. The sounds load the first time you play each instrument.
From the orchestra to your own beat
Open the beat maker with a drum groove already playing, then add strings, piano and melodies in your browser.