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Bass Drum

Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch.

Usage

It is used in orchestral music, marching music, and throughout 20th century popular music as a component of the drum set. drum set In popular music, the bass drum is used to mark time. In marches it is used to project tempo (marching bands historically march to the beat of the bass). A basic beat for rock and roll has the bass drum played on the first and third beats of a bar of common time, with the snare drum on the second and fourth beats, called "back beats". In jazz, the bass drum can vary from almost entirely being a timekeeping medium to being a melodic voice in conjuntion with the other parts of the set. In classical music, the bass drum often punctuates a musical impact, although it has other valid uses. An orchestral bass drum is quite large, about 36" in diameter, and is played with one or sometimes two large, padded mallets. Usually the right hand plays the drum and the left hand muffles it. When played with both mallets, a knee or forearm can be used for damping. In a drum kit, the bass drum is much smaller, most commonly 20" or 22" but sizes from 16" to 24" are quite normal, 26" is not unusual in a big band, and extremes both larger and smaller are sometimes seen. It is usually more heavily muffled than the classical drum. It is played using a pedal operated mallet, which a right-handed drummer will conventionally operate with the right foot. A pedal-operated bass drum is often called a kick drum.

Double bass

pedal In some forms of jazz, rock, hardcore punk and many forms of heavy metal music, particularly thrash metal, power metal, black metal and death metal, two bass drum pedals are used, one operated by each foot. Originally two tuned bass drums were used for this, but a double pedal on the same drum using an extension mechanism (see illustration) is now more common. Although a double pedal will help conserve space, drum resonance is affected by having two beaters playing one drum which is why many drummers will opt for the classic two bass drum setup. Some drummers have also experimented with two different bass drum tunings, sometimes combining this with double beaters so as to have more than two pedals. With two feet playing bass drum, many of the techniques of snare drum playing (such as rudiments and rolls) can be performed on the bass. Double bass drum techniques were pioneered by Louie Bellson in the 1950s and popularised in the 1960s by Ginger Baker of Cream and Keith Moon of the Who. In certain types of metal, the drummer plays a constant stream of rapid-fire notes on the bass drum, and the ability to play evenly at extremely high tempos is prized (as exemplified by Canadian band Eudoxis whose bass drums measured six feet in length). Some metal bands have turned to using triggers, although this practice is greatly frowned upon by fans or drummers that do not understand that the trigger is merely a sensor that produces a certain sound assigned from a sound module once the head has been struck by the drummer's foot or stick. It allows drummers to focus more on speed and less on volume, making it so a drummer can gently tap on the head at a very fast rate and create the sound of a full-on fast drumbeat. This method has been accepted by many contemporary grindcore and deathmetal bands who aim for speed that cannot be attained by conventional drumming techniques. There are various reasons why triggers are advantageous; they are easy to maintain and one can always have the desired sound at any time, and they are almost essential if somebody plays doublekick, for it is impossible to tune two bass drums to the same note, since no drum is ever identical as the other (not even in case of same brand, model and dimensions), which is also the reason why many players prefer using a double pedal instead. Whether the drum is struck softly or heavily, the signal produced by the transducer will always be at a constant volume. Whilst in some cases this is desirable in a death metal band, where the use of dynamics is less needed, it is not in a different setting such as jazz or fusion music. Many bands (such as the Australians The Berzerker) use drum machines to obtain impossible bass drum speeds for human legs (although they actually use a drummer in a live situation), but this practice is not well received by fans and musicians who consider it cheating. The Berzerker] The most common method of doublekick playing is a "heel-up" technique: the pedals are struck with the ball of the feet using force primarily from the thigh as opposed to the ankles when using the "heel-down" technique. Most drummers play single strokes, although there are many who are also capable of playing doubles or paradiddles. A more difficult method is the "heel and toe" technique: the foot is suspended above the footboard of the pedal and the first note is played with the heel. The foot snaps up, the heel comes off the footboard, and the toes come down for a second stroke. This method is much more difficult and tiring than running. However, once mastered it allows the player to lay down very rapid rolls on the bass drum. Noted players include Derek Roddy, Mike Justian, Nicholas Barker, Tim Waterson (who holds the current world record), Danny Carey and Flo Mounier. The technique is commonly used in death metal and other extreme forms of music, but there are musicians such as Thomas Lang or Virgil Donati that employ it for various styles and are also capable of performing impressively complicated solos on top of an ostinato bassdrum pattern. Lang has actually mastered the "heel and toe" to the extent that he is also able to play dynamically with the bassdrum and to perform all kinds of rudimental stuff with his feet. Many drummers use a drop-clutch mechanism in order to disengage the top hi-hat and free both feet while double bass playing. This results in the hi-hat producing a closed sound until the hi-hat foot is available. The mechanism is disabled by fully pressing on the hi-hat pedal again. Another solution to produce close hi-hat sounds is by mounting an X-hat on the kit, thus leaving the main hi-hat for the open sounds.

Marching bass drums

hi-hat A unique musical ensemble consisting of graduated pitch marching bass drums is usually found in marching bands and drum and bugle corps. A bass line typically consists of four to six tuned bass drums, although variations do occur. Smaller lines are not uncommon in high school marching bands, and huge basslines of at least 16 musicians have been seen. The drums typically are between 18" and 32" in diameter, but some groups have used bass drums as small as 14" and larger than 36". Unlike the other drums in a drumline, the bass drums are generally mounted sideways: the two drumheads don't point up and down, but left and right. As a result, bass drums are played with a different technique than other drums in the line. The drums are tuned such that the largest will always play the lowest note, the closest smaller one will play a higher note, and so on, with the smallest drum playing the highest note. In the case of the standard 5-drum bass line, the writer has 31 different sounds (excluding special techniques like rim clicks) with which to work. The bass drum ensemble can be very important for a group: they typically provide impact, melody, and tempo due to the muffled yet incisive nature of the sound of the instruments. Tonal bass drums are tuned higher than kick drums or orchestral bass drums so complex rudimental passages can be heard clearly. Each player usually carries one drum, though in rare cases players carry two or three smaller drums at once. Skilled bass drum lines can execute complex linear passages so convincingly that it sounds like the entire bass drum part is being played by a single musician. This is the biggest distinguishing characteristic of the marching bass drum—its purpose is to convey complex rhythmic or melodic content, not just to keep the beat.

Audio samples

:See the Drums page at [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikipedia Commons] for more
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External links

- [http://www.platinumtabs.com/tabs/drums.html Drum Tabs]
- [http://www.mxtabs.net/drumtabs.php More Drum Tabs]
- [http://www.heeltoetechnique.com Heel and Toe Technique]- Advanced bass drum technique for speed and control. Category:Marching percussion Category:Orchestral percussion Category:Drum kit components Category:Drums ja:バスドラム

Drum

For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). drum (disambiguation) drum (disambiguation).]] A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion family, technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drumskin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound. Drums are among the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has been virtually unchanged for hundreds of years. The shell almost invariably has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of the shell varies widely. In the western musical tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder, although timpani for example use bowl-shaped shells. Other shapes include truncated cones (bongo drums) and joined truncated cones (talking drum). Drums with cylindrical shells can be open at one end (as in the timbales) or, more commonly in the Western tradition, they can have another drum head. Sometimes they have a solid shell with no holes in at all though this is rare. It is usual for a drum to have some sort of hole in to let air move through the drum when it is struck. This gives a louder and longer ring to the notes of the drum, so drums with two heads covering both ends of a tubular shell often have a small hole halfway between the 2 drumheads. The membrane is struck, either with the hand or with a drumstick, and the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. The sound of a drum depends on several variables including shell shape, size, thickness of shell, materials of the shell, type of drumhead, tension of the drumhead, position of the drum, location, and how it is struck. In lots of popular music and jazz, drums usually refers to a drum kit or set of drums, and drummer to the band member or person who plays them. Drums are also played by percussionists whose skills can be called for in all areas of music from Classical to Heavy Rock & all areas in between. In the past, drums were used as a means of communication and not just for their musical qualities. - see drum (communication).

Examples

Some examples of drums from different origins.

Latin and Brazilian

drum (communication)]
- bongo drum
- conga drums
- surdo
- steel drum - not a membranophone, but referred to as a drum
- tan-tan
- timbales

Western

- basler drum
- bass drum
- Lambeg drum
- octoban
- snare drum
- tabor
- tenor drum
- timpani (kettledrum)
- tom-tom drum

Africa

- bougarabou
- djembe
- djun-djun
- log drum
- message drum
- monkey drum
- rebana
- donno
- dun dun
- ngoma
- brekete
- kete
- repeater
- sabar
- ashiko
- kidi
- sogo
- kaganu
- atsimevu
- iya ilu
- darbuka
- doumbek
- kpanlogo
- cuica
- talking drum
- bada
- tassa
- klobotoji
- totoji
- gudu gudu
- sakara
- okónkolo
- bata
- itótele
- tama

Middle East

- tonbak
- daf
- bodhrán
- goblet drum
- davul
- doyra
- tapan

Asia

tapan
- taiko
- tabla
- dholak
- mridang
- nagada In the Sachs-Hornbostel scheme of musical instrument classification, drums belong to the membranophone class.
- double drumming
- drum and bass
- drum kit
- drum machine
- musical instrument
- Percussive Arts Society
- hearing the shape of a drum
- drum beat
- drum replacement
- Zendrum
- List of drummers

External links

- [http://www.drum-world.com Drum Discussion Forum]
- [http://www.drummeressentials.com DrummerEssentials.com]- Free 45+ Page Drum eBook
- [http://www.drumming.com Drumming.com]- Over 2000 free drum lessons, tips, tabs, and links.
- [http://www.drumsdatabase.com Drums Database]: A large database with numerous drum lessons and drumtabs.
- [http://www.drumtechniques.com Drum Lesson Videos] - Downloadable instructional drum video lessons.
- [http://www.drumtopia.com/ Drumtopia Drum News] has drumming news, drum tab search and a directory of drum resources.
- [http://www.onehandedroll.com One Handed Drum Roll]- Advanced method for one handed drum speed.
- ja:太鼓

Orchestra

An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra. A full size orchestra may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these prefixes do not indicate any difference either to the instrumental content or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different orchestras based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its staff, in some cases over a hundred, but the number of musicians used in a performance varies according to the work being played. A leading chamber orchestra might be forty or fifty strong; some are much smaller than that. The typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of musical instruments. In the order in which they appear on the score they are:
- the woodwinds (flutes, piccolos, oboes, cor anglais, clarinets, bass clarinets, bassoons, contrabassoons),
- the brass (horns, trumpets, trombones, bass trombones, tuba), and
- the percussion (timpani, snare drum, bass drum, celesta, piano, etc.)
- the strings (violins, violas, cellos, double basses). Other instruments are not standard members of the orchestra but are called to play when the orchestra performs a peice that has a part written for that instrument. For example, saxophones appear in a limited 19th and 20th century repertoire. While they are occasionally only featured solo instruments in these works, as in Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition, other pieces such as the same composer's Bolero contain writing for saxophones as members of the orchestral ensemble. In addition, the euphonium, sometimes called the tenor tuba, is featured in a few Romantic and 20th century works. Unless these instruments are played by members doubling with another instrument (for example, a trombone player changing to euphonium for a certain passage), orchestras will use freelance musicians to enable them to perform works which require instrumentalists which they do not have on staff. For instance, while most larger orchestras employ a harpist, those that don't or that require a second for a larger work will hire players who are not permanent members to play during those performances. Between the instrument groups and within each group of instruments, there is a generally accepted hierarchy of leadership. Every instrumental group (or section) has a principal (or soloist) who is generally responsible for playing solos within and leading the group. The violins are divided into two groups, first violin and second violin, and therefore have two principals. The principal first violin is called the concertmaster (or leader) and is considered the leader of not only the string section, but of the entire orchestra, subordinate only to the Conductor. The principal trombone is considered the leader of the low-brass (trombone, bass-trombone, tuba) section, while the principal trumpet is generally considered the leader of the entire brass section. Similarly, the principal oboe (or sometimes the principal flute) is considered the leader of the entire woodwind section. The horn, while technically a brass instrument, often acts in the role of both woodwind and brass. Most sections also have an Assistant principal (or Co-principal, or Associate principal), or in the case of the first violins, an Assistant concertmaster, who often plays a tutti part in addition to replacing the principal in his or her absence. A tutti (or section) player generally plays either a unique but non-solo part (in the case of winds, brass and percussion), or in unison with a group (in the case of the strings). Where a solo part is called for in a string section, for example in the violins, that part is invariably played by the section leader. In modern times, the musicians are usually directed by a conductor, although early orchestras did not have one, using instead the concertmaster or the harpsichordist playing the continuo for this role. Some modern orchestras also do without conductors, particularly smaller orchestras and those specialising in historically accurate performances of baroque music and earlier. The most frequently performed repertoire for a symphony orchestra is Western classical music or opera. However, orchestras are sometimes used in popular music.

History of the orchestra

In the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy the households of nobles had musicians to provide music for dancing and the court, however with the emergence of the theatre, particularly opera, in the early 17th century, music was increasingly written for groups of players in combination: which is the origin of orchestral playing. Opera originated in Italy, and Germany eagerly followed. Dresden, Munich and Hamburg successively built opera houses, and by the end of the 17th century opera flourished in England under Henry Purcell, and in France under Lully, who with the collaboration of Molière also greatly raised the status of the entertainments known as ballets, interspersed with instrumental and vocal music. In the 17th century and early 18th century instrumental groups were taken from all of the available talent. A composer such as Johann Sebastian Bach had control over almost all of the musical resources of a town, where as Handel would hire the best musicians available. This placed a premium on being able to rewrite music for whichever singers or musicians were best suited for a performance - Handel produced different versions of the Messiah oratorio almost every year. As nobility began to build retreats from towns, they began to hire standing bodies of musicians. Composers such as the young Joseph Haydn would have, then, a fixed body of instrumentalists to work with. At the same time, travelling virtuoso performers would write concerti which featured their skills, and travel from town to town, arranging concerts from whoever was there. The aristocratic orchestras worked together over long periods of time, making it possible for ensemble playing to improve over time. This change, from civic music making where the composer had some degree of time or control, to smaller court music making and one-off performance, placed a premium on music which was easy to learn, often with little or no rehearsal. The results were changes in musical style and emphasis on new techniques. Mannheim had one of the most famous orchestras of that time, where notated dynamics and phrasing, previously quite rare, became standard (see Mannheim school). It also attended a change in musical style from the complex counterpoint of the baroque period, to an emphasis on clear melody, homophonic textures, short phrases, and frequent cadences: a style which would later be defined as classical. Throughout the late 18th century composers would continue to have to assemble musicians for a performance, often called an "Academy", which would, naturally, feature their own compositions. In 1781, however, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was organized from the merchants concert society, and it began a trend towards the formation of civic orchestras which would accelerate into the 19th century. In 1818, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society was founded, in 1842 the New York Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic were formed, and in 1858, the Hallé Orchestra was formed in Manchester. There had long been standing bodies of musicians around operas, but not for concert music: this situation changed in the early 19th century as part of the increasing emphasis in the composition of symphonies and other purely instrumental forms. This was encouraged by composer critics such as ETA Hoffman who declared that instrumental music was the "purest form" of music. The creation of standing orchestras also resulted in a professional framework where musicians could rehearse and perform the same works over and over again, leading to the concept of a repertoire in instrumental music. In the 1830s conductor François Antoine Habeneck, in order to perform the symphonies of Beethoven, which had not been heard in their entirety in Paris, began rehearsing a selected group of musicians. He developed techniques of rehearsing the strings separately, notating specifics of performance, and other techniques of cueing entrances which were spread across Europe. His rival and friend Hector Berlioz would adopt many of these innovations in his touring of Europe. This was paralleled by a rapid standardization of instruments. The invention of the piston or valve by Stolzel and Blilmel, both Silesians, in 1815, was the first in a series of innovations, including the use of valves for the flute by Theobald Boehm and the innovations of Adolphe Sax in the woodwinds. These advances would lead Hector Berlioz to write his famous book on instrumentation, which was the first systematic treatise on the use of instrumental sound as an expressive element of music. The effect of the invention of valves was felt at once: instrument-makers in all countries helped with each other in making use of the newly refined instruments and in bringing them to perfection; and the orchestra was before long enriched by a new family of valved instruments, variously known as tubas, or euphoniums and bombardons, having a chromatic scale and a full sonorous tone of great beauty and immense volume, forming a magnificent bass. This also made possible a more uniform playing of notes or intonation, which would lead to a more and more "smooth" orchestral sound which would peak in the 1950s with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and the conducting of Herbert von Karajan. During the transition to using these instruments, which made the performance of more difficult works easier, many composers, including Wagner and Berlioz, would demand the use of "natural" chromatic stops rather than the use of valves for their compositions. However, over time, use of the valved instruments became standard, indeed universal, until the revival of older instruments in the contemporary movement towards authentic performance (sometimes known as "historically informed performance"). New orchestral effects were possible now that standing orchestras had been formed, winds and brass had been expanded, and had an increasingly easy time playing in tune with each other: particularly the ability for composers to score for large masses of wind and brass which previously had been impractical. Works such as the Requiem of Berlioz would have been impossible to perform just a few decades earlier, with its demanding parts for twenty woodwinds, as well as a gigantic brass ensemble including six horns, eight trumpets, eight trombones, and three tubas. The next major expansion of symphonic practice came, ironically, from Wagner's Bayreuth orchestra, founded to play his musical dramas. Wagner needed to have a series of composers and notators for the complex scores which he wrote, and had a specific role for the conductor of an orchestra that he described in his influential work "On Conducting". This led to a revolution in orchestral practice, and set the style for orchestral performance for the next eighty years. Wagner's theories changed tempi, dynamics, bowing of string instruments and the role of principals in the orchestra. Conductors who studied his methods would go on to be influential themselves. As the early 20th century dawned, symphony orchestras were larger, better funded and better trained than ever before, and consequently composers could compose larger and more ambitious works for them. With the recording era beginning, the standard of performance reached a pinnacle, with many older conductors and composers remembering a time when simply "getting through" the music as best as possible was the standard. Since recordings could "fix" small errors in a particular studio performance, and reach people who would never have been able to travel to distant cities - the ability of listeners to compare performances across decades led to a renewed focus on particular conductors and on a high standard of orchestral execution. In the 1920s and 1930s economic and artistic considerations led to the formation of small concert societies, particularly those dedicated to the performance of music of the avant-garde, including Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. This tendency to start festival orchestras or dedicated groups would also be pursued in the creation of summer musical festivals, and orchestras for the performance of smaller works. Among the most influential of these was the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner. With the advent of the early music movement, orchestras where players worked on execution of works in styles derived from the study of older treatises on playing became common. These include the London Classical Players under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington and the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood, among others. The late 20th century saw a crisis of funding and support for orchestras in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. The size and cost of a symphony orchestra, compared to the size of the base of supporters, became an issue which struck at the core of the institution. Along with the drastic falling off of revenues from recording, tied to no small extent to changes in the recording industry itself, a period of change began which has yet to reach its conclusion. Critics such as Norman Lebrecht were vocal in their diagnosis of the problem as the "jet set conductor" and the problems of orchestral repertory and management, while other music administrators such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen argued that new music, new means of presenting it, and a renewed relationship with the community could revitalize the symphony orchestra.

A Conductorless Orchestra

The post-revolutionary Первый Симфонический Ансамбль (Pervyi Simfonicheskii Ansambl' - First Symphonic Ensemble) was formed in the USSR in 1922. The unusual aspect of the orchestra was that, believing that in the ideal Marxist state all men are equal, its members felt that there was no need to be led by the dictatorial baton of a conductor; instead they were led by a committee. Although it was a partial success, the principal difficulty with the concept was in changing tempo. The orchestra survived for ten years and had to be disbanded only when the individual talents began to rebel against the rigid control under which they were expected to play. Some ensembles, such as the Orpheus Ensemble, based in New York City, have had more success, although decisions are likely to be deferred to some sense of leadership within the ensemble (for example, the principal wind and string players). Others have returned to the tradition of a principal player, usually a violinist, being the artistic director and running rehearsals (such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra).

List of orchestras

This list contains orchestras with entries in the Wikipedia plus other particularly noted orchestras. There is also a summative list of notable orchestras worldwide. See the Orchestras category for entries that may not be included here.

Brazil

- São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra [http://www.osesp.art.br/ official site]

Canada

- Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (also known as the CPO) [http://www.cpo-llive.com official site]
- CBC Radio Orchestra
- [http://www.edmontonsymphony.com/ Edmonton Symphony Orchestra] (official site)
- Montreal Symphony Orchestra (in French, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) (also known as the OSM) [http://www.osm.ca official site]
- [http://www.kanatasymphony.ca/ Kanata Symphony Orchestra]] (official site)
- [http://www.manitobachamberorchestra.org/ Manitoba Chamber Orchestra] (official site)
- National Arts Centre Orchestra [http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/naco official site]
- [http://www.symphonynb.com/ Symphony New Brunswick] (official site)
- [http://www.nso-music.com/ Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra] (official site)
- [http://www.symphonynovascotia.ca/ Symphony Nova Scotia] (official site)
- [http://www.ottawasymphony.com Ottawa Symphony Orchestra] (also known as the OSO) (official site)
- [http://www.peisymphony.com/ Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra] (official site)
- Orchestre Symphonique de Québec [http://www.osq.qc.ca official site]
- [http://www.reginasymphonyorchestra.sk.ca/ Regina Symphony Orchestra] (official site)
- [http://www.rcmusic.ca/flash/Intro/playintro.html Royal Conservatory Orchestra] (official site)
- [http://www.saskatoonsymphony.org/ Saskatoon Symphony]] (official site)
- Toronto Philharmonia (formerly the North York Symphony) [http://www.torontophil.on.ca/ official site]
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra (also known as the TSO) [http://www.tso.on.ca official site]
- Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (also known as the VSO) [http://www.vancouversymphony.ca official site]
- [http://www.victoriasymphony.bc.ca/about/index.html Victoria Symphony Orchestra] (official site)
- Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (also known as the WSO) [http://www.wso.mb.ca official site]

Czech Republic

- Czech Philharmonic Orchestra [http://www.ceskafilharmonie.cz official site]
- Prague Philharmonic Orchestra [http://www.praguephilharmonic.org official site]

France

- Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris
- Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France [http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/orchestres/philharmonique/accueil/ official site]
- Orchestre National de France [http://www.radiofrance.fr/chaines/orchestres/national/accueil/ official site]
- Orchestre de Paris [http://www.orchestredeparis.com/ official site]
- Orchestre Lamoureux [http://www.orchestrelamoureux.com/index2.php official site]

Germany

- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
- Dresden Staatskapelle
- Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
- Münchner Philharmoniker [http://www.muenchnerphilharmoniker.de/ official site]
- Muchener Bach-Orcester
- Staatskapelle Berlin [http://www.staatsoper-berlin.org/en/fs_f1.htm official site]
- Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra [http://www.br-online.de/kultur-szene/klassik_e/pages/so/ official site]

Israel

- Haifa Symphony Orchestra
- Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
- Israel Symphony Orchestra
- Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra
- Kibbutz Symphony Orchestra
- Rehovot Orchestra
- Rishon LeZion Orchestra

Italy

- Orchestra of La Scala
- Camerata de' Bardi

The Netherlands

- Concertgebouworkest
- Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Poland

- Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka

Russia

- St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
- Russian National Orchestra

Scandinavia

- Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra [http://www.filharmonien.no official site] - Bergen, Norway
- Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Sweden
- Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra - Kristiansand, Norway
- Lahti Orchestra - Finland
- Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra - Oslo, Norway
- Stavanger Symphony Orchestra - Stavanger, Norway
- Trondheim Symphony Orchestra - Trondheim, Norway

South Africa

- Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra

Switzerland

- Sinfonieorchester Basel
- Suisse Romande Orchestra

Turkey

- Presidential Symphony Orchestra - Ankara
- Bilkent Symphony Orchestra - Ankara
- Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra
- Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
- Izmir State Symphony Orchestra
- Dokuz Eylul University Symphony Orchestra - Izmir
- Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra
- Anadolu Symphony Orchstra - Eskisehir
- Antalya State Symphony Orchestra
- Bursa State Symphony Orchestra
- Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra

United Kingdom

- Academy of Ancient Music
- Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
- Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
- Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
- BBC Concert Orchestra
- BBC National Orchestra of Wales
- BBC Philharmonic
- BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
- BBC Symphony Orchestra
- Camerata of London
- City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
- City of London Sinfonia
- English Chamber Orchestra
- Hallé Orchestra
- London Symphony Orchestra
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Manchester Camerata
- Northern Sinfonia
- Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
- Philharmonia
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Royal Scottish National Orchestra
- Scottish Chamber Orchestra
- Sheffield Symphony Orchestra
- Ulster Orchestra

United States

Other

- Flemish Radio Orchestra - Belgium

Other meanings

In ancient Greece the orchestra was the space between the auditorium and the proscenium (or stage), in which were stationed the chorus and the instrumentalists. This is how the modern orchestra got its name. In some theaters, the orchestra is the area of seats directly in front of the stage (called "primafila" or "platea"); the term more properly applies to the place in a theatre, or concert hall set apart for the musicians.

External links

- [http://www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~ahugill/manual/ The Orchestra: A User's Manual] - A fairly concise overview, including detailed video interviews with players of each instrument and various resources
- [http://orcheseek.fc2web.com/ orcheseek] - professional orchestras' links of all over the world
- [http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/instsearch.pl?inst=ORCHESTRA Art of the States: Orchestra] works for orchestra by American composers

Sources

- ko:관현악단 ja:オーケストラ simple:Orchestra th:วงออร์เคสตรา

20th century

The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. Common usage sometimes regards it as lasting from 1900 to 1999, but this is incorrect since counting of calendar years begins with the year 1. The 20th century is also sometimes known as the nineteen hundreds (1900s). Decades are almost always considered as starting with the "0" year and named accordingly ("1960s", etc.). However, a number of arguments have been used to justify the common usage. One was advanced, erroneously, by Stephen Jay Gould. He claimed that the first decade had only nine years, thus contradicting the definition of decade equaled 10 years. Another argument is that the astronomical year numbering system for years does have a year zero, the year normally known as 1 BC. In 2000 the International Organization for Standardization clarified ISO 8601 to use the astronomical year numbering system, which could be interpreted as retrospectively endorsing all the people who had celebrated the new century a few months earlier. The term is also used to describe various periods that overlap with the calendar definition, most notably the Short twentieth century, which claims that the 20th Century spanned from 1914 to 1989, rendering the pre-WWI 1900s into the 19th Century and putting the 1990s at the beginning of the 21st Century. Indeed, the part of the 20th Century before World War I is quite identical to the late 1800s culturally and technologically and the 1990s decade pointed in many ways (such as the rise of the Internet) to the 21st Century and is seen by some as not being truly a part of the 20th Century.

Overview

The twentieth century saw a remarkable shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of technological, medical, social, ideological, and political innovations. Terms like ideology, world war, genocide, and nuclear war entered common usage and became an influence on the lives of everyday people. War reached an unprecedented scale and level of sophistication; in the Second World War (1939-1945) alone, approximately 57 million people died, mainly due to massive improvements in weaponry. The trends of mechanization of goods and services and networks of global communication, which were begun in the 19th century, continued at an ever-increasing pace in the 20th. In spite of the terror and chaos, the 20th century saw many attempts at world peace. As the 35th President of the United States John F. Kennedy said: :What kind of peace do we seek? I am talking about a genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living. Not merely peace in our time, but peace in all time. Our problems are man-made, therefore they can be solved by man. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future, and we are all mortal. Virtually every aspect of life in virtually every human society changed in some fundamental way or another during the twentieth century and for the first time, any individual could influence the course of history no matter their background. Arguably, the 20th century re-shaped the face of the planet in more ways than any previous century.
- Death rates
- Infant mortality
- Infectious disease
- Life expectancy
- Maternal death rates
- Battles Scientific discoveries such as relativity and quantum physics radically changed the worldview of scientists, causing them to realize that the universe was much more complex than they had previously believed, and dashing the hopes at the end of the preceding century that the last few details of knowledge were about to be filled in. For a more coherent overview of the historical events of the century, see The 20th century in review. The 20th century has sometimes been called, both within and outside the United States, the American Century, though this is a controversial term.

Important developments, events and achievements

Science and technology

- The assembly line and mass production of motor vehicles and other goods allowed manufacturers to produce more and cheaper products. This allowed the automobile to become the most important means of transportation.
- The invention of heavier-than-air flying machines and the jet engine allowed for the world to become "smaller". Space flight increased knowledge of the rest of the universe and allowed for global real-time communications via geosynchronous satellites.
- Mass media technologies such as film, radio, and television allow the communication of political messages and entertainment with unprecedented impact
- Mass availability of the telephone and later, the computer, especially through the Internet, provides people with new opportunities for near-instantaneous communication
- Applied electronics, notably in its miniaturized form as integrated circuits, made possible the above mentioned rise of mass media, telecommunications, ubiquitous computing, and all kinds of "intelligent" appliances; as well as many advances in natural sciences such as physics, by the use of exponentially growing calculation power (see supercomputer).
- The development of Nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides resulted in significantly higher agricultural yield.
- Advances in fundamental physics through the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics led to the development of nuclear weapons (known informally as "the Bomb" and dropped on the industrial town of Hiroshima and the historic one of Nagasaki), the nuclear reactor, and the laser. Fusion power was studied extensively but remained an experimental technology at the end of the century.
- Inventions such as the washing machine and air conditioning led to an increase in both the quantity and quality of leisure time for the middle class in Western societies.
- Most influential inventions in the 20th century: antibiotics, oral contraceptives, new plastics, transistors, Internet
- More...

Wars and politics

- Democratic nations began to extend voting privileges to all adults.
- Rising nationalism and increasing national awareness were among the causes of World War I, the first of two wars to involve all the major world powers including Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States and the British Commonwealth. World War I led to the creation of many new countries, especially in Eastern Europe. Ironically, it was said by many to be the 'War to end all Wars'.
- The economic and political aftermath of World War I led to the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe, and shortly to World War II. This war also involved Asia and the Pacific, in the form of Japanese aggression against China and the United States. While the First World War mainly cost lives among soldiers, civilians suffered greatly in the Second -- from the bombing of cities on both sides, and in the unprecedented German genocide of the Jews and others, known as the Holocaust.
- During World War I, in Russia the Bolshevik putsch led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the Soviet Union's involvement in World War II, Communism became a major force in global politics, spreading all over the world: notably, to Eastern Europe, China, Indochina and Cuba. This led to the Cold War and proxy wars with the western world, including wars in Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1957 - 75).
- The "fall of Communism" in the late 1980s freed Eastern and Central Europe from Soviet supremacy. It also led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into successor states, many rife with ethnic nationalism, and left the United States as the world's superpower.
- Through the League of Nations and, after World War II, the United Nations, international cooperation increased. Other efforts included the formation of the European Union, leading to a common currency in much of Western Europe, the euro around the turn of the millennium.
- The end of colonialism led to the independence of many African and Asian countries. During the Cold War, many of these aligned with the USA, the USSR, or China for defense.
- The creation of Israel, a Jewish state in a mostly Arab region of the world, fueled many conflicts in the region, which were also influenced by the vast oil fields in many of the Arab countries.
- The term Southeast Asia coined.

Culture and entertainment

- Movies, music and the media had a major influence on fashion and trends in all aspects of life. As many movies and music originate from the United States, American culture spread rapidly over the world.
- After gaining political rights in the United States and much of Europe in the first part of the century, and with the advent of new birth control techniques women became more independent throughout the century.
- Rock and Roll and Jazz styles of music are developed in the United States, and quickly become the dominant forms of popular music in America, and later, the world. The Beatles, a 1960s British Rock and Roll band, becomes one of the most successful acts of all time, and is credited, in their experimental later albums, with permanently changing what was thought possible in popular music.
- Modern art developed new styles such as expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.
- The automobile provided vastly increased transportation capabilities for the average member of Western societies in the early to mid-century, spreading even further later on. City design throughout most of the West became focused on transport via car. The car became a leading symbol of modern society, with styles of car suited to and symbolic of particular lifestyles.
- Sports became an important part of society, becoming an activity not only for the privileged. Watching sports, later also on television, became a popular activity.

Disease and medicine

- Although the availability and quality of medicine continued to improve, epidemic diseases continued to spread, aided by modern transportation. An influenza pandemic, the Spanish Flu, killed 25 million between 1918 and 1919, while AIDS is yet uncured and treatments remain too expensive for wide use in developing countries.
- Advances in medicine, such as the invention of antibiotics, decreased the number of people dying from diseases. Contraceptive drugs and organ transplantation were developed. The discovery of DNA molecules and the advent of molecular biology allowed for cloning and genetic engineering.

Natural resources and the environment

- The widespread use of petroleum in industry -- both as a chemical precursor to plastics and as a fuel for the automobile and airplane -- led to the vital geopolitical importance of petroleum resources. The Middle East, home to many of the world's oil deposits, became a center of geopolitical and military tension throughout the latter half of the century. (For example, oil was a factor in Japan's decision to go to war against the United States in 1941, and the oil cartel, OPEC, used an oil embargo of sorts in the wake of the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s).
- A vast increase in fossil fuel consumption leads to depletion of natural resources, while air pollution has led to the develoment of an ozone hole and, many believe, global warming and both local and global climate change. The problem is increased by world-wide deforestation, also causing a loss of biodiversity. The problem of a depletion of natural resources is decreased by advances in drilling technology which led to a net increase in the amount of fossil fuel that is readily obtainable at the end of the century, as compared with the amount considered obtainable at the beginning of the century.

Significant people

World leaders

- Africa
- Gnassingbe Eyadema, Togo
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire
- Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia
- Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya
- Idi Amin, Uganda
- Nelson Mandela, South Africa
- Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe
- Gamal Abdal Nasser, Egypt
- Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana
- Julius Nyerere, Tanzania
- Habib Bourguiba, Tunisia
- Muammar al-Qaddafi, Libya
- Haile Selassie, Ethiopia
- Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegal
- Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinea
- Americas
- Juan Perón, Argentina
- Eva Perón, Argentina
- Getúlio Vargas, Brazil
- Luis Carlos Prestes, Brazil
- Juscelino Kubitschek, Brazil
- Wilfrid Laurier, Canada
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada
- Pierre Trudeau, Canada
- Salvador Allende, Chile
- Augusto Pinochet, Chile
- Fidel Castro, Cuba
- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Argentina/Cuba
- Emiliano Zápata, Mexico
- Pancho Villa, Mexico
- Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, Mexico
- Augusto César Sandino, Nicaragua
- Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peru
- Alberto Kenya Fujimori, Peru
- Theodore Roosevelt, USA
- Woodrow Wilson,USA
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, USA
- Harry S Truman, USA
- Dwight Eisenhower, USA
- John F. Kennedy, USA
- Lyndon B. Johnson, USA
- Richard Nixon, USA
- Ronald Reagan, USA
- Bill Clinton, USA
- George H. W. Bush, USA
- José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguay
- Romulo Betancourt, Venezuela
- Asia
- Mahatma Gandhi, India
- Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore
- Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines
- Corazon Aquino, the Philippines
- Mao Zedong, People's Republic of China
- Deng Xiaoping, People's Republic of China
- Pol Pot, Cambodia
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan
- Indira Gandhi, India
- Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia
- Jawaharlal Nehru, India
- Emperor Hirohito, Japan
- Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
- Sun Yat-sen, Republic of China
- Chiang Kai-shek, Republic of China
- Achmad Sukarno, Indonesia
- Suharto, Indonesia
- Australia and Oceania
- Edmund Barton, Australia
- Sir Robert Menzies, Australia
- Peter Fraser, New Zealand
- Michael Joseph Savage, New Zealand
- David Lange, New Zealand
- Europe
- Franz Joseph of Austria, Austria-Hungary
- Václav Havel, Czech Republic
- Franjo Tuđman, Croatia
- Archbishop Makarios III, Cyprus
- Urho Kekkonen, Finland
- Philippe Pétain, France
- Charles de Gaulle, France
- Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, France
- François Mitterrand, France
- Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany
- Friedrich Ebert, Germany
- Adolf Hitler, Germany
- Konrad Adenauer, West Germany
- Walter Ulbricht, East Germany
- Erich Honecker, East Germany
- Willy Brandt, West Germany
- Helmut Kohl, Germany
- Gerhard Schröder, Germany
- Eleftherios Venizelos, Greece
- Ioannis Metaxas, Greece
- Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greece
- Andreas Papandreou, Greece
- Miklós Horthy, Hungary
- Imre Nagy, Hungary
- Benito Mussolini, Italy
- Aldo Moro, Italy
- Eamon de Valera, Ireland
- Einar Gerhardsen, Norway
- Józef Piłsudski, Poland
- Lech Wałęsa, Poland
- António de Oliveira Salazar, Portugal
- Mário Soares, Portugal
- Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romania
- Milan Kučan, Slovenia
- Francisco Franco, Spain
- Felipe González, Spain
- Adolfo Suárez, Spain
- Olof Palme, Sweden
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkey
- Neville Chamberlain, United Kingdom
- Winston Churchill, United Kingdom
- Margaret Thatcher, United Kingdom
- Tony Blair, United Kingdom
- Josip Broz Tito,Yugoslavia
- Slobodan Milošević, Yugoslavia
- Russia and Soviet Union
- Czar Nicholas II
- Vladimir Lenin
- Joseph Stalin
- Leon Trotsky
- Nikita Khrushchev
- Leonid Brezhnev
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Boris Yeltsin
- Middle East
- Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran
- Mohammad Mosaddeq, Iran
- Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran
- Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran
- Mohammad Khatami, Iran
- Abdul Nasser, Egypt or United Arab Republic
- Anwar Sadat, Egypt or United Arab Republic
- David Ben-Gurion, Israel
- Golda Meir, Israel
- Menachem Begin, Israel
- Yitzhak Rabin, Israel
- Hafez el Assad, Syria
- Saddam Hussein, Iraq
- King Hussein, Jordan
- Yassar Arafat, Palestine

Scientists

; Biology and Anthropology
- Norman Borlaug
- Francis Crick
- Theodosius Dobzhansky
- Paul Ehrlich
- Jane Goodall
- Stephen Jay Gould
- Hans Adolf Krebs
- Ernst Mayr
- John Maynard Smith
- Albert Szent-Györgyi
- James Watson ; Chemistry
- Elias Corey
- Maria Skłodowska-Curie
- Pierre Curie
- Fritz Haber
- Stanley Miller
- Linus Pauling
- Ernest Rutherford
- J.J. Thomson
- Harold Urey ; Computer Science
- John Backus
- Edsger Dijkstra
- Richard Matthew Stallman
- Linus Torvalds
- Grace Murray Hopper
- John von Neumann
- Claude Shannon
- Alan Turing
- William Gates III ; Mathematics
- Paul Erdős
- Kurt Gödel
- David Hilbert
- Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov
- Benoit Mandelbrot
- John Nash
- John von Neumann ; Medicine and Pharmacy
- Carl Djerassi
- Alexander Fleming
- Howard Walter Florey
- Ma Haide (George Hatem)
- Jonas Salk ; Physics and Astronomy
- Abdus Salam
- Niels Bohr
- Paul Dirac
- Freeman Dyson
- Albert Einstein
- Enrico Fermi
- Richard Feynman
- Stephen Hawking
- Werner Karl Heisenberg
- Edwin Hubble
- Wolfgang Pauli
- Max Planck
- Carl Sagan
- Erwin Schrödinger ; Psychology
- Aaron T. Beck
- Mary Whiton Calkins
- Albert Ellis
- Sigmund Freud
- Carl Jung
- Alfred Kinsey
- Stanley Milgram
- Ivan Pavlov
- Jean Piaget
- B.F. Skinner
- John B. Watson

Humanities

- Art and Literary Theory
- Rudolf Arnheim
- Clive Bell
- Fredric Jameson
- Pauline Kael
- Siegfried Kracauer
- Raymond Williams
- Civil Rights
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Economics
- John Maynard Keynes
- John Kenneth Galbraith
- Milton Friedman
- Ludwig von Mises
- History
- Stephen Ambrose
- Charles A. Beard
- Marc Bloch
- Fernand Braudel
- Lucien Febvre
- Jacques Le Goff
- Philosophy
- Theodor Adorno
- Louis Althusser
- Hannah Arendt
- Gaston Bachelard
- Walter Benjamin
- Henri Bergson
- Gilles Deleuze
- Michel Foucault
- Jürgen Habermas
- Martin Heidegger
- W. V. Quine
- John Rawls
- Bertrand Russell
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Alfred North Whitehead
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Political Science
- Robert A. Dahl
- Maurice Duverger
- Francis Fukuyama
- Arend Lijphart
- C. Wright Mills

Business

- Paul Allen
- Warren Buffett
- Walt Disney
- Henry Ford
- Bill Gates
- Howard Hughes
- Steve Jobs
- Linus Torvalds
- Donald Trump
- Sam Walton
- Thomas J. Watson

Aerospace pioneers

- Alberto Santos-Dumont
- Robert Goddard
- Wernher von Braun
- Neil Armstrong
- Louis Bleriot
- Yuri Gagarin
- Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov
- Freddie Laker
- Charles Lindbergh
- Ron McNair
- Ellison Onizuka
- Herman Potočnik Noordung
- Alan Shepard
- Valentina Tereshkova
- Wright Brothers
- Chuck Yeager

Military leaders

- Moshe Dayan
- Dwight Eisenhower
- Sir Bernard Freyberg
- Charles de Gaulle
- Vo Nguyen Giap
- Che Guevara
- Douglas Haig
- Paul von Hindenburg
- Erich Ludendorff
- Douglas MacArthur
- Rudolf Maister
- Bernard Montgomery
- Chester Nimitz
- George Patton
- Colin Powell
- Erwin Rommel
- Franc Rozman Stane
- Leon Trotsky
- Mao Zedong
- Georgy Zhukov

Spiritual figures

- Pope Pius X
- Pope Pius XII
- Pope John XXIII
- Pope John Paul II
- Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta
- The 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Thubten Gyatso
- The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso
- The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
- The Rev. Billy Graham
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Aurobindo Ghosh
- Ramana Maharshi
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- Ayatollah Khomeini
- Ayatollah Khamenei
- Rasputin
- Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson
- Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon

Artists

- Josef Albers
- Ernst Barlach
- Balthus
- Max Beckmann
- Hans Bellmer
- Joseph Beuys
- Louise Bourgeois
- Constantin Brancusi
- George Braque
- John Cage
- Marc Chagall
- Giorgio de Chirico
- Chuck Close
- Enzo Cucchi
- Salvador Dalí
- Otto Dix
- Marcel Duchamp
- Jacob Epstein
- Max Ernst
- Lyonel Feininger
- Helen Frankenthaler
- Alberto Giacometti
- Juan Gris
- Walter Gropius
- Erich Heckel
- Barbara Hepworth
- Eva Hesse
- Donald Judd
- Frida Kahlo
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Anselm Kiefer
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
- Paul Klee
- Yves Klein
- Gustav Klimt
- Oskar Kokoschka
- Käthe Kollwitz
- Willem de Kooning
- Jannis Kounellis
- Le Corbusier
- Sol LeWitt
- Roy Lichtenstein
- El Lissitzky
- René Magritte
- Marino Marini
- Henri Matisse
- Joan Miró
- Amedeo Modigliani
- László Moholy-Nagy
- Piet Mondrian
- Henry Moore
- Robert Motherwell
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Bass drum

Usage

Double bass

Marching bass drums

Audio samples

External links

Drum

Examples

Latin and Brazilian

Western

Africa

Middle East

Asia

External links

Orchestra

History of the orchestra

A Conductorless Orchestra

List of orchestras

Australia

Austria

Asia

Brazil

Canada

Czech Republic

France

Germany

Israel

Italy

The Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Scandinavia

South Africa

Switzerland

Turkey

United Kingdom

United States

Other

See also

Other meanings

External links

Sources

20th century

Overview

Important developments, events and achievements

Science and technology

Wars and politics

Culture and entertainment

Disease and medicine

Natural resources and the environment

Significant people

World leaders

Scientists

Humanities

Business

Aerospace pioneers

Military leaders

Spiritual figures

Artists