Types of Musical Ensembles

Rock Band This Ensemble is one that a lot of people are familiar with. Rock music came to popularity and evolved just after World War 2. It devolves from Blues music that originates from the deep south of America and was brought to the north. A huge contributor to Rock music was the invention of the electric guitar, being able to project the sound of a guitar via an amp but also get a completely different unique sound. It was first mass produce by a guy called Leo Fender in 1948 and offered a lot of variation and change for the face of music. As it descends from African American music many other forms of music were also born including Motown in the 1960’s and then to disco and rap in the 1990’s. All of them branching off from newly introduced rock and roll music. One of the biggest rock and roll artists to live and one of the first artists to wide spread rock and roll is Elvis Presley. Elvis was one of, if not, the first white man to give his own twist on African American music because of his huge interest in attending afro American clubs and his fascination in blues music but also became one the first to become a teenage heartthrob.

Rock Band The usual line up in a rock band is pretty simple and is the one people usually associate when you hear the word ‘band’ - Drum Kit Vocals Bass Guitar Electric Guitar Sometimes they will have a second vocalist or a second electric guitar but this is the most common line up and the starting point and ground bass for a rock group.

Rock Band There’s some terms that you have to take in to mind when you think about practicing. Where ever you practice needs to have quite a lot of space if your going with the traditional rock set up. You would need to find a space that fit all instruments and that has a drum kit. You would also need to find a place that is either sound proof or that the surrounding area doesn't mind the sound. Rock groups are usually the first band you would get in to at school and college so if you attend these places your practice times will be sporadic and when ever everyone is free but as you get older you have more responsibilities and free time is hard to come by. To practice you will need to find a space but also a time that all of you can attend and focus on music.

Orchestra The Orchestra has been around since the 1600’s... Baroque Orchestra: 1600-1750 Classical Orchestra: 1750-1830 Romantic Orchestra: 1830-1910 These days a Modern orchestra will have over 90 players that would include, wind, brass, percussion and strings The Conductor The conductor is one of the most, if not the most important member of the orchestra, usually they will be the ones that write the music being played and will know about all of the parts of the piece. There job is to keep the time of the piece and bring instruments in and out of the performance by ques. Famous conductors and composers include Wagner Mozart Beethoven

Orchestra Set Up And Layout

Orchestra The practice regime of a percussion is very organised and planned. As there are loads of people to attend they have strict dates that everyone attends to, sometimes the rehearsals will be 5 times a year sometimes they will every month depending on the size of your orchestra and the pieces being covered. Due to the practice times being used to practice sometimes very famous pieces the band just need to be able to read music. The practice time is used mostly to work on timing and keeping in time with the others.

Folk band Folk music is any music specific to a certain place. This does not just mean music specific to each country, but also music specific to each county, village, etc. Work songs are one form of folk music, for example, songs from the work plantations during the slave trade era in America Ballads, songs that told a story, either fictional tales or news of the day. Sometimes these were unaccompanied, sometimes with an instrumental accompaniment Music for dancing is still popular, used at barn dances and ceilidhs Today, musicians such as Bob Dylan, Don Mclean and The newish group Mumford and sons are considered to be folk artists

Wind Band The Wind Ensemble consists of woodwind, brass, and percussion players who perform pieces of various instrumentation and styles. It is dedicated to performing the finest original wind literature from the Renaissance to the present. The Wind Ensemble's repertoire ranges from the large military band works of Gustav Holst to the small chamber wind pieces of Mozart.

Wind Band The wind band consists of: Piccolo Flute Oboe English Horn Bassoon (Contrabassoon) E-flat Clarinet B-flat Clarinet E-flat Alto Clarinet And a lot more including percussion and Bass Clarinet

Jazz An American genre originating in cities such as New Orleans and Chicago It evolved from Dixieland jazz and ragtime, with composers such as Scott Joplin, famous for his piano piece The Entertainer Trumpet player Louis Armstrong was one of the first to create jazz as we recognise it, and started the tradition of improvised solos Jazz could include many combinations of instruments including Trumpets, Saxophones, Clarinets, Double Bass, Drums and Piano More modern jazz included artists such as Miles Davies, Benny Goodman, and Gordon Goodwin