Paragraph on “Which instruments are in a symphony orchestra?” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

Which instruments are in a symphony orchestra?

A symphony orchestra may contain over a hundred instruments, but they are not all different from one another. In fact, there are only four major groups of instruments: the strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. The group to which a particular instrument belongs depends on the way it is played.

String instruments have a wooden body and four strings, and they are played by stroking the strings with a bow or plucking them with the fingers. Woodwind instruments are blown to get a sound. The player blows across a hole or into a mouthpiece containing a reed. Not all the instruments are made of wood ; the modern flute is usually constructed of metal.

Brass instruments are all made of metal, and contain a small mouthpiece into which the player inserts the lips to make a sound.

Percussion instruments are struck, either by hand or with a mallet or stick, to make a sound. Timpani or kettle drums — large bowl-shaped drums — are always to be heard and there may also be other kinds of drums, cymbals, gongs, castanets, a tambourine, a triangle, a xylophone and tubular bells. In fact, the first musical instruments were simple percussion instruments.