Brass,+strings+and+woodwind+instruments+-+Jasmine

..... ................ ................... The Baroque era brought about a lot of change and improvement in the way instruments were used. As new instruments were created, older instruments died out and the the commonly used instruments of the Renaissance era were changed as well. This page is specifically about three main principal groups of instruments in the Baroque era: Strings, woodwinds, and brass. Enjoy!

The **Baroque Era** saw the continuation of all the instruments that were used during the Renaissance. Many instruments reached the peak of their development at the height of the baroque era. Before the Baroque Era, there were small groups of instruments called consorts. As more instruments were added in this time, they became families. Also, before the Baroque Era, instrumental music was used mostly for singing and dancing. The music in this period was being written and played for its own sake and appreciation; Instrumental music became as important as vocal music. The range of instruments used in the Baroque orchestra is much smaller compared to modern orchestras. Baroque ochestras were mainly, and sometimes **exclusively, composed of string players**. Woodwinds usually played the same notes as the strings, but occasionally the **woodwinds** and **brass** were given short passages for **colour contrast.**

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The principal ensemble instruments in Baroque music, are the bowed, string instruments of the violin family. The violin soon became the new leader of string instruments and its sound became dominant in late Baroque ensemble music. In the Baroque period, violin making reached its highest point. The Baroque period also inherited from the Renaissance, a range of bowed instrument. The most important among these was the viola da gamba, an instrument with the approximate range of a cello. The gamba was most often used as a continuo instrument, and it disappeared by the end of the eighteenth century. String Instruments of the baroque orchestra were mostly of the the viol family. As the techniques for creating instruments improved, the violin family of instruments replaced them. The bass viol, commonly known as the contrabass or double bass, was still utilized when other viols died out. Baroque orchestras were composed mainly of strings while wind and percussion were used less frequently ..........................................................media type="youtube" key="i-7GXPDVSWY" height="385" width="480" ............................................................

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The recorder, oboe, and bassoon were common instruments during the Baroque era. The recorder was the only one of these instruments which did not survive the transition to the Classical period.Baroque woodwinds were all made of wood, even the flute, and had few or no keys, unlike the woodwind instruments we have today.End-blown recorders and transverse flutes were becoming more common during the baroque era. In the mid Baroque period, the traverse flute became a common ensemble and solo instrument.These instruments generally had a softer sound than the modern versions.

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.................................................................................................................... The main brass instruments of the Baroque era were the trumpet and french horn. Brass instruments such as horns, trumpets and trombones were used in large ensembles and rarely as solo instruments.These instruments in the Baroque period were known as “natural” brass because they had no valves. Valves were a nineteenth century invention which increased the number of pitches easily available to the player.Because of their technical limitations in the Baroque period, these instruments were used essentially for orchestral color.