Dream of Dobbs then add sugar

At your daughter’s wedding you will have 16 woodwinds consisting of the four woodwind families:  flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.

All of the players in each family are usually capable of playing all the instruments in that family.  For instance each of the four flute players will be able to play piccolo, flute and alto flute.  They will each probably own all of these instruments.  There are even occasions when they are required to play more than one instrument during the course of the composition.  The composer is the one who makes this decision by the way in which he writes the music.

When you look at the symphony orchestra’s woodwind section you will see (imagine you are the conductor) them sitting in two rows with the flutes on the left and the oboes on the right in the front row and the clarinets on the left and the bassoons on the right in the second row.  The four players in the middle (one of each instrument) are the principal players of that instrument.  You count outwards from these players to know who is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th player.  The only exceptions to this are usually the last flute to the left is the 1st piccolo (even though they may also play the flute), the last oboe to the right is usually the 1st cor anglais or english horn player.  Why the instrument is called either cor anglais or english horn in the English speaking world is beyond me, but it is.  It is neither english nor a horn.  The same is true for the clarinets with the end one or ones being the Eb and/or bass clarinet and the last bassoon is usually also the  contrabassoon.

So, the quartet of principal (1st) woodwinds sits in a square.  This means that all the style of woodwind playing is determined by the principal players in cooperation with the conductor and concertmaster.  Frequently the principal oboe is the ringleader of the woodwinds, but the other principals certainly have their area of expertize and consequently often a loud voice.  More about that later.

Democracy

As you are beginning to see being a member of a symphony orchestra does not mean you are part of a democracy.  There is a pecking order that is mostly strictly adhered to.  It’s again the basic principle of having to have a captain who is surrounded and supported by talented professionals who know what their job is and do it as directed.

It is a whole other book about how this works in a symphony orchestra.  It is quite complicated, but can also be very exciting.

Consider that in an orchestra of over 100 musicians you will have musicians of all ages, from many cultures and with a wide variety of music education.

The job of the conductor is to find a way to get everyone to agree to play in the same style as dictated by him/her and the real challenge is to make sure they want to and enjoy doing it.