The family
Keyboards in the orchestra are not a fixed section but instruments added for color or function: piano, celesta, harpsichord, organ, harmonium, and today synthesizers and electric pianos. In many scores they are played by the same keyboardist.
Piano
- Range: A0 – C8, 88 keys.
- In the orchestra: since the 20th century (Stravinsky, Petrushka, 1911; Bartók; Prokofiev) as a percussive and color instrument. Typical functions: doubling the basses with octaves in the low register to give attack (widely used in modern film scores), doubling harp and celesta, percussive ostinatos.
- In pop: the main harmonic and rhythmic instrument (see Piano Accompaniment Patterns).
- Registers: low (A0–C2) dark and rich in harmonics, middle (C3–C5) full, high (C6–C8) brilliant and short.
Celesta
- Hammers on metal plates with resonators.
- Range: written C4 – C7 (some models C3), sounds an octave higher (up to C8).
- A delicate, magical, “music box” sound. Famous example: Tchaikovsky, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker, 1892). In modern film scores: Hedwig's Theme in Harry Potter (John Williams, 2001).
- Weak volume: it must play with light orchestration or be doubled (glockenspiel, harp, violins in harmonics).
Harpsichord
- Strings plucked by plectra; no dynamics from touch (volume changes only through the stops).
- Range: typically F1 – F6 (5 octaves); many instruments have 2 manuals and 8' (actual pitch) and 4' (an octave higher) stops.
- Basso continuo in Baroque music; an “antique” or ironic color in pop (Beatles, In My Life: a solo played on a piano recorded at half speed, which sounds like a harpsichord).
- The sound is brilliant and rich in harmonics, and can be heard even in a dense mix.
Pipe organ
- Manuals (usually 2–4, each from about C2 to C7) and pedalboard (about C1 – G3 in written notes with an 8' stop).
- Stops in feet: 8' = written pitch, 16' = an octave lower, 32' = two octaves lower, 4' = an octave higher, 2' = two octaves higher; mutation stops (2 2/3' = fifth above the octave, 1 3/5' = third) and ripieno (mixtures).
- It sustains notes indefinitely and has an immense low end (32' goes below 20 Hz).
- Uses: sacred music, film scores (Interstellar, Hans Zimmer, 2014, with the organ of the Temple Church in London), progressive rock.
Hammond organ and electric keyboards
In pop and soul: Hammond B-3 organ (drawbars, Leslie), Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Clavinet. In V Collection: B-3 V, Stage-73 V, Wurli V, Clavinet V. Functions: warm pad (organ), soft comping (Rhodes), percussive rhythm (Clavinet, Stevie Wonder — Superstition, 1972).
Synthesizers in the orchestra
Today many hybrid orchestrations include synths for sub-basses, pads, and pulses (Zimmer, Jóhannsson, Ludwig Göransson). Rule: give the synth a function that the orchestra doesn't have (sub below 40 Hz, sequenced pulses, pads that never need to breathe) instead of replacing the strings.
Practical exercise
Orchestrate an 8-bar theme in D major with strings and light woodwinds. Add the celesta doubling the melody an octave above the violins I, the harp in arpeggios, and the piano doubling the double basses only on the beat-1 bass notes. Then replace the celesta with a glockenspiel and compare.
Related topics
Orchestration: Families, Ranges, and Blends, Orchestral Percussion, Harp, Piano Accompaniment Patterns, Arranging with Synths.