Orchestra Seating Chart
Learn where the Redlands Symphony musicians sit and some of the history behind why.
Before we dive in, do you have students in the Redlands, CA area? If you share their love for music, our Summer Music Academy returns July 11–22, 2022. Now, on with the article!
How Did the Seating Chart Get Started?
Why are the flutes hidden behind the violins? How come the tubas can’t sit next to the conductor? Who said the drums need to be way in the back?
What we consider today the ‘traditional’ arrangement of an orchestra — with the violins to the left of the conductor, the violas at the center, and the cellos and double basses to the right — wasn’t always how orchestras were laid out.
In the 18th and 19th-century, the second violins were seated opposite the first violins. This seating arrangement supported the conversational music of composers like Mozart and Mahler.
It was in the early-mid 20th century that the orchestra seating chart you know today was actually developed. We can thank Leopold Stokowski for changing the game. The conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Stokowski radically experimented with different seating arrangements.
Some of his arrangements were so bold the board was outraged. But in the 1920s, Stokowski made a move that’s stood the test of time (at least thus far). He placed the string from high to low, left to right. This arrangement, he argued, allowed the musicians to better hear one another. The updated arrangement became known as the ‘Stokowski Shift.’
Instruments & Their Seating Arrangements
1: Conductor
STRINGS
2: First Violin
3: Second Violin
4: Violas
5: Cellos
6: Double Basses
18: Harp
WOODWINDS
7: Flutes
8: Oboes
9: Clarinets
10: Bassoons
BRASS
11: Horns
12: Trumpets
13: Trombones Tuba
PERCUSSION
14: Bass Drum
15: Chimes
16: Cymbals
17: Timpani
FUN MUSICAL TERMS
Concert Master / Mistress
The most important violinist in the orchestra. He or she will sit in the front seat directly to the left of the conductor. It is the duty of the concert master to tune the orchestra before a performance.
Conductor
The leader of an orchestra. He or she is involved in selecting music and deciding how it will be performed. The conductor stands in front of the orchestra and leads the musicians
and helps them play together during the performance.
Dynamics
The loudness and softness of sounds.
Meter
The way beats of music are grouped, often in sets of two or in sets of three, four or six.
Orchestra Chairs
Orchestra musicians are given seats in accordance with their abilities and experience on their instrument. The most skilled musician sits in the first chair of each section and plays any solo parts for that instrument. The next most skilled player would sit in the second chair and the least skilled musician would sit in the last chair of his or her section.
Solo
A complete composition or passage for a single instrument.
Style
The unique way in which the elements of melody, rhythm, tone color, and harmony are produced to create a special “sound.”
Tempo
The speed of the beat.
Theme
An important melody that occurs several times in a piece of music.
Theme & Variations
A composition, each section of which is an alternation of the initial theme. A variation may alter the theme by changing musical elements such as its dynamics, meter, style, tempo, tone color and/or harmony.
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