# Keyboard section > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Keyboard_section > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Keyboard_section.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_section > Source revision: 1347490647 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Part of an orchestra or concert band containing keyboard instruments This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Keyboard section" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The **keyboard section** of an [orchestra](/source/Orchestra) or [concert band](/source/Concert_band) includes [keyboard instruments](/source/Keyboard_instrument). Keyboard instruments are not usually a standard members of a modern orchestra or concert band, but they are included occasionally. In orchestras from the 1600s to the mid-1750s, a keyboard instrument such as the [pipe organ](/source/Pipe_organ) or [harpsichord](/source/Harpsichord) was normally played with an orchestra, with the performer improvising chords from a [figured bass](/source/Figured_bass) part. This practice, called [basso continuo](/source/Basso_continuo), was phased out after 1750 (although some Masses for choir and orchestra would occasionally still have a keyboard part in the late 1700s). ## Members Common members of this section are: - [Piano](/source/Piano): although infrequent in standard symphonic repertoire, many larger-scale works call for this instrument, and often has very important roles to play. These include [Ottorino Respighi](/source/Ottorino_Respighi)'s *[Pines of Rome](/source/Pines_of_Rome)*, [Igor Stravinsky](/source/Igor_Stravinsky)'s *[Petrushka](/source/Petrushka_(ballet))* (almost scored as a [piano concerto](/source/Piano_concerto)), [Leonard Bernstein](/source/Leonard_Bernstein)'s *[West Side Story](/source/West_Side_Story)*, most of [Bohuslav Martinů](/source/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF)'s orchestral compositions, and many of [Sergei Prokofiev](/source/Sergei_Prokofiev) and [Dmitri Shostakovich](/source/Dmitri_Shostakovich)'s symphonies. It is more frequently found in 20th- and 21st-century pieces, such as [Aaron Copland](/source/Aaron_Copland)'s "[Hoedown](/source/Rodeo_(ballet))" and Stravinsky's [Symphony in Three Movements](/source/Symphony_in_Three_Movements_(Stravinsky)). - [Pipe organ](/source/Pipe_organ) or [harpsichord](/source/Harpsichord) (in 17th- and early 18th-century works with [basso continuo](/source/Basso_continuo) accompaniment; occasionally pipe organ is used in later music, such as [Richard Strauss](/source/Richard_Strauss)'s *[Also sprach Zarathustra](/source/Also_sprach_Zarathustra)*, [Gustav Mahler](/source/Gustav_Mahler)'s [Eighth Symphony](/source/Symphony_No._8_(Mahler)), [Camille Saint-Saëns](/source/Camille_Saint-Sa%C3%ABns)'s [*Organ Symphony* (Symphony No. 3)](/source/Symphony_No._3_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns)), [Edward Elgar](/source/Edward_Elgar)'s *[Enigma Variations](/source/Enigma_Variations)* (final variation), and [Gustav Holst](/source/Gustav_Holst)'s suite, *[The Planets](/source/The_Planets_(Holst))*. - [Celesta](/source/Celesta) (from the late-19th century onward, in works like Tchaikovsky's *[Nutcracker Suite](/source/Nutcracker_Suite)*)[1] - [Keyboard glockenspiel](/source/Keyboard_glockenspiel) (from the early 18th century onward, first by Handel in 1739 in his oratorio *[Saul](/source/Saul_(Handel))*) - [Ondes Martenot](/source/Ondes_Martenot), an early [electronic musical instrument](/source/Electronic_musical_instrument) invented in 1928 that creates eerie wavering notes. It includes both a keyboard and a wire that a ring can be slid across to produce a smoothly varying pitch, but is usually placed in the keyboard section. Notable examples of its orchestral use include [Olivier Messiaen](/source/Olivier_Messiaen)'s *[Turangalîla-Symphonie](/source/Turangal%C3%AEla-Symphonie)* and *[Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine](/source/Trois_Petites_Liturgies_de_la_Pr%C3%A9sence_Divine)*, as well as his opera *[Saint-François d'Assise](/source/Saint-Fran%C3%A7ois_d'Assise)*, which requires three of the instruments. - [Synthesizer](/source/Synthesizer) (called for in some 20th- and 21st-century works, like [John Adams](/source/John_Adams_(composer))'s *[Short Ride in a Fast Machine](/source/Short_Ride_in_a_Fast_Machine)* and the *[Requiem Mass](/source/Requiem_(Lloyd_Webber))* by [Andrew Lloyd Webber](/source/Andrew_Lloyd_Webber)) ## Less common members - [Electronic organs](/source/Electronic_organ), such as the [Hammond](/source/Hammond_organ) and [Lowrey organs](/source/Lowrey_organ) - [Fender Rhodes](/source/Fender_Rhodes) (e.g., [Bill Evans](/source/Bill_Evans)' "Symbiosis" for Fender Rhodes and orchestra (1974)) - [Harmonium](/source/Harmonium) - [Regal](/source/Regal_(instrument)) - [Accordion](/source/Accordion) (e.g., [Virgil Thomson](/source/Virgil_Thomson)'s film music for *[Louisiana Story](/source/Louisiana_Story)*) Although technically not a keyboard instrument, the [cimbalom](/source/Cimbalom), a concert [hammered dulcimer](/source/Hammered_dulcimer), is usually placed in the keyboard section, as in [Franz Liszt](/source/Franz_Liszt)'s [Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6](/source/Hungarian_Rhapsody_No._6) and [Béla Bartók](/source/B%C3%A9la_Bart%C3%B3k)'s [First Rhapsody for violin and orchestra](/source/Rhapsody_No._1_(Bart%C3%B3k)). In some cases, one or more [concert harps](/source/Concert_harp) may be placed in the keyboard section, such as in [Joseph Marx](/source/Joseph_Marx)'s Eine Herbstsymphonie. ## See also - [String section](/source/String_section) - [Woodwind section](/source/Woodwind_section) - [Brass section](/source/Brass_section) - [Percussion section](/source/Percussion_section) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Adey, Christopher. *[Orchestral Performance: A Guide for Conductors and Players](https://books.google.com/books?id=ehJVbpucdM0C&pg=SA4-PA87)*. United Kingdom, Faber & Faber, 2012. v t e Orchestras and concert bands Ensembles Orchestra Concert band Brass band Chamber orchestra String orchestra Percussion ensemble Pit orchestra Conductorless orchestra Radio orchestra Leaders Conductor Bandmaster Concertmaster Orchestra Sections Woodwind Brass Percussion Keyboard String Instruments Flute Oboe Clarinet Bassoon French horn Trumpet Trombone Bass trombone Tuba Timpani Percussion Violin Viola Cello Double bass Concert band Sections Woodwind Brass Percussion Instruments Piccolo Flute Oboe Clarinet Alto clarinet Bass clarinet Bassoon Alto saxophone Tenor saxophone Baritone saxophone Trumpet French horn Trombone Bass trombone Euphonium Baritone horn Tuba Double bass Percussion Timpani This article relating to musical instruments is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Musical-instrument-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AMusical-instrument-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Musical-instrument-stub) This article on a classical orchestra is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Orchestra-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AOrchestra-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Orchestra-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Keyboard section](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_section) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_section?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.