Instruments Episodes

Time for some music from one of the oldest instruments in the orchestra. True to the Old French word its English name came from… ‘hautbois’ with ‘haut’ meaning both high and loud and ‘bois’ meaning wood… the oboe found its pl...

An episode back in late May 2025 featured music written for the clarinet from the 20 th century. This is a companion show goes back to close to the invention of the clarinet with a work from 1755 and then finishes up with a g...

I’m going to start with a question. If one thinks of musical instruments as tools… as things humans create to perform tasks… other than the violin, is there any other tool you can think of used in an area of incredibly comple...

This episode starts in Paris in 1909 and ends up in Buenos Aires in 1994… and the music includes a healthy dose of the influence of jazz. If you have a small voice inside saying this is going to be a little more ‘modern’ and ...

This first adventure with the guitar on Classical For Everyone features quite a bit of music from Spain.. probably the country that was most closely identified with the instrument until companies in America popularised the el...

A percussion instrument is pretty much anything that can be hit, tapped, scraped, scratched or banged. In an orchestra it is generally the responsibility of the individual or small group up the back… the ones who get to make ...

Amongst all the instruments in the modern string family… violins, violas, cellos and double basses… it is the cello that most closely approximates the range of the human voice… from the lowest bass to the highest soprano and ...

Like many terms in classical music ‘woodwind’ is a vague catch all that is now a little out of date. After all, modern flutes aren't even made of wood anymore. But tradition is strong and everyone is going to keep calling them ‘woodwinds’....