According to Princeton University, a musical ensemble is “a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music. In each musical style different norms have developed for the sizes and composition of different ensembles, and for the repertoire of songs or musical works that these ensembles perform.”
As we are in the final stages of alpha testing for the Voxitatis Performing Arts Database, which will give the general public access to fine arts performances in Illinois schools and may be extended at some point, we have discovered a general need to classify musical ensembles for the purpose of filtering the vast list of performances taking place in Illinois every year. For example, someone may be interested only in performances by symphony orchestras and may wish to filter their search results by orchestra concerts, keeping all the chorus and band concerts, as well as the musicals and plays, off the screen.
We are proposing the following classifications for performing ensembles, which also includes a list of sample works that might be performed by those ensembles. Note that works will also be classified not only by ensemble type but, in some cases, also by instrumentation.
Ensemble/Work Types
- Orchestra including strings
- Band or wind ensemble, except marching band
- Chorus or choir, except show choir
- Play, other literary (incidental music OK)
- Multiple (e.g., musicals, operas)
- Jazz band or combo (incidental vocals OK)
- Vocal jazz (instrumental accompaniment OK)
- Soloist, except piano, or small chamber group (instrumental)
- Vocal soloist or small vocal ensemble (instrumental accompaniment OK)
- Piano soloist (not in front of an instrumental group)
- Marching band
- Show choir
- Pop or rock band, including alternative (not jazz)
- Other, not elsewhere classified
Examples of works in each classification
The distinction between different types of ensemble is not as definitive as we would like. Composers are creative people and tend to overlap their use of instrumentation as they need to fulfill a certain purpose. We therefore hope some of the works typically performed by a few of the above groups will help in clarifying how we view the lines between the classifications.
Under Orchestra (Type O), we would include Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, Cello and Orchestra in A major, and Britten’s Simple Symphony (1934).
Under Band (Type B), we would include any transcription of piano or orchestral works and other concert band or wind ensemble music, such as Stravinsky’s “Symphonies of Wind Instruments,” Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever,” Holst’s Second Suite in F, and Joseph Willcox Jenkins’s “American Overture for Band.”
Under Chorus (Type C), we would include any arrangement of popular or rock songs plus works written primarily for chorus or choir, with a maximum of small chamber accompaniment, such as Bach’s church cantatas, Philip Glass’s “Itaipú” and “Three Songs for Choir a Cappella,” Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzer and Zigeunerlieder, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle.
Under Play (Type L), we would include dramatic stage performances, such as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and readings of literary works, including novels like Miller’s The Crucible and Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, as well as speech team performances of short excerpts or readings.
Under Multiple (Type M), we would include musical theater, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music and Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s The Secret Garden, operas and operettas, such as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, and large orchestral works with chorus or other groups playing a major role in the performance, such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony or Handel’s Messiah.
Under Soloist or small chamber ensemble (Type S), we would include any piece written for a soloist with or without accompaniment as well as small chamber ensembles including Bach’s Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, Bolling’s Suite for Flute & Jazz Piano Trio, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K 581, and Malcolm Arnold’s Quintet for Brass. We would not include Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto (Type O) unless it was being performed with piano accompaniment only or some works where there may be multiple players on accompanying string (Type O) or wind parts (Type B).
We welcome your feedback
We’re seeking feedback on the above scheme for use in Illinois high schools. Please send any comments to Paul Katula by email at paul@schoolsnapshots.org. We appreciate any assistance you can provide in helping us develop this project for the use of music teachers and students in Illinois.
