Keyboard section

The keyboard section of an orchestra or concert band includes keyboard instruments. While these instruments are not usually part of a modern orchestra or concert band, they are sometimes used. In the past, from the 1600s to the mid-1750s, orchestras often included a keyboard instrument like the pipe organ or harpsichord. The person playing would improvise chords from a figured bass part. This was called basso continuo, and it slowly stopped being used after 1750, though some special church music still had keyboard parts later on.

Members

The keyboard section of an orchestra or band includes several types of instruments. The piano is sometimes used, especially in newer pieces from the 20th and 21st centuries. Other instruments include the pipe organ and harpsichord, which were used more often in older music from the 1600s to the early 1700s.

You might also find a celesta, which makes delicate, bell-like sounds, or a keyboard glockenspiel that plays bright, sparkling notes. The ondes Martenot is an early electronic instrument that creates unusual, wavering sounds. Some modern pieces use a synthesizer to create a wide range of electronic tones.

Less common members

Some special keyboard instruments are sometimes used in orchestras or bands. These include electronic organs like the Hammond and Lowrey organs, the Fender Rhodes, the Harmonium, the Regal, and the Accordion.

Other instruments like the cimbalom, which is a type of hammered dulcimer, and sometimes concert harps are also placed in the keyboard section.