Hi, my name is Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay
and I'm the Concert Master of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
I sit at the front of the orchestra
and my job is to help the conductor
keep the ensemble together
and to help communicate the character of the music.
(orchestra playing Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune)
The violin is the highest instrument in the string family.
In orchestras the violins are split into two sections.
The first violins, we usually have the melody,
and the second violins,
who often support the first violins with harmony.
The sound of the violin is created
by making its four strings vibrate.
The four strings, tuned
G, (plays G string)
D, (plays D string)
A, (plays A string)
and E, (plays E string)
are stretched across the bridge
and tuned with the help of pegs at the top,
and sometimes fine-tuners on the tailpiece.
The sound then resonates throughout the wooden body
with the help of a small piece of wood inside
called the sound post.
Most of the time we use a bow to create sound
by drawing it across the strings, like this.
(violin playing)
The bow is made from wood and horsehair.
The horsehair gets coated in rosin
which is a hard resin from trees.
The rosin creates more friction
between the bow and the strings
which means they vibrate more, making a louder sound.
(orchestra playing Mahler's 6th Symphony)
There are many techniques using the bow
and we describe them using Italian and French words.
Here are a few.
Legato, which means smooth,
(plays legato scale)
staccato which means separated,
(plays staccato scale)
spiccato which is bouncing or springy,
(plays spiccato scale)
tremolo, to tremble,
(plays tremolo scale)
col legno, literally with the wood,
which is a percussive effect,
(plays col legno scale)
sul tasto, on the fingerboard,
which is light and airy,
(plays sul tasto scale)
or sul ponticello, on the bridge,
which is harsh and abrasive.
(plays sul ponticello scale)
We can also pluck the strings,
and this is called pizzicato
which means to pluck or pinch in Italian.
(plays pizzicato scale)
It can be very delicate,
(plays soft pizzicato scale)
or dramatic and percussive.
(plays louder pizzicato scale)
On the violin, we can also do special sounds
which are called harmonics,
or also, in French, flageolet,
which, we put the finger
basically not completely on the string.
Just, we're touching the string like this.
(plays harmonics)
These are called the natural harmonics.
And then we also have the artificial harmonics,
where we using basically two fingers on one string.
Which, we use mostly the first finger,
let's say on the D string,
and then we put the fourth finger
on the same string.
(high pitched note)
And that creates two octaves higher than what we play.
To make the sound sweeter,
and make the sound
also more interesting,
we have something, it's called vibrato.
If you ask me how many vibratos we have, I don't know
because I think there are millions of kinds of vibratos.
We can vibrate very slow
(slow vibrato note)
or really fast.
(rapid vibrato note)
And then of course, without the finger.
We can first vibrate only with the wrist.
(low vibrato note)
Or we vibrate with the whole arm.
(low vibrato note)
(orchestra playing Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune)
It is quite difficult because the thing leading an orchestra
is not something you learn from today to tomorrow.
I think it's trying,
in every orchestra I think it's different,
how to lead the orchestra
and of course there's a lot of body language involved,
but there's also the question,
where you actually have to lead
and where you're actually just leave the orchestra play,
or the section play.
Of course I use, if I show that, of course I can.
I can use quite a lot of body language,
like moving my violin up and down or something.
Doing the beat or something like that.
But then I can just, for example, just lean my head back
and actually even just looking to them, something like this,
that they see, "Okay, now attention,"
or something like this.
Now, sometimes it's even, it's just enough
to show something like "Change" with a finger
or something like this.
Because then every desk is seeing that
and every desk is basically passing the message.
So leading an orchestra can be really big.
You can almost jump up and jump down,
which might not help, but sometimes. (chuckles)
And you can also lead an orchestra,
or can also lead a section,
only demonstrating how you change a finger or something.
(orchestra playing Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune)
Of course I have my own style to lead an orchestra,
but there are certain ways
that I have to adapt to the conductor.
If I play in different orchestras,
I always have to see how the orchestra works,
and some orchestras, I only need to do small moves
and that's already enough.
Or in some orchestras,
I really need to move very, very much
and even say something.
How to do it or how to react, for example,
like "Pizz" or "Chords."
It's a little bit like being a teacher.
You can't teach every person in the same way.
You also have to adapt to the person, how they react.
- [Narrator] If you've enjoyed
learning about the instruments
in the orchestra,
why not try our iPad app, the Orchestra,
featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
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lets you view the orchestra from all angles,
and the revolutionary BeatMap
shows you who is playing when.
(orchestra playing Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique)
Follow along with synchronised scores,
hear the inside scoop in audio commentaries
and get a 360 degree view of all the instruments.
Available for download in the App Store on iTunes.