Work hard, play hard

There are four families in an orchestra - woodwind, brass, strings and percussion. Meet four players from the BBC Philharmonic to find out more about each group.

Principal Flute, Richard Davis

The flute is very interesting, it is a member of the woodwind instrument family but it’s made of metal. There are thirteen soloists in the orchestra so we feature in almost every single piece, except the Haydn Trumpet Concerto.

Which of the Ten Pieces is your favourite and why?

I think it has to be Shostakovich 10, I mean it’s an amazing piece and we just play a very, very short bit of that, very, very fast and the flute goes absolutely crazy in there. It’s like having a shouting match with your worst enemy.

Interesting fact about woodwind:The woodwind instruments don’t have a sound box like the cellos and violins. It’s been scientifically proven that our chests are our own sound box. The volume comes from within our bodies.

1st Violinist, Karen Mainwaring

I play the violin which is part of the string family. There are sixteen players in my section then we’ve got the second violins who have fourteen players, the violas have twelve, cellos ten, basses eight, so the string family is the biggest family in the orchestra.

Which of the Ten Pieces does the 1st violin feature in the most?

To be honest the first violins never stop playing, if you pick up the first violin part of any piece it’s always much longer than any other instruments, we’ve got the most notes. The Shostakovich is very 'notey', it’s very fast but we can’t really relax in any of it.

Which is the most difficult piece to play?

The Shostakovich is the most fast and furious but then 'The Lark Ascending' is the opposite because the control that you need for that and the quiet playing is difficult in a different way.

Interesting fact about the violin:Did you know that playing the violin burns 170 calories in an hour and playing something like Shostakovich's 'Symphony No. 10' probably burns even more apparently it’s the equivalent of walking briskly for two miles.

Principal Trumpet, Jamie Prophet

I am in the brass family, there are five horns, three trumpets, three trombones and one tuba so there’s tweleve brass players in our orchestra.

Which of the Ten Pieces does the trumpet feature in the most?

There’s several, it’s a very ‘trumpety’ Ten Pieces actually this year. The Haydn Trumpet Concerto, that’s the solo piece but 'orchestrally' it would have to be the 'Toreador' - that’s got a beautiful trumpet solo in it. The Verdi 'Requiem' - there’s loads and loads of us in that, there’s eight trumpets playing, four on stage and four off stage. Also, the Shostakovich 10 which is very, very trumpet heavy, a very brutal piece and it uses the trumpet in a very military and quite sadistic way.

Interesting fact about the trumpet: It’s quite small to look at, but, if you were to unwrap a trumpet, so you were to just straighten it all out, it’s taller than the average human being - it's six and a half foot tall!

Percussionist, Sophie Hastings

I am part of the percussion family which includes xylophones, glockenspiels, bass drums, congos and bongos. There are hundreds and possibly even thousands of percussion instruments available for the percussionist to learn and play. New percussion instruments are being discovered and invented all the time.

Which of the Ten Pieces does percussion feature in the most?

Well I would have to say that would be 'Mambo' from 'West Side Story’ because we’ve got seven percussionists playing in that. You’ve a good mixture of Latin percussion and a mixture of orchestral percussion as well, so you get lots of colours. You also get the groove and feel and a lot of rhythmic work. It is the percussionist's job to drive the orchestra and create a solid foundation for the melody and harmony to be played on top.

Which piece are you most looking forward to playing at the Proms?

I am looking forward to Gabriel Prokofiev's 'Concerto for Turntables'. It has some really great effects in the percussion writing. The percussionists have to play a funky samba style drum kit groove divided up between them, so I play the hi hat and toms.

Interesting fact about percussion:The bass drum was added to the percussion family by Mozart in 1782.