# I need examples of famous pieces of music for each instrument. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213 "2007-11-04T19:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/1 "2007-11-04T19:38:31Z")
I’m trying to compile a cd of famous pieces of music to demonstrate all the various kinds of instruments. This is a project for my grade six band class. I’d like to be able to inspire my kids through examples of their instruments. What I’m looking for is famous examples of the following instruments: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Saxophone, Tuba, French Horn, Baritone, Trumpet. Percussion, and trombone. Suggest anything that you think might be a good example of their instrument! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/2 "2007-11-04T19:47:44Z")
Moved from IMHO to CS. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/3 "2007-11-04T22:36:09Z")
[Here](http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/the_orchestra/instruments/) you’ll find links to samples of many instruments (via the menu on the left). In addition to the sound files, there’s a lot of other info. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Oak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Farmer\_Oak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Oak)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/4 "2007-11-04T22:54:03Z")
For saxophone, something by John Coltrane… I would recommend Blue Train, A Love Supreme, or Live at the Village Vanguard. For trumpet you can’t go wrong with Miles Davis, maybe something off Kind of Blue or 'Round Midnight. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/5 "2007-11-04T23:04:29Z")
I was thinking _William Tell_ for trumpet. Is baritone the same thing as a bassoon? Because _The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_ has a really famous bit featuring that instrument (it’s when the brooms first start to multiply). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/6 "2007-11-04T23:05:10Z")
[QUOTE=fessie] I was thinking _William Tell_ for trumpet. Is baritone the same thing as a bassoon? Because _The Sorcerer’s Apprentice_ has a really famous bit featuring that instrument (it’s when the brooms first start to multiply). [/QUOTE] No, baritone is kind of a half-size tuba. Brass instrument. ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/7 "2007-11-04T23:09:18Z")
_Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune_ and _Syrinx_ by Claude Debussy are both excellent flute pieces. You can find MP3’s of both [here](http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cuo/audio.html). ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/8 "2007-11-04T23:18:18Z")
I’ll do Clarinet! - Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue opening (clarinet glissando) - Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, op. 56; 2nd movement: Scherzo: Vivace non troppo - Acker Bilk: Stranger on the Shore - Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet - The “Cat” theme from Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf - beginning of the Shaker Hymn section of Copland’s Appalachian Spring. - Belioz Symphony Fantastique, fifth movement and any Dixieland music. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/9 "2007-11-04T23:44:21Z")
You ought to be able to find examples of several of these in Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.” Maybe also Ravel’s “Bolero.” Pretty much every instrument has had concertos written for it, but not all are what I’d call famous. The most famous concertos for flute, oboe, clarinet, and French horn are, in each case, the ones by Mozart. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/10 "2007-11-04T23:53:43Z")
Prokofiev’s _Peter and the Wolf_ features: • Bird: flute • Duck: oboe • Cat: clarinet • Grandfather: bassoon • Wolf: 3 French horns • Hunters (gunshots): timpani and bass drum (The hunters’ theme is actually introduced by the woodwinds) • Peter: string instruments ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/11 "2007-11-04T23:59:23Z")
Do you mean a whole CD for each instrument, or one or two tracks featuring each? In either case, don’t rule out making use of the fairly obvious _Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra_, especially the variations featuring the percussion and the horn, and the latter also have a truly brilliant (not just in the British sense 😉 ) moment in the finale. A good narrated performance is worth finding, although I’m afraid I don’t have any particular recommendations (a lot of that depends on how your pupils will react to a particular narrator). Don’t assume things need to be well-known. On the percussion front, I’ve seen younger kids than yours fascinated by Varese’s _Ionisation_, which would get a big fat WTF from many adults. The Strauss oboe concerto is one worth considering, with the solo being very prominent throughout, which I think should be a particular consideration. For the flute, showing them [this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcza815sao) is bound to get a reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/12 "2007-11-05T00:00:41Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Prokofiev’s _Peter and the Wolf_ features: • Bird: flute • Duck: oboe • Cat: clarinet • Grandfather: bassoon • Wolf: 3 French horns • Hunters (gunshots): timpani and bass drum (The hunters’ theme is actually introduced by the woodwinds) • Peter: string instruments [/QUOTE] And of course, as always, the part of Bob the Janitor is played by the accordion.[/Weird Al Yankovic] ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/13 "2007-11-05T00:49:44Z")
I second ‘Stranger on the shore’ for clarinet. How about [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wsGndlpQRs)for percussion? 🙂 Here’s the [Pink Panther](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnLhvMStUWU)theme for saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/14 "2007-11-05T01:03:44Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] No, baritone is kind of a half-size tuba. Brass instrument. [/QUOTE] I had been lead to believe that a baritone was basically the marching band’s French horn. Glad you answered first. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/15 "2007-11-05T01:40:13Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I had been lead to believe that a baritone was basically the marching band’s French horn. Glad you answered first. [/QUOTE] A lot of times you’ll see marching bands using [mellophones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellophone) for French horns and [marching baritones](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baritone_horn#Marching_baritone) for baritones, which look a lot alike from far away. But a French horn is usually playing higher than a trumpet and a baritone is playing lower than a trombone (french horn -\> trumpet -\> trombone -\> baritone -\> tuba). Totally different instruments. I was a trombonist through high school and I am having a hard time coming up with “famous” trombone parts…our best parts were pieces of marches (in concert band) or some parts of jazz songs (in jazz band). Our favorite piece to play was probably “Stars and Stripes Forever” which had a hard-rocking part towards the end of the song, and then a great counter melody during the final chorus. You can check out [JJ Johnson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Johnson), who is probably the most famous jazz trombonist, see if you can find anything he played that is recognizable. Of course, the most “recognizable” thing about a trombone is the ability to do perfect glissandos. That’s near impossible on any other instrument…“Tailgate Rag” is an absolute bitch to play but it’s all glissandos. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/16 "2007-11-05T03:25:10Z")
Why is bassoon missing from the original list? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/17 "2007-11-05T03:46:21Z")
Can’t any bowed string instrument produce a perfect glissando, too? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/18 "2007-11-05T04:25:29Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Can’t any bowed string instrument produce a perfect glissando, too? [/QUOTE] Heehee…you’ll have to forgive me. When I start thinking about “band” and “instruments” I revert to fond memories of all the bands I was in, which did not include any stringed instruments. So I was thinking about how my best buddy and his stupid trumpet could not gliss 😃 So, yeah I’m sure they can. I’ve just never sat next to one 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/19 "2007-11-05T04:52:53Z")
It’s not classical, but the cor anglais famously appears in the Carpenters’ “For All We Know”. And the current hands-down favorite oboe piece in the whole wide world, also not classical, is “Gabriel’s Oboe”, from the film _The Mission_, currently overrunning Youtube. But you asked for “famous”, not “famous classical”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213/20 "2007-11-05T05:12:02Z")
I can’t find it online, but Drum Dances by John Psathas is excellent for percussion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-examples-of-famous-pieces-of-music-for-each-instrument/425213.md?page=2)