Hmm... I'd say not every instrument is important for all bands.
In wind ensembles, which I am most familiar with, taking out the bassoon wouldn't do much damage. You might be able to dispense with the tubas or euphoniums, but probably not both. While I personally like oboes, they're probably dispensable also. I'm on the edge with French horns. I'd say that they stay.
Now for saxophones: I play the saxophone, so it would pain me greatly to see one removed from a wind ensemble. But I'd say the tenor sax is a prime candidate for removal. The bari sax is also--I mean, you've got a bass clarinet and a bassoon, which pretty much do what the bari sax does.
Pretty much the only really necessary instruments are the flutes, clarinets, trumpets, and probably French horns. Many composers left trombones out of orchestrations, although I think trombones are pretty important to most modern songs.
Wow, this post isn't even that useful.
I think it's really funny that we wanted to make a tier list for instruments. I mean, come on. That just cracked me up.
In wind ensembles, which I am most familiar with, taking out the bassoon wouldn't do much damage. You might be able to dispense with the tubas or euphoniums, but probably not both. While I personally like oboes, they're probably dispensable also. I'm on the edge with French horns. I'd say that they stay.
Now for saxophones: I play the saxophone, so it would pain me greatly to see one removed from a wind ensemble. But I'd say the tenor sax is a prime candidate for removal. The bari sax is also--I mean, you've got a bass clarinet and a bassoon, which pretty much do what the bari sax does.
Pretty much the only really necessary instruments are the flutes, clarinets, trumpets, and probably French horns. Many composers left trombones out of orchestrations, although I think trombones are pretty important to most modern songs.
Wow, this post isn't even that useful.
I think it's really funny that we wanted to make a tier list for instruments. I mean, come on. That just cracked me up.