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If space or numbers are limited, cellos and basses can be put in the middle, violins and violas on the left (thus facing the audience) and winds to the right; this is the usual arrangement in [[orchestra pit]]s.<ref>Gassner, "Dirigent und Ripienist" (Karlsruhe 1844). [[Rousseau]]'s ''Dictionnaire de musique'' (1768), however, has a figure showing second violins facing the audience and principals facing the singers, reflecting the [[concertmaster]]'s former role as [[Conductor (music)|conductor]].</ref> The seating may also be specified by the composer, as in [[Béla Bartók]]'s ''[[Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta]]'', which uses [[antiphony|antiphonal]] string sections, one on each side of the stage. In some cases, due to space constraints (as with an opera pit orchestra) or other issues, a different layout may be used.
==="Desks" and
In a typical stage set-up, the first and second violins, violas and cellos are seated by twos, a pair of performers sharing a stand being called a "desk", Each principal (or section leader) is usually on the "outside" of the first desk, that is, closest to the audience. When the music calls for subdivision of the players the normal procedure for such divisi passages is that the "outside" player of the desk (the one closer to the audience) takes the upper part, the "inside" player the lower, but it is also possible to divide by alternating desks, the favored method in threefold divisi.<ref>Norman del Mar: ''Anatomy of the Orchestra'' (University of California Press, 1981) weighs the various merits in the chapter "Platform planning", pp.49-</ref> The "inside" player typically turns the pages of the part, while the "outside" player continues playing. In cases where a page turn occurs during an essential musical part, modern performers may photocopy some of the music to enable the page turn to take place during a less important place in the music.
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