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How did Jean-Baptiste Lully change orchestral performance with the Petits Violons?

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musical performance The universality and innate nature of music, and the pentatonic scale, as demonstrated by singer Bobby McFerrin.

Jean-Baptiste Lully transformed orchestral performance through his leadership of the Petits Violons ("Little Violins"), a royal ensemble he directed for Louis XIV.12

In 1656, Lully fundamentally changed the approach to ensemble playing by requiring the group to abandon the prevailing tradition of free, individual embellishment. Instead, he drilled the musicians to achieve a high level of disciplined, rhythmically pointed precision. This shift toward a unified, controlled performance style was widely imitated and helped establish the violin family as the standard for orchestral ensembles, replacing the earlier reliance on viols. By emphasizing collective accuracy over individual improvisation, Lully’s work with the Petits Violons marked a significant step in the development of the modern orchestra.2