- Today, I'm going to arrange
the "Techno de Chocobo" theme
from Final Fantasy VI for woodwinds.
So step one is to start with a piano sketch.
That's what I've already got here
is a piano version of the tune,
but if I'm writing my own piece,
I wanna do the same thing,
where I'm working out what are the main melodies,
what are the chords, the bass lines,
kind of the musical content, the notes,
before I decide how I'm gonna perform it.
Now we'll move to step two, which is to work out,
how do we want it to be performed?
So that means tempo, dynamics, phrasing,
not just what are the notes,
but how is this music being expressed?
So the tempo is already given to us by the composer.
It's 130 BPM.
I don't feel anywhere in this tune
that it should slow down or speed up.
I think we can keep that pretty steady.
For the dynamics, let's start with the A section,
'cause that's the most important part of the piece.
I think this is gonna be a nice, bold forte, just loud,
nice, big, strong, loud section,
and we're gonna keep that through that whole A section.
For something interesting, maybe for some contrast,
we could then drop down to quiet, go down to piano.
But what we could do is, you can see,
this kind of pyramid expanding thing, it feels really big,
so maybe we drop down quiet, but then for the very end,
we build up nice and big and loud.
So maybe we're gonna hit a loud point here,
but we wanna crescendo up to that point.
We might also actually wanna accent this a little bit,
so maybe we'll start getting louder here,
hit that at kind of medium, and then build,
so then we have this big peak,
and then we'll come back to our intro.
So then the last thing is the intro dynamic.
I think just kind of medium will be fine.
It's just an... (bright piano music)
Just kind of a medium intro there,
but then a nice big A section coming in.
And then the last thing is the phrasing.
So again, let's look at our A section first.
So the bass line, (playful piano music)
I think I like how it's mostly pretty separated.
The only thing I might add is just to have those slurred.
And so it's the difference between,
(jaunty piano music)
or, (playful piano music)
and I think I like that better,
that those are going to be legato there,
so that is exactly the same three times.
And then I think we'll have, 'cause this is the same chord,
I think we'll slur that, so it'll be like,
(playful piano music)
and again, that repeats, as well.
These are all separate, and then for this last one,
it'll be just all a big, nice slurred phrase.
And then here, for the intro, we'll do the same thing.
Now, for the main melody in the main part,
we have, (whimsical piano music)
so I think what I'll do with the phrasing
is actually kind of accent this syncopation here,
to highlight the syncopation, we should say,
so it'll be, (sprightly piano music)
and then those guys can be separate.
Maybe that little turn will be legato,
and then that, (hums)
will be that. (hums)
And then those four bars repeat exactly,
so let's just repeat those.
And then here, when we get quieter,
maybe it can be even more singsongy,
with that whole thing, sing and be legato.
Great, and then for the intro,
(sprightly piano music)
I like how that's pretty short and exciting and jumpy.
I think the only thing I might add would be a slur
right there on that little 16th note figure,
right there, but otherwise that's it.
So yeah, it's not a very long step in the process.
It doesn't take a lot of time,
but now we have some phrasing, we have some expression.
It's gonna feel musical.
So the next thing I wanna do is figure out,
what are my main sounds?
Again, we'll start with the A section,
'cause that's the most important part.
Since we know we're using woodwind sounds,
I think my first instinct was maybe an oboe,
'cause that would be really nasal
and piercing and cutting through,
but I'm actually thinking maybe an English horn
would be even better.
If you know what a Chocobo is,
it's this kind of ostrich-like type bird.
And so having this kind of baritone,
velvety English horn sound,
that it's still got a little bit of squawk to it,
but also some body, I think, is gonna be really nice.
So let's grab our English horn,
and we're gonna put the main melody there,
just copy that over.
The bass line, there's not that many choices
in your standard orchestra for low end,
so it's bassoon, contrabassoon, bass clarinet.
Normal orchestra, you're usually not gonna have
like a bass flute or a bass oboe.
So given those choices,
I think bassoon is gonna be a perfectly good choice
to go under the English horn there.
It's kind of a warm color, and I think as a shortcut,
I think I'm gonna actually probably just use that
as the bass line for the whole tune.
So why don't we just get that over with, boom.
So we have our English horn as our main sound.
What's gonna be our main sound for this B section?
Well, I think we're contrasting with the chords,
we're contrasting with the phrases and the melodic material,
we're contrasting with the dynamics,
so we should contrast with the color, too.
So instead of English horn,
maybe we could jump to a flute sound,
I think might be kinda nice, on this line.
(playful woodwind music)
Right there, so let's add our flute.
Now, if you notice, compositionally,
and this is part of why it's nice
to have the composition done first,
we've gone from what were these four-bar phrases
to what feel much more like two-bar phrases.
You can see the IV, V, I, IV, V, I,
so something that might be kind of cool
is to actually hand that off now,
every two bars, to a different instrument.
So we could start on the flute
and we could maybe hand that over to the oboe,
might be kind of cool, so I'm gonna add in the oboe.
So that second phrase, we'll go to the oboe,
and then we could jump back to the flute,
and then maybe for the last one,
maybe they join in together,
'cause we're getting a bit louder.
It makes sense to have more instruments,
more power, on that final phrase.
And I'm gonna include the pickup here.
That'll be our main sound.
It'll be flute to the oboe,
back to the flute, and then together,
to join into that crescendo for a bigger sound to the end.
And then the only other section we have for main sound
was the intro in this. (playful woodwind music)
And I think maybe just for contrast,
the only section we haven't used yet is clarinet,
so maybe this line could be on the clarinet.
So this is the main tune.
This is taking everything from that piano part.
So let's listen to this first, what we have,
before we go in to actually make it better.
(sprightly woodwind music)
(charming woodwind music)
(sweet woodwind music)
(music crescendoes)
(sprightly woodwind music)
So if we only used the notes that were given to us
in the piano sketch, we'd be done there,
but I think we can do a lot more to bring it out.
So the next thing I wanna do is to figure out,
how can we shape the main sound, the main melody,
a little more and make it a little more interesting?
So again, let's start at the A section.
I really like just focusing on that English horn sound
on that first four-bar phrase,
but then it repeats exactly how it is,
which is fine, but is not terribly exciting,
so one thing we could do is we could maybe
double it up an octave on the flute.
And what that would do for us
is it would kind of enhance that English horn sound.
It would make it shinier and brighter.
It would add almost like an overtone doubling above it,
without it really distracting.
It's not gonna be a main flute sound.
It's mostly gonna be an English horn sound,
and then the flute's gonna really brighten it up.
(sprightly woodwind music)
That horn is still coming through for me.
But something else, then,
we could do to shape the B theme, so we got quieter,
it makes sense to have one instrument here,
but now, as we're getting louder,
maybe we could thicken this sound.
So maybe the first time through is just on this flute,
and we'll go to the oboe.
Maybe this time we could thicken the line,
and by that I mean play it in thirds.
So what if we brought that whole phrase down in thirds,
(charming woodwind music)
adjust this note to fit the chord, which was a G here,
(charming woodwind music)
And then to make this ending a little more exciting,
maybe we could double that up an octave higher
to make it a brighter, fuller sound,
and then do the same thickening thing in thirds,
but go a third below,
and we could just put that in the English horn,
'cause the English horn is available.
So I just wanna make sure
we're gonna respect the chord there,
so that will be an F-natural.
(sprightly woodwind music)
That feels pretty good!
Alright, so we've enhanced that,
and then the last thing is the intro.
Now, like the A section was four-bar phrases,
the B section is two-bar phrases,
this is like a one-bar lick, four times in a row,
which is not terribly exciting.
So one thing we could do is we could enhance that sound.
You know, we're using this kind of flute-and-oboe color,
so what if we kind of went back and forth
from the flute to the oboe, and enhanced that sound?
And then another thing we could do, which is pretty subtle,
but what if we handed this phrase off
to a different clarinet each time it played?
And in a real orchestra,
the clarinets are not gonna sound exactly the same.
They're gonna be in slightly different positions,
they're gonna have different players, different instruments,
so there would be just this kind of slight
change in character.
One thing I will do is kind of blend these phrases over,
so that when one phrase ends, the next phrase begins.
You're not gonna really hear that too much.
It just kind of makes the line nice
and friendly and easy to play.
Ah, I'm not sure if I want that last one.
Let's check that last one.
(sprightly woodwind music)
Yeah, I'm okay with it.
It adds like a nice little accent
to the beginning of the A section,
so I think that's pretty nice.
The lines all feel pretty shaped.
Now the overall thing
is gonna be a bit more interesting on the top layer sound.
So now let's move on to step five,
which is to add some accompaniment and some harmony
and kind of fill in maybe any of the gaps.
So we're gonna start with our A section
and look at the main registers
that are being played in the parts.
So our main melody is in this register here.
And our bass line is here. (playful woodwind music)
So between these two notes, kind of like a fifth below,
a third above middle C, there's a gap.
And so there's room for some harmony
or some chord tones there, so let's do that.
Let's put some chord tones in.
And I think with that English horn on the top
and the bassoons in the bottom,
I think clarinets are gonna be a pretty good color.
So if our chord is gonna fit somewhere in here,
I think we want...
We have the G on the bottom. (playful woodwind music)
I think it'll make sense to use these thirds
between the chords, so let's put those in.
(charming woodwind music)
Alright, so this is NotePerformer playing it.
Real players would know
that they were not the stars of the show here,
but for mix purposes,
I'm just gonna give those a much lower dynamic.
(charming woodwind music)
Nice.
And I think we can continue that idea here,
of having those clarinets be harmonic support
in the B section, as well.
(sweet woodwind music)
That'll be perfect.
Make sure you're quiet, and again,
for mix purposes, let's bring out that flute a little bit,
so we can actually hear it.
And then the other thing is, I think,
we have this interesting (playful bassoon music)
rhythm going on in the bassoons here,
so why don't we copy that?
And then we're gonna hit this chord here,
so that chord, we already have F and A up there,
and the F here, so let's fill the gap with those two notes.
(charming woodwind music)
Then we just have to fill in this voicing here.
So what I'm doing here is just filling in these chords,
so we're not just having this gap in the bottom here.
We're actually getting a full sound from the whole ensemble.
And then for the intro,
I don't think we need it for the intro.
We're already doing this kind of back-and-forth thing
with our other parts, so I think that's gonna be fine.
So the last thing I wanna look at for step six
is some final touches.
So are there any fills or accents,
or any other places that we might wanna put something?
So, one thing I've noticed is this transition
from the A section to the B section,
there's quite a bit of a gap here.
I think the first time through, it's okay.
We've just heard the melody for the first time.
But now, I wanna make this transition
a little bit of a bigger moment.
So we could fill that gap maybe in this clarinet part here.
Kind of the boring thing that you could do
is just make this a passing tone.
And the same would pass right here, as well.
This will work if we listen to it.
(charming woodwind music)
That's fine, but I think something that really helps
unify a piece and keep things together and interesting
is to make use of your motives, make use of your material.
So we could make this...
What about this lick here? (playful woodwind music)
Could we use that lick on here?
(playful woodwind music)
So I'm making that idea of the passing tone,
but I'm tying it into what makes sense
with the rest of the piece. (hums)
And then this whole thing could be the same,
just a third lower.
(sprightly woodwind music)
Nice!
I think we could do the same thing here in this little gap.
(sprightly woodwind music)
What if we just used that same exact lick?
'Cause we're ending up in the same spot.
(sprightly woodwind music)
I think that'll work. Let's see.
And then it might be nice if we hit this accented note...
Well, first of all, let's accent that note.
And then I think if we joined in with that little pickup,
bum-bum, to land into it with everybody else, might be nice.
(sprightly woodwind music)
I think we have this nice big swell,
and then it just kind of disappears.
I think we should accent that first chord here.
(playful woodwind music)
Let's have it resolve where it wants to,
and that could probably go...
We're just missing a B,
so let's put in a B on the English horn here.
Will that work with the line that we had
in the English horn?
(playful woodwind music)
Perfectly playable, so then we have this little chord,
hitting us right here,
(sprightly woodwind music)
which is nice also, just to accent the intro.
There's nothing wrong with providing
a little oomph right on the intro there.
And the only thing is, this, you know,
I guess, in a video game would loop forever,
but in our case here, it doesn't loop forever.
This is kind of a piece on its own.
Let's move this here.
So I think it might be nice if, for the last chord,
we just kind of (clicks tongue) hit that last chord.
Let's hit that last chord where the line is running,
so that obviously wants to go to that G up there,
in the octave lower,
and then we have to think about how do we
wanna voice the chord from there?
So now I'm gonna try to voice this chord
between these two notes. (bright woodwind music)
So I think an open voicing, 'cause I have three voices left.
These are the notes I'm gonna use, and we'll go in order.
(sprightly woodwind music)
And then the last thing I'm hearing
is I'm hearing a little chord, (hums) there.
So what is the chord I'm hearing?
(warm woodwind music)
I think like a VI chord, it's just nice, happy,
'cause the whole thing is kind of happy and silly.
I think I'm feeling this VI chord.
So let's voice that exactly here,
bassoon, clarinet 2, clarinet 1, English horn.
(bright woodwind music)
Nice, I like that.
It'll be a nice little ending.
Alright, so that was it.
So with step one, we started with a piano sketch,
we figured out where are the dynamics and the phrasing,
then we chose the main sounds, the kind of featured melody,
and the bass line, so I guess the top and bottom,
and then we enhanced that main sound with some thickening
or with some doubling or with doubling of an octave
or passing different tones around.
And then we added some accompaniment parts,
which was mostly, just in this case,
the clarinets providing some harmonic support.
And then we added some fills and some final touches,
like a little ending and helping that accent,
and these fills here,
and also that chord right at the beginning.
So there you go! We started with the piano sketch.
We've ended up arranging it for woodwinds.
So let's take a listen to the whole final result.
(sprightly woodwind music)
(charming woodwind music)
(sweet woodwind music)
(music crescendoes)
(sprightly woodwind music)
(charming woodwind music)
(sweet woodwind music)
(music crescendoes)
(music concludes)
Alright, if you're into arranging and orchestration,
check out the series where I actually took
the "Breath of the Wild" main theme and arranged it
into eight different orchestral textures.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.