[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, everyone.
Let's talk about six orchestration tips for composers.
Tip number one, move material around the orchestra.
This is one of the greatest strengths of an orchestra.
It has many different instruments.
Even an instrument like the violin, we can use it
as a violin solo-- that's one player-- or a violin section,
which might be 12, 14, 15 players.
This means we can move the melody around.
We can have the melody start in oboe, then it goes to flute,
then it goes to cello, then it goes to violin and cello in octaves.
What this does is it creates variation in the tone
color of the music, which makes it more interesting
and gives it form, momentum, and direction.
Tip number two, vary the overall instrumentation.
Again, this is one of the greatest strengths of the orchestra.
There may be 80 players in an orchestra.
We can have them all playing at once, which
will be a very loud, large statement.
By contrast, we could have just one player playing.
It could be a low-register flute solo.
And then, we have a very soft dynamic.
The point is that one of the greatest strengths of the orchestra
is its dynamic variability.
It can be really loud.
It can be really soft.
And as composers and orchestrators, we want
to utilize that to add interest and forward momentum into the music.
Tip number three, study scores.
There have been a lot of composers over the last couple of centuries
who have written some really, really good music for orchestra.
We can learn a lot by looking at their scores and listening to the recordings.
The great composers-- Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and so on--
most of their scores are public domain at this point,
so you can go online and simply download the PDFs.
Get some recordings and listen to them while you're looking at the scores.
Studying scores is a great way to learn a lot about writing for orchestra.
Tip number four, create multiple orchestrations
of a single musical passage.
So let's say you have a phrase.
You've got melody, and you've got harmonic accompaniment.
There is more than one way to orchestrate that successfully.
So a great exercise is to create multiple orchestrations
of a single musical idea or a phrase.
One possibility is to try to create one version, which is small, intimate,
and soft, probably small instrumentation,
then create another version that is as big as you can make it.
Large instrumentation, full orchestra.
And then, go ahead and create a third version
that's in between, a sort of medium instrumentation and medium dynamic.
Creating multiple orchestrations of a single musical idea
is a great way to learn a lot about orchestration.
Tip number five, go to an orchestra concert.
We can learn a lot by sitting in the same room as the ensemble
and watching them play, listening to how they produce sound.
As one example, we can get a sense for the relative projection
of each instrument.
How loud is a trumpet in comparison to a clarinet, and so on.
It's harder to get a sense for that when sitting in the studio
and working with the software.
If we are in the same room and space as the ensemble,
it's much clearer what the relative balance of the instruments
and the sections are.
Tip number six, ask musicians about their instruments.
Most musicians get really excited to talk about their instruments.
If you want to learn something about the violin, find a violinist
and ask them how it works.
How does it produce sound?
How do they play a harmonic?
How do they play pizzicato?
How do they play with the bow?
We can learn a lot about orchestration by simply asking musicians
about the instruments.
Thank you for watching these six orchestration tips for composers.
I hope they're helpful in your pursuit of writing great orchestral music.