Orchestral Composition
Orchestral Composition
Orchestral Composition
texture to have any purpose. If the music is deficient in melody, harmony, and
structure, the orchestral garb thrown around it all will be unable to make up for it, and
the music will remain ineffective. Timbre and texture may affect mood and
atmosphere, though not true expression.
20. This need not mean that a piece be fully effective when performed for
instruments other than which it was intended, such as on one or two pianos (see
Guidelines I and III).
21. This guideline may be relaxed in passages intended to affect atmosphere rather
than have true overt expression (see Guideline II.). Still, the orchestration should be
based around basically effective music. And such passages are the exception to usual
musical practice.
Specific Doublings
36. In darker passages, the double-bass should play the bass line, without support
from the cellos. The double-basses should then be doubled at the unison by the
bassoons. In lighter passages, the cellos should play the bass line alone.
37. The unison addition of a few woodwinds to the violins makes the sound more
full and bright, but the woodwinds cannot be actually heard. The most common of
these doublings is of flute to the violin E-string.
38. Bassoons give bite and aggressiveness to the horns.
39. Oboe + strings an octave below gives the sound excellent warmth and body.
40. Violins an octave above trumpets is a very strong and intense.
41. Flutes an octave above trumpets is also intense, sounding strained and windy.
42. Cellos are given great lyrical warmth and breadth when doubled with a horn.
The horn sound remains in the background.
43. Violas and Cellos are given some bite and pungency by being doubled with
bassoons.
quite similar, blends the instrumental sounds better. But it produces an unclear sound.
Leave out the bass note if the chord is an inversion. Also, a note may be left out of the
woodwinds if it is played by an instrument from another choir.
65. In four-part chords, three of the same family + one of another family sounds
good. For example, three clarinets and an oboe, or two oboes, an English horn, and a
flute. This can be distributed in any order.
66. Since harmony in say, eighths is a replication of harmony in fourths, choose
good sounds for the octave doublings.
67. Bassoons are often used to form a chord with trombones.
when the lines move slowly, the music has a glowing, opulent sound, when the lines
move very quickly it has a shimmering sound.
77. Cross-voicing (two instruments playing alternate notes on each other's lines)
creates a somewhat sound of unclean intonation, with often a tiny amount of glissando
present. This adds some interest. However, it will sound haphazardly phrased, as it
cannot be played as a genuine melodic line.
78. Linear heterophony creates a sense of motion, alternately sparkling when soft
and vehement when loud. The amount of difference between the parts determines the
amount of movement (see Das Lied von der Erde).
79. Isolated blocks of close-position triads have an exotic sound.
80. Tenor instruments playing passage-work amid a tutti passagesound crunchy
if in thirds, as if humming a glissand.
81. Bursts of quick scalar notes sounds like an excerpt from speech.
82. Rapid polyphonic notes in very low instruments sounds like murmuring
B. Spacing
83. In general, a large distance between the top and bottom voices (such as five
octaves) creates a vast sound; a small distance (such as two octaves) creates an
intimate sound.
84. If there are three notes or more within an octave, that octave will sound full, if
less, it will sound sparse. A full spacing from c to c1 sounds thick; below this it
sounds muddy.
85. A line may be exposed by leaving space between it and other voices.
the first choir, and soon play more loudly. For shorter diminuendos, one choir may
diminuendo and terminate more quickly than another. The brass create a par ticularly
intense effect when used this way, such as in the climax of Wotan's Farewell
when all the voices end at once, it is best that their last chord is on the downbeat of
the measure, and is elided to the next phrase.
HIGHLY EMPHASIZED
10
9 main melody
8
7 countermelodies 1 and 2
6
5 accompanimental figure
4
3 background chords
2
1
0
LESS EMPHASIZED
Trumpet middle
metal idiophones
Trumpet high
Trombone middle and
high
registers, Timpani
Group 3 (very strong):
string
of
G- string), piccolo,
Group 4:
Violin
lower
positions of Gstring)
Group 5:
clarinet
D and
A-strings, Violas D
and
A-strings
Group 6:
strings, Violas
low
register
Group 7:
clarinet
middle
and high register,
Harp
playing multiple
notes
Group 8 (easily covered)
bassoon middle
Double-basses,
and high register,
Horns up to
small g
register Harp
(for a single note)
98. The addition of instruments will strengthen a line, but only to a small degree.
For the most perfect balance, assume that two instruments playing a single line will
equal a single instrument in the next highest group, and that four will equal an
instrument in group above that. Each successive dynamic level (from p to mp, from f
to ff) is equivalent to 3 groups. This, however, is loaded with risk, as dynamic
markings are a variable characteristic.
99. Assume that further differences in strength will be balanced in rehearsal.
Activity
100. New notes attract attention immediately. As a rule of thumb, the ratio of note
values is inversely proportional to the ratio of prominence. For example, assuming
that all other aspects are equal, a voice playing eighth-no tes will be twice as
prominent as a voice playing quarter notes. A voice playing triplets will be thrice as
prominent as a voice playing quarter notes.
101. The activity of a line is determined during composition, not during
orchestration. It is therefore rare that the note values of a melody would be changed to
affect its prominence. Nevertheless, the effect of activity on t he line's prominence is
important to understand when altering its other aspects, such as volume or position. In
other words, a fast-moving line won't need much doubling, whereas a slow moving
line might very well need some.
Other Aspects
102. There are other methods of making a voice more prominent (or less
prominent, by pursuing the opposite actions):
Making it the topmost or bottommost voice. The topmost line will be heard best,
and then the bass line. The middle lines tend to fade into the background, unless they
have some outstanding characteristic.
Increasing the distance between it and other lines. The larger the interval between
a voice and other voices, the more it will tend to stick out. The smaller the interval,
the more it becomes part of the background.
Slurring all the fast notes together, and separating all the slow notes by rests. Fast
notes blur together when articulated legato, while slow notes that are cut off are
forgotten when they're silent.
Giving it a different timbre from other voices. Similar timbres obscure individual
voices. If a timbre is surrounded by similar timbres, it will be less conspicuous. If a
timbre is surrounded by dissimilar timbres, it will be emphasized. For example, a
melody played by an oboe accompanied by French horns will stand out strongly. If
accompanied by three oboes, an English horn, and a bassoon, it will stand out with
difficulty.
Contents:
I. There Should be Similarity in Orchestration Throughout the Movement.
Transitions
II. There Should be Contrast in Orchestration Throughout the Movement
Shifts of Instrumentation in Chords
110. It is best if any definable segment of music have its own orchestration; this
separates the segments from each other. As a result, their character is more clearly
defined and the emotional impact of the music is heightene d.
111. What constitutes the 'significant segments' is open to considerable
discrepancy, varying according to the composer, piece, and phrase. At the very least,
the group of phrases with common thematic material is going to be a meaningful
segment, and so the orchestration should be changed with each different phrase group.
112. Of course the change in scoring may occur more frequently than every phrase
group, especially at successive phrases and at repetitions or sequences of motives. But
rarely should it be longer, in which case the music will seem static.
113. A change in orchestration consists of one, or several of the following:
a change of instrument or instruments
a change of register of the same instrument(s)
a change in the number of voices.
114. In the majority of cases, the contrast should be smooth, rather than abrupt.
This smoothness is enhanced when the first manner of orchestration coincides
temporarily with the new manner. For example, a phrase played by th e oboe which is
succeeded by a phrase played by the flute, the oboe's line may play a few notes during
the beginning of the flute phrase.
115. Often, when a passage is repeated, whether the repetition is immediate or
separated by other music, a slight change of orchestration is desirable.
116. Some composers, such as Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schnberg (in his
initial work), employ far more frequent changes, such as at the end of a motive or a
short melodic segment. This gives a dramatic, fast-moving impression. Less
importantly, it results in a richly colored texture on the basis of aural beauty. This,
however, is superficial, and should not be focused upon in composition. Indeed, the
constant change in instrumentation can by itself attract the listener's atten tionand
away from the emotional intent of the music.
117. The composers of the second Viennese school took what is perhaps the
logical extreme of this technique; this 'pointilistic' manner of orchestration involves a
change of instrument on every note. It should not be employed too often; the
differentiation of every note will destroy coherence.
Shifts of Instrumentation in Chords
When a chord changes instrumentation, the feeling of stability can be lost somewhat.
In order to reestablish this stability, two things can help:
For same chord, have all parts in the first choir overlap with those in the second
choir
For a different chord, have all parts in the first choir proceed to the parts in the
second choir as if they formed good melodic linesthe imaginary line should make
sense.
G. Other Guidelines
Contents:
I. Groups of Voices Should be Played with Similar Instruments.
II. The Level of Difficulty Should be Appropriate for the Intended Ensemble
instruments, for example, are heard as a kind of unit, and are heard as separated from
lines played by soft-sounding instruments, which among each other would be heard as
a unit.
131. When groups of voices are played with similar instruments, their function as
a group is therefore strengthened. This reinforces the purposes of the voices and gives
the passage in question logic and coherence. When groups of voices are played with
dissimilar instruments, their function as a group is weakened. This confusion of the
roles of the voices makes the passage less effective.
132. The most useful method of grouping is grouping by choir. This is because
important characteristic of all instruments is their membership to a choir: strings,
woodwinds, brass. Instruments have much in common with instruments in own choir;
more than they do with instruments that lay outside the choir. Thus most passages
should be orchestrated with a clear division between strings, woods, and brass. That
is, each group should have a clear role, such as: woodwinds-accompanim ent 1; brassbackground chord; upper strings-main melody; lower strings-accompaniment 2.
Again, this gives clarity. But what should be avoided is: flute+trumpetaccompaniment 1; oboe+horns-accompaniment 2, violin-main melody;
bassoon+clarinets+trombones-b ackground material.
133. The second most useful method is grouping by register. Thus high-sounding
instruments are grouped together and separated from low-sounding instruments; both
are then separated from those in the center. This often finds application in unison
doublings in tutti passages, done for the sake of strength. In these cases the bassoon,
bass clarinet, and tuba often double the bass line and the flute and piccolo double high
violins.
134. Third most useful method is grouping by timbral character: grouping
instruments by a specific timbre they have in common: sharpness, softness, sweetness,
opulence, sonorousness, ad infinitum. We may restrict this term to mean only those
sounds with a definable, clear character. Orchestration by Timbral Character is often
used simultaneously with both Orchestration by Register and Orchestration by Choir.
135. Grouping and separation might be used to group some accompanimental
voices, which might then be, as a whole, separated some other accompanimental
voices; both these groups might then be separated from the main melody. This
differentiation between functionsbetween say, melody and accompaniment
allows both melody and accompaniment to be heard well. It partially explains the
success of the concertoof a single instrument being heard over fifty. When there's
enough contras t between solo and orchestra, the soloist may be heard excellently. A
general lack of differentiation between lines makes music muddy and difficult to
understand.
136. Avoid splitting two of the same instrument by giving it both the
accompaniment and the melody. This is especially true with string instruments, whose
functions are almost never split when using divisi. The exception is using two very
different registers of the same instrument, such as the chalumeau and clarino of the
clarinet.
137. The easier it is for the performers, the better the performances will be.
Awkward part are inevitably inexpressive, because either the part simply cannot be
played in the manner intended, or because the performer has to concentrate too hard
on technique that all character is lost.
138. Each instrument has its limits, though these are rarely absolute. It is usually
impossible to know, during composition, when to recompose very difficult music and
when to insist that performers cope with the problems. Aft er the music has been
rehearsed, this slowly becomes obvious. It is best if the performers are able to give
advice as to their own abilities and limitations, and about those of other performers.