 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2005-08-12 17:46
I recently composed a song on the piano, which I want to arrange for band. My friend said he would do it, because he has more experience with arranging, but I would like to know how it all works. I mean, I know how to transpose from concert key to all the other keys the other instruments are in (if I sit for a while and try to figure it out), and I know to give the lower notes to the lower voices... But, I don't really know how to arrange where I can get the best sound possible.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-08-12 20:06
I'd give it to your friend, but perhaps work together and pick his brain about it.
Transposition is the easy part. Orchestrating for desired effect is a lifelong art that, like composition, I'd say people rarely are completely satisfied with their end result (they could always tweak it a bit more). It is also something that is quite challenging to do well. I just finished taking a year of orchestration courses and am just beginning to get a grasp on it. Trial and error and analyzing other people's scores (e.g. Mahler, Berlioz, Tchaik, Rimsky-Korsakov, Holst) will do you well. The Samuel Adler textbook is an excellent reference.
If possible, I'd make a first-draft orchestration, in which you think everything is where you want it. Then, get an ensemble to play through it a few times. This will tell you very quickly what works and what doesn't (though you should keep in mind that it's a sight read and not yet played optimally), and after this you can tweak the score for a final version.
The link Alphie gave seems to only deal with midi percussion, which will not get you far, especially with all the issues non-midi human percussionists have to deal with, let alone the rest of the ensemble.
Some basic, greatly-oversimplified tips:
- Orchestrate dynamics by putting instruments you want to hear into their naturally loud range. A low C marked forte on flute will not be heard over a middle C marked pianissimo on trumpet. It is often very wise to give the entire ensemble the same dynamic, and
- Instruments can sound high even when their concert pitch is low, and vice versa. A bassoon playing its highest note will sound higher than a clarinet playing that very same note.
- For parts you want to hear, keep other parts out of their pitch range.
- Changing the orchestration significantly for different sections of the piece is very effective.
- Percussionists are real people. If you have one person playing more than one instrument, give plenty of time for them to physically put down the first one, walk to the second one, and pick it up.
- Talk to a person who plays each instrument, show them the part, and ask for their input. Often the presence of a single note can turn a part from simple to impossible.
- Accompanimental material (i.e. not melody or bass line) is perhaps the most important as it defines the character of your piece. Pay special attention to how much of it there is and who is playing it at any given time.
- I'd suggest mapping your piece out on a chart and diagramming the orchestrational parameters for each section to give you a look at the big picture.
- Experiment with adding different instruments to the melodic line to color it. Note which instruments blend well with others.
- Write parts that are idiomatic to each instrument.
- Save something for later... an instrument, an effect, or something. Make it happen at the most important part of the piece, probably near the end.
There's a lot more to it than that, but those come to mind first.
I'm currently writing a sizeable piece for band, so I'm dealing with all these issues and more. Only in my 6th year of college was I introduced to such concepts, so now you have a head start.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2005-08-13 01:56
My best tip for aspiring orchestrators:
Remember that computer playback DOESN'T balance the same way real live instruments do.
I once played a big band chart with a four part soli for two flutes over two trumpets. (not double duet, but true four-part)
We played it, with predictable results. The would-be orchestrator, upon being told that this just would not work said, "But it sound great on my computer!"
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2005-08-13 02:43
Better yet, don't have EVERYONE else playing.
I try and use a different tone colour from the soloist to make the solo part stand out.
Clarinet with clarinet accompaniment (an easy and tempting thing to write) makes it hard to distinguish solo from background, though it's hard to make a blanket rule about anything.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-08-13 04:52
On the contrary... I was advising to NOT just dump people into a lower dynamic. Rather, do some or all of these to make a solo stand out: (If the solo is standing out too much, reverse one or more)
- Write nobody else in their range, and out of areas that get too much into their color (not as much of a problem for picc, but stay off the glock, triangle, high flute, Eb clarinet, and muted trumpet)
- Keep the level of activity of other instruments low compared to the solo
- Reduce the variety of material in other instruments (if they are playing the same thing over and over, the instrument that is playing something different, i.e. picc, will stand out even more.) The ear is attracted to change.
- Do not have instruments that blend with it playing something different. This is not a big issue with picc, but, for example, you wouldn't want to write a clarinet solo alongside significant horn activity.
- Put other instruments into their non-projecting ranges. Clarinets low, trumpets and horn below their respective staves, flutes in the staff if playing at all, oboes & bassoons at mid/high, etc.
- It's a solo, so have less other people playing.
- Give it support with blending instruments. Perhaps a mid-range oboe line could complement it, or lowish flutes.
- Put the solo in its projecting range. For picc, this is above the staff. The lower the picc part, the more drastically you should include the factors listed above so that it can be heard.
Marking other instruments at a lower dynamic won't do squat if you have mid-range horn or trumpet parts, high clarinet, etc (YOU try getting a clarinet section to play a high E and make it sound piano). Well, it will help some, but is not nearly as effective. Per-instrument dynamics are much more effectively used for tone coloration than for ensemble volume.
For effective picc solo writing, see Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kije. IIRC it's just low flutes and snare drum playing along.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2005-08-17 03:46
I was thinking... If you are in a key signature like D min., how can you really transition that into something other than its relative major? For example, I couldn't really put some augmented or diminished scale in there somewhere, could I? If so, how? How do I transition into and/or make key changes, other than to like F major (because if it's relative I know how to do it)... I know there are a lot of scales I haven't really learned yet... or I think they're called modes... I'll get to them later in music theory this year, but how could I use them in a composition unless I started out with them in the first place? Like does F major have a relative mode? I dunno...
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Author: GoatTnder
Date: 2005-08-17 15:23
From what I understand (and I don't understand much, so don't take this as gospel), changing key smoothly involves using the listener's expectation and altering them a bit. For example: The simplest of all progressions is 5-1. Hear it in absolutely everything from symphonies to marches to jazz to whatever. And, people are accustomed to hearing that one. But... what if you change that 5? For instance, while leading up to where a 5 should be played, you instead play the 5 of your new key. People will want to hear the 1 of that new key. Voila!
Plus, I think it's OK to just change key and be done with it. It could be that slight moment of confusion is something the piece needed. No?
Andres Cabrera
South Bay Wind Ensemble
www.SouthBayWinds.com
sbwe@sbmusic.org
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Author: psychotic lil clarinet girl (don't as
Date: 2005-08-18 03:09
I asked my theory teacher today. She just said that it is better to stay within the key signature and transition to relative keys. You can transition to other keys, but you have to get chords to progress towards that key signature.
I was just asking about other scales... and modes (I think they are mainly used for more modern jazz, pop, other music.) I dunno, and augmented and dimished scales, how do you use those in there?
There are so many different scales. I'm scared to try like pentatonic and 12 tone scales. I don't know much about them, but they would be kind of hard to compose in. I mean, pentatonic wouldn't be so much, it would just be hard to find something more original out of the pentatonic scale because there are less notes to work with.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-08-18 16:43
Twelve tone? Yeah, use that and you will guarantee yourself a success...
Seriously speaking, arranging is partly "knowing the rules" and partly "knowing what's right". Some music programs (I'm in the throes of mastering the latest Finale right now) will do a lot of the rules stuff for you when properly set up. As they are pretty complicated (more than I'll ever understand, that's for sure), any aid you can get there will help you.
But, it's more than just "following the book". This is part of the reason why "great composers" aren't always "great arrangers". Getting the voicing right, figuring out the transitions beyond the straight "textbook" solutions, and making it all "gel" take familiarity with the style in which the piece is to be cast, knowing the horns (I always want to shoot arrangers who put a sax change within a bar of playing the bass clarinet), and understanding many of the tricks of the trade. (The high bassoon playing alluded to earlier is a great example of that; you will get listeners wondering what the hell they are hearing when a bassoon makes one of those haunting high entries.)
All of that comes from doing, rather than from "learning the rules from a book" (or, nowadays, from a program).
One other thing: someone once told me that every two note group in music can be expressed as being in one or another key, regardless of the key signature for the piece. So, while all of the eight notes in the scale may fit into F major, each pair as they are performed also fit into their own particular relationship in a given key. Knowing how to smoothly transition them from F major to C major is a good part of the trick in arranging.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-08-20 05:48
Regarding modulating to a different key, listen. Listen to a bunch of classical recordings and hear how other composers do it. Sometimes one will jump to another key with no warning whatsoever... other aspects of the music will ease or sharpen the impact.
For starters, try pivoting... that is, find a part of your music in which the notes in the chord that is being played also exist (or many of them exist) in the key you want to go to. Write backward from the new key until that particular chord makes sense in both the key you are coming from and the key you are going to. You may go into different keys along the way as well (in rapid succession, this is called sequencing and is commonly done in 4ths or 5ths).
Listen for what notes in each key feel the most like they want to resolve into other notes in that key, and take advantage of that. Significant music theory knowledge helps to enumerate and familiarize which is good for what, but most theory reduces to "because that's how it sounds," so it's a good place to start.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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