EVERYTHING YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW (BUT MAYBE SHOULD) ABOUT HORN BUMPERS If you were to ask the average seasoned horn player if there’s anything a composer needs to know about bumping, they’ll almost invariably tell you “No. That’s not your concern in any way. Leave that decision to us.” And yet with all respect…
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The clarinet is an excellent resource for supporting and colouring harmonic and melodic texture. (Tip no. 18 from 100 Orchestration Tips, 2nd Edition) The unique resonance of the clarinet’s registers are sometimes misconstrued as too individual to blend harmonically or melodically with other instruments. But a little score-reading will immediately reveal the clarinet as the perfect mixer at a…
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Use extreme caution when scoring octave melodies for clarinets, and be aware that the overtones reinforce each other with great potency. (Tip no. 17 from 100 Orchestration Tips) Octave melodies for wind instruments of the same model are generally problematic. Rimsky-Korsakov gently advises against their use, though he opens the door for doubling by auxiliaries at…
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A year ago I woke up in the heart of the dream factory on a Thursday morning, seven thousand miles from home. It was the day everything started to fall apart… Orchestration Online In Hollywood I was in California to visit family and to help launch my latest book, 100 MORE Orchestration Tips. The official…
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When to add a slur over a glissando mark – and when not to. (Tip no. 91 from 100 MORE Orchestration Tips, to be released in 2020.) One of the most common bugaboos of the developing orchestrator is the unintentional ambiguity of their string glissando scoring. I see this all the time: a composer has scored a…
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(Tip no. 68 from 100 MORE Orchestration Tips) The reasons why xylophone can hold its own in an orchestral tutti and a marimba can’t are literally carved right into the instruments. Similar to some previous tips, here’s some information about mallet percussion that didn’t make it into 100 Orchestration Tips. Sometimes, really understanding an acoustic phenomenon helps a…
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It’s close to midnight at the end of my first full day in Southern California. I’m about to shut up shop mentally, but have to write a few words about coming back to my birthplace. It’s strange, but I’m feeling a lot circles closing with this performance – returning to places where ideas and thoughts…
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8:38 p.m. I’m sitting in the rehearsal room, typing this as unobtrusively as possible as the LA Doctor’s Symphony Orchestra works out on the Elgar Enigma Variations. The rehearsal for my piece is well finished by now, but I’m just waiting for the break so that a few players can talk to me about bits…
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6:30 A.M. The lights of Wellington glitter jewel-like in the velvety blackness outside, making a circle around the harbor. I’ve been up since ten past 6:00, which is average for me. As my career has gotten ever more focused on orchestration, I’ve found myself getting up earlier and earlier in the morning, sometimes as early…
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