When composing for timpani, mark the required tuning at the start of your piece, and indicate changes in the score. Some composers will even make a little chart of the actual pitches in headless mini-notes – but I’ve found that it’s easiest just to write them out as technique text above the staff, in ascending…
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The lowest octave of the flute is tricky to balance, but effective if handled correctly. The conventional wisdom is to avoid using this register unless very thinly accompanied – but it’s more complicated than that, and an orchestrator with a keen ear can find unexpected opportunities. In the following two excerpts from movement 2 of…
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Never underestimate the usefulness of the bass clarinet: perhaps the most flexible of all auxiliary winds. If I were told that my small orchestra commission allowed for only one dedicated auxiliary player, I would probably choose the bass clarinet every time. Why? Well, if we look at the most commonly used auxiliaries of the other…
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When choosing a cue, select material from a player in close proximity to where your musician is seated. Of course, the cue should be composed of a thematic gesture first of all, and if there isn’t a good snatch of melody, then an obvious bit of chord or high note. The following example is excerpted…
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When extracting parts, assign cues sparingly to a pro or semi-pro level work. Best cues are after: a. long stretches of over 30 bars b. extended passages of metric complexity, and/or changes of meter and tempo c. a very long cadenza. It’s not necessary to pepper your score with cues after every tacet. Pro orchestra…
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When finalizing an extended orchestral project, proof each instrumental section for careless errors. With Sibelius, you can do this very easily with Focus on Staves, and isolate your screen view to a subset of the available instruments. I’m always on the lookout for missing slurs and dynamics, incomplete technique directions (forgetting to end a passage…
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Use rehearsal marks foremost in places where the conductor will need to fix things – not necessarily always at the beginnings of sections. My rule of thumb is trouble spots/intricate textures first; changes of tempo, key, and meter second; and beginnings of sections last (these criteria often overlap, with two or even all three satisfied…
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Two last warnings about score layouts, traps into which composers may easily fall. In the top example, Percussion 1 is changing from a triangle to a snare. Sibelius will blithely omit the blank staves and play back the correct instruments – but the conductor’s eye may glance across the page and think that the triangle…
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Following on from yesterday’s advice about leaving in blank staves leading up to, or between instruments being used. Here is the other side of that equation – always reduce systems where instruments are dormant for long stretches. Shedding the blank staves helps the conductor’s eye to define the relationships between instruments and groups. It’s a…
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Sometimes, when a page of score can’t be reduced into divided systems, it’s good to leave some blank staves alerting the conductor to instruments about to make an entrance. Also, leave blank staves on a page if the instruments are going in and out of being used every 2 to 3 pages. This way, the…
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