Her back ached a little bit, and her bones were still chilled from sleeping in her car the night before. But she barely felt those mild discomforts as her car came through the tunnel, topped the ridge, and she saw the whole of the San Francisco Bay Area gleaming before her in the midmorning sun.…
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The Evaluations for the 2014 June Orchestration Challenge have been uploaded to the Orchestration Online Blog page. For a massive dose of orchestration training, insights, feedback, and score-reading, I invite you to check it out for yourself. Read over all the entries, develop your inner ear in the process, and examine my own orchestration along…
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Our second Monthly Orchestration Challenge has stretched on more than twice its anticipated length, due to both my heavy schedule over the past two months, and the complexity of the challenge. Furthermore, since so many entrants had put so much energy and commitment into their entries, I felt obligated to comment on each and every…
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I’m starting the morning like I usually do: propped up against some pillows, typing away with my laptop rested on a carved chest from Singapore, my cat happily purring his fool head off on my lap. Through the lounge windows, the lights surrounding Wellington harbour gleam as they surround its inky darkness […]
Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry to the 2014 May Orchestration Challenge! The Evaluations [link] have been posted in the Orchestration Online Blog. Please go have a look to see all the entries, including mine, along with some analysis and orchestration tips. 2014 June Orchestration Challenge This month’s challenge is the opening of “Reflet dans l’eau” from Book…
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For my first Monthly Orchestration Challenge, the entries totaled 60 scores, including my own. Nearly all of these are included in the archive below. It was terrific receiving so many scores for the start of this challenge. The entrants represented a wide array of interests and experience, from near-beginners to professional orchestrators, but every entry…
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One of the most frequently asked questions in the Orchestration Online Facebook group is “How should I score horns – 1/2, 3/4; or 1/3, 2/4?” This refers to the placement on the standard two-staff layout of horns in pairs. In other words, should horns be scored like the left sample or right sample below? The…
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I’m a confirmed optimist. It probably has something to do with my very early years. A true university brat, I actually lived out ages 0-4 on the UCLA campus. Back in the early 1960’s, there was a quiet enclave on the west side of campus called “Married Students Housing,” where my family lived while my father pursued his degree in Language Studies […]
2014 May Orchestration Challenge Our first challenge will be an excerpt from Robert Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, orchestrating the first half of the first Etude-Variation. For an orchestra, we will limit ourselves to the orchestra of Schumann’s own Fourth Symphony: 2222 winds, 4230 brass, timpani, and strings. Brass may be chromatic rather than natural, but timpani…
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