Orchestrate This!

Audio from this event:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

This event on October 25th covered the subject of Orchestration from a variety of interesting angles. The four panelists were Sheila Espinoza, Steve Allen, Hummie Mann and Jack Klitzman, who provided a diverse range of experience with the subject.

Sheila Espinoza spoke of her experiences composing and orchestrating for local orchestras, revealing that it can be financially rewarding through performance royalties. She finds that she often has to adjust orchestrations after she hears them in the hall they will be played in. Steve Allen does a lot of corporate video, and covered the topic of MIDI orchestration. Some of his tips included using a lot of Continuous Controllers, such as breathe controller, and playing in each part separately. Adding in a few live players can do wonders for making the piece sound less synthetic, with saxaphones being a particularily good choice because they are so hard to emulate with samples. Guitars are also another good choice for a featured live performer.

Hummie Mann provided a very practical look at orchestral arranging techniques, emphasizing the concepts of weight and density through careful selection of instrument combinations. He highlighted the fact that many instruments sound quite different in different ranges, and that these different timbres can be exploited to create the effect you are after. Knowing how to play the various instruments is invaluable in helping with this process.

Jack Klitzman covered the topic of orchestrating and arranging for big bands. He stressed that familiarity with the intricacies of jazz style phrasing is very important, and covered some of the articulations used in the style. Big band scores often look like big blocks as the saxes and brass trade off, with the rhythm section keeping things going. You should be aware of who you are writing for; high school players will need a lot of articulation markings, while professionals do not (with the exception of cases where you want to make sure specific articulations are used.) He too also recommended using live saxaphones if the budget allows for MIDI based productions.

The evening went very quickly, and was a great opportunity to learn something that is important to composers, whatever style they are composing in.

• Recommended resources:
  • Instrumentation/Orchestration, by Alfred Blatter
  • Orchestration, by Stephen Douglas Burton
  • The Complete Arranger, by Sammy Nestico (comes with a CD of music examples)
  • The Norton Manual of Music Notation, by George Heussenstamm
  • James Newton Howard, Master of MIDI Orchestration by by John Krogh (online article from Keyboard Online)
• Not recommended:
  • Principles of Orchestration by Rimsky-Korsakov.

 

General Public:	$10
SCA Associate Members:	$5
SCA Full Members:	No Charge

2001 Past Events