Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to know how to orchestrate music for both orchestra and rock ensembles? Writing for multiple instruments is all about balancing their sound. Because of this, this post will go heavy on videos. Keep reading How to Orchestrate Enchanting and Powerful Music to learn how to create effective musical orchestrations.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How to Orchestrate Music #1: How Do I Write a Strong Melody?
In many ways, your melody will be the most important part of your song or composition:
- Why? Because it’s your melody that sells the song.
- A listener can’t hum a chord by himself, but a single person can hum your melody.
- That’s why it all starts with your melody (A.K.A., the theme in film scoring).
For more information on how to write a melody:
- How to Extract a Melody from Your Lyrics
- Writing Great Songs Using Rhythmic Motifs
- Ten Ways to Spice Up Your Melodies with Melodic Variation
- Song Structure, Musical Phrases, Musical Structures and Forms
- Exploring the Music Themes and Leitmotifs of Star Wars
- What Are Some Elegant Examples of Polyphony?
- Identifying Intervals
Video: How to Write a Strong Melody
How to Orchestrate Music #2: How Do I Harmonize My Melody?
Harmony is the backbone of your orchestration:
- It’s what makes it possible to orchestrate so many instruments into a cohesive whole.
- Changing your harmony will re-color the notes of your melody.
- It can also affect what instruments you’ll choose for your arrangement.
For more information on harmony:
- Do You Want Cool Chords for Your Song?
- An Easy How to Guide to Understanding Triads
- Chord Progressions (Including the 12 Bar Blues)
- What Exactly Is a Chord and What Does the Term Harmony Mean?
- Please Explain Roman Numeral Analysis in Layman’s Terms for Me
- Tonic vs. Root in Music Theory
- What Exactly Does I7-vi7-V7 Mean?
- What’s the Deal with These iv-V-VII Chords?
- Changing Keys in Your Songwriting
Video: Harmony for Beginners
How to Orchestrate Music #3: What Instruments Do I Use?
You need to think about the sound you want before you start writing:
- Brass has depth and power. In addition, a range of mutes can significantly alter the sound of each instrument within this instrument family.
- Strings add a warm, homogonous sound – though harmonics, pizzicato, and different bowing techniques can add a lot of variety and expressiveness.
- The woodwinds have distinct tone colors within the instrument family and even within the different registers on a single instrument.
- Percussion is so diverse that you can call upon a host of sounds – from sparkle to shimmer to rattle to jingle to driving beats and a whole lot more.
If you’re going to orchestrate music for groups of instruments, you’ll need to know something about the instruments you’re writing for:
- At the very least, you’re going to need to know the ranges and registers of the instruments. The first two links below show you charts that give you the big picture regarding instrument ranges.
- The first video shows all the instruments as they’re used in an orchestra. Then, the following videos give you more information on the instrument families and their ranges, registers, and special effects.
- The final video shows you the role of each instrument in a pop/rock ensemble.
Typical instrumental ranges charts:
Video: Britten’s The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
Video: Woodwind Instrument Ranges and Registers
Video: String Instrument Ranges and Registers
Video: String Bowing Techniques
Video: Brass Instrument Ranges and Registers
Video: Horn Mutes Demonstrated
Video: Trumpet Mutes Demonstrated
Video: Trombone Mutes Demonstrated
Video: Tuba Mute Demonstrated
Video: Percussion Instruments Demonstrated
Video: Mallet Percussion Ranges
Video: The Role of Each Instrument in a Rock Ensemble
How to Orchestrate Music #4: What Is Chord Voicing?
To understand how orchestration works in well-balanced ensembles, you need to first know something about the instruments you’re writing for (see previous section).
However, you’ll also need to know something about chord voicing:
- What is chord voicing? Western music started as vocal music, so each note within a harmony is a “voice.”
- Therefore, voicing is the spacing of the individual notes within a chord progression.
- How you space the instruments can make the difference between your ensemble sounding strong vs. muddy.
Video: Orchestral Voicing
How to Orchestrate Music #5: What Are Articulations, Dynamics, and Tempo?
If you orchestrate your music to be played all at the same volume and in the same manner, it’s boring:
- Sort of like a schoolteacher who lectures all with the same vocal tone – it puts you to sleep. Good teachers vary their vocal tone, pitch, and speed as they lecture.
- Likewise, changing your volume (dynamics), how the notes are played (articulations), and speed (tempo) will make your music sound more engaging.
- Why? Because it adds more variety to your orchestrations, which keeps them from being boring.
For more information:
Video: Instrumental Articulations
Video: Instrumental Dynamics
Video: Instrumental Tempo
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Your melody is the most important part of your song or composition, because it sells the song.
- Harmony is the backbone of any ensemble, because it makes it possible to arrange so many instruments into a cohesive whole.
- You must understand the instruments you’re writing for, or your music won’t sound good and may actually be unplayable.
- Chord voicing can make the difference between your ensemble sounding strong vs muddy.
- Dynamics, articulations, and tempo will allow your orchestrations to breathe, making them more engaging.
Have fun writing!
Related Posts
- Writing Well Crafted Songs
- The 5 Best Free Music Notation Apps
- What Exactly Does Beat Mean in Hip Hop?
© 2024 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for online or in-person lessons today!
Glossary
Advanced Heterophony Concepts – Part 1
Do you want to understand advanced heterophony concepts? How does timbre affect heterophony in the ma’luf ensembles? Many cultures organize their music by using heterophony which forms the music in essentially different ways than harmony-based music. Keep reading to understand the relationship between heterophony and timbre. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Read More
The G Major Scale (Including the G Major Chord Scale)
Do you want to know what notes and chords are in the G major scale? Do you find the theory behind the G major chord scale confusing? To truly understand music, you must know how to construct scales and how to build chords from the scale tones. Read “The G Major Scale (Including the G Major Chord Scale)” to learn how they work. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Read More
What are the advantages of dyslexia? Episodic Memory
Do you want to know what the advantages of dyslexia are? How can people with dyslexia seem to have terrible memories sometimes, but not others? “He could remember events perfectly, even those that happened when he was an infant” (The Gift of Dyslexia 96). Episodic memory has a central role in the thinking process of many dyslexics which helps explain this puzzling fact. Also, it’s one of the four benefits to dyslexia. Keep reading to learn what the advantages of dyslexia are and how episodic memory plays a part in that. Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Read More
What Does it Mean for Me to Interpret a Piece of Music? Part 1
Does your playing lack emotion? Do you want tips on how to interpret music? Many musicians struggle with interpretation. However, I can show you powerful strategies for tapping into the emotion in your playing. Click to answer the question, “What does it mean for me to interpret a piece of music?” Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Read More