Does anybody have any advice for orchestrating? Or any further reading on the subject

Steven_thebear

I have taken over the last number of months to try and compose as much as I can. However, being predominantly a pianist, I know little to nothing about orchestration, despite the fact I listen to orchestras nearly all the time. The last week, I've been trying to write for an orchestra. I *guess* you could say the tone of which is similar to Two Steps from Hell or Ivan Torrent etc. but that would probably be an insult to them. I'm satisfied with the melody I've developed (as in, for violin 1's), however, I am not satisfied with the accompaniment (double bass, cello, violin 2's. I'll worry about the rest of the instruments later, strings is just the opening part). It sounds cheap, or unprofessional, but I'm not exactly sure where the problem lies (it could also be musescore's not so great midi effects, but usually it's a decent indicator). On a technical level, what's written is chords just being played. What I did was write and play the melody on piano and transfer it across to orchestra, just assigning the parts to different instruments. I know this is how numerous composers function, so I don't think there's anything wrong on that front. I also know you can sort of have additional melodies played by violin 2's, but for the moment, that's not fully what I want.

What I'd really like to know, is if there are any tips on how properly orchestrate? I know this is something people can spend years studying, but I am literally approaching this with no no knowledge of how this works and I'm desperate to try and figure out what the best methods are to try and go about this. Also, is there any further reading on the subject at all in any regard? I was reading a few of them and the large majority of the books are very old or outdated. If any advice from any capacity could be given, I would seriously appreciate it. Also, if you would like to hear what I have written, I am more than willing to send the score on to you (it's only about thirty seconds and is on musescore).

Thanks for your time

rahmalec

I'm not an arranger and I'm sure there are tons of useful books you can read, but as a musician here are some things I think:

Writing for different instruments isn't easy. You can't just look up the range limits and write anything. Each instrument has its own aspects that work well (or not). Certain intervals are more difficult, staying in a certain register for too long mightn't be a good idea (for singers especially), etc.
Best is to actually take your parts and ask other musicians what they think. Is what you've written playable? If it is, does it fit comfortably on the instrument?

Also, don't just have the melody and give any random stuff to the other instruments. If you actively try to make each person's part good and a pleasure to play, then the performance will be so much better :-)

If you write something difficult, I feel that having to learn it should be worth the difficulty. There's nothing worse than having to learn some insane difficult thing when the same thing could have been achieved with much less effort on the performer's part.

jamieev

The Study Of Orchestration by Samuel Adler would be a good place to get started.

endacl

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/445369.Orchestration