5 Orchestration Shortcuts That Will Save You Time

5 tips for composer studying orchestration!
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[@michaelsheard4522]

Alan Belkin described the oboe as "a bit of a prima donna" (I think I've got the quote right), which is both amusing and useful. "Naughty boy of the orchestra" makes the point even more emphatically.

[@erpollock]

Since I've been going to the Philadelphia, I've noticed Philippe Tondre's oboe playing and it does stand out from the rest of the orchestra.

[@isomeme]

My father referred to the oboe as "An ill wind that nobody blows good." :)

[@alexjacob_composer]

Before pop stars like Madonna existed, the diva was the oboe. That's probably why Professor Belkin calls the oboe a Pre-Madonna.

[@ethanwelk2736]

I played oboe for many years and was never good at it.

[@HeavenestStCyr]

1 Voicing Chords in WWs: See Clarinets and Bassoons as strings for harmony and treat Flutes and Oboes to drive melody 2 Keep families together to support each other 3 Use Percussion more for support and color 4 Mark up your line before orchestrating

[@timcox5373]

Another tip that a bunch of composers get hung up on (including me when I first started): Don't be afraid to have resting measures. Don't worry about a player being "bored" it's super common for someone to have 8/10/28/etc measures of rest, or even an entire piece (look up "Flight of the Bumblebee on Bass Trombone" to see a great example of this). Your writing and your orchestration will open up when you stop thinking everyone needs to be doing something

[@newagain9964]

Somewhere, a violinist is triggered.

[@rkstudios1582]

These are all really great tips! I love that they aren't just the standard tired tips, but really things that seem applicable to you and your writing development! Thank you!

[@littlemarmoset]

Solo cello and oboe at the octave in one of the Schumann symphonies is a lovely pairing as well.

[@winknotes]

I love tip #4 and reinforces something I've recently come to realize about my sketches. I can be pretty lazy about sketches but the more detailed I am the better the final result.

[@chc_portlock2301]

Tip 4 seems so obvious yet I can’t believe I’ve never approached it like that, awesome stuff!

[@AndrewUdal]

Tip 2: It’s something I found very interesting but it’s very clearly used through lot’s of very well known music especially as a way of developing a thematic idea. Repeat the same idea in the 3 different sections (or go spicy and do a 4th with percussion and harp etc) and develop it in each new section as a way of stating an idea whilst keeping the piece moving.

[@mathiaslevyvalensi-compose5014]

Tip 4 is actually such a brilliant tip! So simple yet so refined! I would love a video about the rhythmic elements found in the brass and woodwinds all over the star wars scores and so many others. When the composers seem to simply fill out the space but it has such an effect with all there chords in triplets, quintuplets and whatnot! Thanks for the video!

[@Botondar]

It's funny how the example at 2:53 demonstrates the John Powell quote "trumpets are a percussion instrument".

[@RyanLeach]

I've heard he's got a real problem with trumpets lol

[@Botondar]

@@RyanLeach he did follow it up with "and nothing else" haha

[@alexander.hansson]

I totally agree that Alain Mayrands courses really are a game changer. They really do deserve the most attention and is really an investment. Would love an interview-video!

[@RyanLeach]

We’ve talked about having him on, he’s a busy guy!

[@goldenwater2916]

I love your videos, they're just the right length and easy to understand, thank you!

[@Qermaq]

Pretty good tips. You are correct about #4 - it's like the difference between food and ingredients.Too often we look at melodies and harmonies as stuff to distribute, a bag of candy, and not, as we ought to, as ingredients that need a little prep before we start cooking. This process forces you to see the music in the line and later it will be obvious where to voice it.

[@musical_lolu4811]

Clarinet's clarino range also tends to stick out melodically in like _mf_ or _f_ so it can potentially enjoy the diva status of flutes and oboes.

[@BhaalSakh]

This channel is a gold mine.

[@jenssieckmann]

I love these short, concise and valuable shortcuts.

[@c.s.i.inamerica2420]

I just discovered your channel today and I love every video I've watched so far. You're easy to listen to and present everything a real easy-to-understand manner! Thank you!!!

[@ibanezman04]

Ryan your channel is getting better and better! Quality content.

[@ZachHeyde]

This is great stuff, Ryan! You've packed some real gems into a concise 5-minute video 👍🏻

[@gondiulaurentiu3804]

The first piece of advice about the woodwind quartet is so relevant that it deserves a subscription from the start.

[@tonkaphilips4674]

This video is so good, I can't wait for more orchestration videos!

[@DrCorpse]

Great content and tips Ryan. Thanks for all you do!

[@keeonramusic]

Amazing pearls of wisdom. As someone just starting out, albeit late in life, I'm enjoying your videos, learning so much and putting everything into practice to get better and better. (Also seeing another South Aussie creator is great too). I'm getting my manuscript book and pencil out. It's been a long time since high school music classes, but it's all coming back to me. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience with the community. "On the shoulders of giants..."

[@KimberlyKreek]

Thank you so much! Wonderful ideas and played out so logically and easy to understand

[@matthewjamestaylor]

Thanks so much for sharing this, Ryan. Cheers.

[@BaldPerspective]

All great points!! You def can never go wrong with chorale-style part writing.

[@tahutoa]

I didn't know about that "marking the line" thing, but it makes a lot of sense. When the muse hits and I suddenly imagine a melody complete with chords hitting at certain spots, I can only sing the one line to myself _but_ I'll throw in things like an accent on what I know would be supported by other chord tones when I wrote it down.

[@enrath4078]

I used these tips today for my Theory and Composition class today and it helped SO MUCH

[@SimplyChirpy]

I never dreamt that such great teaching could be found on KZbin. Thanks a ton, Ryan.

[@erikbrendeland3445]

So thankful to have your video come up in my video feed. Been looking for orchestration help like this. Thanks for referencing those sources also. Gives me some books to buy.

[@Bitimi]

I struggle with woodwinds for sure. Thanks for the helpful tips! I'm excited to think through, experiment and implement some of these.

[@studentmusician2184]

I agree very much with writing the articulations and dynamics before orchestrating further.

[@BeefisGolden]

Oh man.. This was the channel I was looking for.

[@matthewgellar1442]

I feel lucky to have played quite a lot of the staple orchestral repertoire. Rehearsing and playing a bunch of different music got me really familiar with how various instrument combinations sound and i have a sort of sound bank of those with pieces as examples. I do want to say to composers and arrangers out there, the bass clarinet is an extremely flexible instrument, dont hold back!

[@henriquevazromano240]

Best video i watched today. Thank you!

[@adamtullymusic]

Very Helpful! Thank you, Ryan.

[@billwentz5014]

Thank you. Excellent product!

[@tiansaxo]

Thanks Ryan, I love your videos! :-) I just ordered the books you recommended from my library

[@amiezwag]

Your channel is amazing, thank you so much!

[@vegangames3468]

Excellent work. 💙

[@Tylervrooman]

Very cool watching your channel grow! Getting to that 100k soon!! Thanks for the great work

[@erpollock]

Very interesting for orchestral composers! I'm not one, but the construction of an orchestral piece is really fascinating. And how you take from different sources, books, and from John Williams, and use their advice. This must be very helpful for composers.

[@kibudude]

Love your channel🔥Like to see a video with insights on wind only orchestral composing. Keep up your great videos.

[@SaarangP_007]

Really amazing tips for orchestral music...especially if you are just starting out and don't know where to begin. Valuable content!!

[@gavinleepermusic]

Great tips!!

[@salimsalari389]

Very informative. Thanks!

[@jose-daniel_martinez-miranda]

Wonderful advice!

[@detlefkrystofiak3838]

Thank you for the tips, which are very valuable to me. I have a direction to go first.

[@donaldjacobs4732]

Thank you! This will help me

[@1GearG0]

Awesome. Thanks man

[@willgiam3231]

Thank you!!

[@Imagineyourmusiccom]

very effective and straight to the point, just subcribed, thank you very much

[@FelixPando]

Thanks Alan its help me 100 %.

[@papitay2010]

great master... You is a great musician.. Many, many, many thanks....

[@truBador2]

Thanks for the tips.

[@gylchrissprauve3760]

On time video...thanks a million

[@Jamesmusica]

Thank you!

[@gavinfrody9976]

This is a pretty cool video! I think we can move past the ideas that we need to orchestrate specific ways like having clarinets and bassoons together and with an oboe melody. If we keep doing things the way we always have then we'll never get anything new.

[@sampsonaborah1190]

Awesome, thanks

[@RyanLeach]

🎻 How to Write EPIC Cinematic Strings kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpXHomaphp5kg80

[@seekertosecrets]

1:38 So like a duet!

[@thomascollins4325]

Liked the video!!!

[@gilevansinsideout]

Nice video thanks

[@ejohnmcpomus]

Great tips.....👌

[@Olosson]

Very nice! I agree...

[@guilhermeassuncaomusic]

This channel is epic!

[@marcosPRATA918]

Orquestração, eis a arte máxima da composição.

[@artal15213]

Congrads on 100k

[@RyanLeach]

Thanks!

[@user-bc6jq3qv3f]

Спасибо!) очень интересное видео!)

[@littlemarmoset]

Flute and oboe at the unison is quite nice. The flute mellows the oboe, and the oboe gives the flute a bit more oomph.

[@DavidRLentz]

Immensely 🤔 and enlightening.

[@MrTarlecon]

I felt a complete amateur while watching this - a very important and helpful feeling for a one who thinks he can do all this "intuitively")). Thanks a lot for showing my ego its real place :)).

[@GTORT]

Still the best channel idc what anyone says

[@lastritt]

I have found that the more instruments you have at hand, the easier it is to orchestrate. The real trick is to make sound full and colorful when your budget is too small to voice four part chords in the brass, woodwinds or horn sections. More thought must be given to creatively blend timbres.

[@asllenn]

good video

[@ejohnmcpomus]

👍 Very nice

[@Reeseington]

3:06 you sneaky dog

[@jcoolverine3483]

i saw one video of yours that show and sheets and piano tabs in program together, its super helpful that! can you do that in all your video ? thank you!

[@wildflute]

There is no melody quite sublime in the ear than when it’s played sensitively by a talented clarinetist. And I’m a flutist!

[@grt002]

Would love to see you analyze Liberty Fanfare by John Williams. Such a cool piece.

[@musiquesintemporelles]

04:20 Counterpoint helps! 😉

[@ericmyrs]

Another thing to think about, is that music is played by humans, not machines. Try to avoid boring generations of cellists with the Canon in D problem. Mid and low range solos can be great, The Game of Thrones theme springs to mind, and so does the Trio section of basically any march.

[@seuradu8065]

There are many methods of approaching orchestration. What no composer has really presented in the course of orchestration is the compatibility of the timbres or colors of the instruments in the art of symphonic orchestration.For example, the horn is compatible as a timbre with the cello, or the Flute with violin and trombone and the Wagnerian Tuba with double bass.This aspect has not yet been addressed in orchestration courses. John Williams is my favorite composer in terms of film music orchestration.

[@stevevasta]

Enjoyed this. But i'm not sure how much help the "four-part chorale" idea would be in very "horizontal" music. Dvořák liked to write four-part chorales, incidentally, for two oboes and two clarinets, rather low in the range, and the second oboe always sticks out. Orchestras, even in Czechia, apparently have their own standard workarounds for them.

[@StefanGraz]

1:26 Disney!! 😀

[@starwarsdd7138]

Amazing video! I was wondering, which software do you recommend to learn in order to start orchestration?

[@RyanLeach]

For a beginner notation software I’d recommend Musescore (it’s free), for more professional level I like Dorico

[@i3gallery]

Whilst what I am about to ask can be subjectively approached, I have to ask because curiosity wills it to be asked. Has anyone devised a classification of orchestral instruments based on how well their timbres support each other? For example, you talk about Oboes and Flutes being the "divas" whilst the Clarinets and Bassoons provide harmonic support", so has anyone built a list of instruments that provide a similar "definition"? Just to clarify, I am not talking about traditional/classical family groupings of instruments or the Hornbostel-Sachs instrument classification but a more progressive "sub-classification" that describes timbral characteristic similarities within certain families for example, those instruments in a given family that generate more of a given fundamental frequency as opposed to generating multiple overtones in harmonic sequence? I am not asking for a "definitive list" but just curious if this subjective viewpoint would have any general consensus in composer circles and if so, has anyone generated anything as a "general rule of thumb"? I am not a "professional" composer, my main strength is within production and sequencing but as I continue to explore, I find rabbit holes like this that require exploration. Any insight would be amazing. Thank you!

[@orchestralhymns]

👏👏👏

[@millennial8441]

Really helpful tips. The problem is when one sketches all the music for the piano and then one has to orchestrate. it That is the real problem because the piano is all-even sound, from the very low to the very high 88th key. And the winds have all those intonation problems.

[@bhaveshmistry3255]

It is absolutely amazing and a useful lesson for me. I have learned piano and I have a natural gift for composition but when it comes to orchestral work or to build the composition I really stuck and to be honest I don’t like to focus on theory’s when I make music. I can learn watching videos and by listening music rather than a reading music. I always curious to learn about the orchestration work and I am happy that I found you on KZbin. Do you teach privately? Thank you so much for make tutorials 🙏

[@furman.composer]

You cannot orchestrate properly without reading extensively.

[@derycktrahair8108]

OBOE is the Trumpet of the WWind section. Bad boy? Shame him & he will come back on English Horn. You can't keep a good Muso down. But most will go to Sop Sax & sound alarming. Hey, if you hear your musical voice in that range try CLARINET. The strange fingering was designed to keep the lazy ones out. When you hear yourself with that sound you'll love it & put in the hard work.

[@GandhiMartinez]

This composition course is good?

[@darionbuck4614]

Beethoven seems to use the oboe, at least in his symphonies, as the glue or bridge for the strings to the woodwinds.

[@martin-raison-music-composer]

3:37 what are those six steps? :) thanks !

[@hubertholdys7290]

What music software do you use to write symphony music ?

[@RyanLeach]

I like Dorico

[@radioness9275]

5:00

[@mr88cet]

This is all really excellent, thanks! However, there’s another, very-different approach, or perhaps “scenario”: In some cases, my entire motivation for a composition (or section) starts with timbre, or at least coincident with the melody. For example, the entire point right from the start might be to portray a conversation between flute and clarinet, say, taken over by violin and viola. In other words, it’s not always melody, then harmony, then orchestration.

[@damarisaquinohernandez7018]

1:30 Disney: Procede a demandarlo épicamente*

[@thekeyoflifepiano]

Rest in Peace John.

[@RyanLeach]

He is getting old, but I’m pretty sure he’s alive and well

[@thekeyoflifepiano]

@@RyanLeach You haven't heard the news?

[@JasonMcChristian]

Articulations and dynamics within a line should be treated as just as important as rhythm and pitch. I consider all four at the same time when composing.