Orchestration

[Damo 0]

Just out curiosity....

Who good at orchestrating a piece? Is it easy or hard to orchestrate a piece? How long does it take to orchestrate?

[KingPin 201]

Interesting questions, Damo. Although I am not in the music business, I am a freelance composer in my spare time, so hopefully I can give some of my insight. I've orchestrated my own works and I have to say that in my experience, the skill develops with time. It also depends on what sort of sound or emotion you're looking for, as well as your musical influences. For me, I'm influenced by a lot of classical composers and film scores. I also own several study scores of composers such as Stravinsky, Copland, and Grainger, plus the entire Williams Signature Editions. One can usually hear the such influences in my music. I've also done some reading on orchestration too. It takes a good knowledge of instruments' technical capabilities and ranges, as well as sound combinations. I consider myself a good orchestrator, but I'm not a legend by any means. As for how long it takes, well I suppose that could depend on how much time you actually have. My personal preference is to orchestrate something as I write it, versus writing a sketch and orchestrating later. For me, it's much less time-consuming, and I can figure out what works and what doesn't right there on the spot. Also bear in mind that many film composers designate on a condensed score exactly what instrumentation they desire, then the task is handed down to the orchestrator to create the full score from that. I hope this gives you some idea of the craft. Good luck!

[Damo 0]

Sound tough work. But I'm actually writing an orchestral score for a film which goes about 7 minutes and im a pretty good composer but im that an expert on composing for orchestra.

[Musicmaster 0]

Will you be using samples or live orchestra?

[tony69 0]

Just out curiosity....

Who good at orchestrating a piece? Is it easy or hard to orchestrate a piece? How long does it take to orchestrate?

I'm good at orchestrating. Is it easy? Yes. Is it easy to orchestrate well? No. See the thing is orchestration is to composition as colours are to painting. When i orchestrate i am painting with timbres to achieve what i want. The problem is orchestrating well. By that, I don't mean is it playable, which should be the first thing all beginning orchestrators learn. I mean whether it conveys what I want in the subtle ways without overdoing it. I'm a very refined orchestrator since I dont use sound masses, but rather, prefer a solo flute giving the melody over say flute, horn and violins. I prefer doing the most with less, which is what makes orchestration hard. You're looking for the perfect thing to give the perfect sound out of a palette of red, yellow and blue (suppose i continue my metaphor). i'm trying to reach the shade of green like that of the grass, and the trick is how do i mix them to get the grass sound?

Orchestration never finishes for me. After hearing a piece performed, i will be like mr brahms and go back and make a change here or there. it's just like composition. the piece is never done. i will always go back and fix what i feel are errors. However you might have been asking how long it takes me to initially orchestrate, which for me is 2 weeks for one hour of material.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Tony, that's probably one of the best analogies I've heard of orchestration! In fact, It's probably the only analogy I've heard about orchestration, but great nonetheless.