"7 Things You Didn't Know About Orchestration" by Conrad Pope

1. You aren’t writing for an instrument. You are writing for a musician that plays that instrument.

Never think that you are writing for simply an instrument or instrumental color. Always bear in mind
that you are writing for a musician who plays that instrument. You are writing for someone who has
given their life to mastering the technical aspects of an instrument in order to perform music as
expressively as they possibly can.

Get to know the solo/chamber music of each instrument in the orchestra—even the Timpani!
Understanding the expressive “psychology” of every instrument will enable you to hear more deeply in
and through that instrument, as well as understanding what inspires someone to want to play that
instrument.

2. Your orchestral demo/score from deepest Eastern Europe proves you are a master of orchestration,
certainly the equal of Ravel- or, what the hell, John Williams.

If your orchestra has more than 50 musicians, it takes a genius for screwing up to make it not sound
like something. You really have to know what you’re doing if you have 35 and under. Then you actually
have to write some music and know how each instrument functions in the musical fabric.

3. “MIDI is awesome--- I know what my music is going to sound like!”

The most common “rookie” error in writing for the orchestra is having too much harmony in too
many of the choirs. Also, too many composers- at least of film music-use too many harmonic “pads”
that lie inertly. This comes from “adding” more parts than one can actually be realized in the orchestra.
If you are using a sample of 18 violins and then start writing “epic” 4 parts in both the 1st and 2nd
Violins, please remember that MIDI can be Satan. It will lie to you and seduce you, leading you into
making very bad choices in the “real” orchestra. Remember, the more parts you write, the more people
you are taking “off” that part. #RealityCheck

4. “MIDI is awesome--- I know EXACTLY that my music would sound that way! But, I didn’t know
what to do with the woodwinds….”

An amateur can generally write convincingly for the strings, as they seem to find a balance among
themselves regardless of how awkwardly they are voiced. The brass can generally find a “blend” if most
of the parts is within a reasonable range. It’s the woodwinds that pose all the problems with their
peculiarities of the strengths and weaknesses in their various registers. It is in the woodwinds where an
orchestrator must be most careful. It is also where the greatest creativity can be expressed (please see
“Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy).

In scores today, one often hears solo woodwind instruments—and, particularly ethnic (sampled!) ones.
There is little understanding of how to use woodwinds in predominately brass and string sonorities.
Why? The solo characteristics of winds can be understood and “mixed” in MIDI. Their role in creating
the “image” of the entire orchestral sonority is less understood in the MIDI studio environment.

5. Orchestration is simply assigning instrumental color.

Orchestration is writing “parts”. That is, music for each instrument in the orchestra to play that is
idiomatic to the instrument and express of the musical intention of the composition. And
understanding how that instrument contributes to the whole is what the orchestrator must know. Is the
instrument playing the melody? Is it accompaniment? Is it gentle? Is it forceful? Does it need to be
heard or blend? Or, simply heard and felt by other members of the orchestra?
Texture is the very soul of musical expression. The figures and lines that an orchestra plays is what
guide 90 musicians to achieving a common musical expression.

A good orchestrator knows the very soul of the music she/he is orchestrating and knows what the
parts should be to express the heart of the music. To master orchestration is to master the art of
crafting the appropriate accompaniment.

6. Composer: “I gave you a recording and sequence. That’s all you need. Copy what I’ve done.”

Ah… this is where MIDI always lies. MIDI without the knowledge of the orchestra is simply a “big
organ”. A flute can be as loud as a trumpet. My favorite is when people tell me they’ve sequenced my
orchestrations of John Williams and the woodwinds don’t sound the recording. Why, they ask? Well,
real instruments have real strengths and weaknesses in every register. Each woodwind will project
differently and blend differently with regard to where they are registrally. In MIDI, they are equal, just
like an organ stop. If you know what their relative “strengths and weaknesses” are, one can adjust their
MIDI demos accordingly—and make them sound realistic.

Also, as an aside, if a composer could simply mark up their Quickscribe with articulations and
dynamics, they might be surprised how much better their music is orchestrated.

7. What is orchestration in the film business?

As a dear friend of mine once said: “Orchestration is any job you say “yes” to!”

You need to know many and varied styles; you need to be a “chameleon” to understand the music of
others. In a sense, you are a kind of a “performer”—able to understand and help others, making their
music the best; able to be precise in crafting a score for composers who know exactly what they want
as well as capable of helping composers with problems, helping them to surmount them and to deliver
the very best their music can be.

What kind of composer are you? More, importantly, what kind of composer do you want to become?
But whatever kind of composer you are, you should be able to look the musicians who play your music
in the eye and know that you have served them just as they have served you.

Orchestration and Arranging at Hollywood Music Workshop with Conrad Pope & Nan Schwartz
August 4 - August 10, 2018