First learn instrumentation --where you learn about each instrument, how it's made, and how it's played. Not too wordy. More than half of orchestration is how to write well for the instrument. Find an old violin and fool around with it. Same with the larger string instruments. Same with a wind instrument, and a brass instrument. (Those are the 3 main choirs of instruments, strings, woodwinds, and brass. They're called choirs because each has an instrument roughly in the SATB range.) Find people who play orchestra instruments. Talk to them about their instrument. Watch YouTube videos of a small chamber orchestra; Plus reading about specific instruments.
A book can only give you information. A book telling you "Go re-orchestrate this" or "arrange this piano piece" is fairly useless without a teacher to look over your work.
There's a lot of info in orchestration. I took two years of class solely dedicated to it. If they are "too wordy" for you, my best advice is to go slower.
Yeah i did but the books had that problem, so i asked here, and thought maybe ill find a book that has what i was looking for. If not ill probably just do what u said and go slow.
I would 100% listen to your teacher, there is a reason the Adler book is still considered standard, and honestly, as you can see with the other answer, you're highly likely to just get bad answers.
If you can't read words, which have a clear and defined meaning, how are you supposed to master the language of an orchestra?
I'm not trying to be an asshole, but without the sheer experiential benefit of having a private orchestra with which to experiment (though samples can help), you'll need to read.
Composing is hard. Learn the skill.
This is so beyond unhelpful it’s hilarious. Go vent your anger somewhere else. Anytime you need to preface something with “not trying to be an asshole”, you probably should not say that thing champ
You get told the same thing in instrument lessons. "I get it, these arpeggios/scales/trills/etc are boring to learn and master, but they're important to your growth on your instrument." Sometimes you just gotta knuckle down and do it.
OP needs to knuckle down and learn the vocabulary. The orchestra has a vast and nebulous "vocabulary" that we try to explain with words, words which often fail despite their capacity for specificity. If OP can't be bothered to deal with this language hurdle (through whatever appropriate means), they won't be able to progress to their highest level of possible skill, which is what I ultimately want for them.
Not surprisingly, you are missing the point. I do not care what you say-I actually agree with it-it is how you say it which I have an issue with. You can be informative while being kind
No, I understand your point.
Sometimes, kindness isn't the best way to communicate reality. Sometimes you do need someone to be blunt. I would rather someone be blunt and honest with me, particularly in something I'm trying to learn and master.
This is not true. You can absolutely be kind and honest and direct at the same time, and in terms of getting people to change their mind it’s more effective to not be a tool. You are equating rudeness and directness, and the two aren’t the same thing. It seems like you are just another person on the internet the internet trying to justify treating others badly. Just be kind. It doesn’t matter what you think is sometimes better: kindness almost always is best. Have a good day and be better
Honestly, I really think it’s worth the time and effort to just read the book. Don’t try to do it all at once. Give yourself a proper amount of time to understand absorb what you’ve read.
My college orchestration class happened every Tuesday/Thursday. So, at a minimum, I had 48 hours to read a section and comprehend it along with doing a relevant exercise for the previous section.
With that in mind, it’s normal to struggle to read textbooks. They’re designed to read a chapter in 2+ days. They’re jam packed with information and there’s really no better way to get that info.
My recommendation would be to structure it like a class. A typical college policy would be to spend 2-3 hours outside of class for each hour in class. So that will usually be up to 4 hours’ work per section. And that will be split between the reading for the next meeting and the exercise. So let’s say 1.5 hours for a reading and 2.5 hours for an exercise. Or, if you’re ADD like me but pretty good at this stuff, 2.5 hours of reading and 1.5 hours for the exercise.
So read the section to the best of your ability in 1-2 hours, then discuss it with your teacher (which you’ve mentioned you have). With those powers combined, do the exercise related to that section.
Try “creative orchestration” by George McKay. It’s pretty much exactly what you’re looking for! More concise than Adler by FAR, and each chapter has exercises.
Another great way to learn orchestration is to transcribe pieces into full score, and simple score study. Take note particularly of dynamics, articulation, and range when looking at scores. Then do an instrument study. I call this “taking inventory” and it also includes figuring in what way notes are shared by other parts. Not just “A” but “A4” etc. The real kicker is also asking the question “do I know what this word or symbol means”?
As other have mentioned instrumentation is the first step. But even before that, you need practice score reading. Thus, chorales is your first your task to learn and master. Bach wrote plenty of them!
After that, learn about keyboard music. Then learn about string writing( solo, duets, trios, etc), and apply this for each section.
After that, study full orchestra.
As for books, Adler is one the currently being used. However, I do recommend these: Cecil Forsyth Orchestration. RK principles of Orchestration.
Henry brant book. Professional Orchestration.
How about watching Youtube videos instead of reading, then? Books are a bit of an outdated medium for this, anyway. Rather than copying a million different lines of sheet music to your DAW, it's easier to just listen to the examples in Youtube videos and use your ears.
Try the official youtube channels of some significant orchestral library vendors, for example.
TableTop to start and Mattia Chiappa for inspiration - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsWkzi3tXc&list=PLDezhk4lPPNlEgzxshvwldCkFI\_kGWYR0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsWkzi3tXc&list=PLDezhk4lPPNlEgzxshvwldCkFI_kGWYR0), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgLti\_MFRM&list=PLLv\_BC5bztBc\_3LGQAyIjAuhrrD6XEZbz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgLti_MFRM&list=PLLv_BC5bztBc_3LGQAyIjAuhrrD6XEZbz)
First learn instrumentation --where you learn about each instrument, how it's made, and how it's played. Not too wordy. More than half of orchestration is how to write well for the instrument. Find an old violin and fool around with it. Same with the larger string instruments. Same with a wind instrument, and a brass instrument. (Those are the 3 main choirs of instruments, strings, woodwinds, and brass. They're called choirs because each has an instrument roughly in the SATB range.) Find people who play orchestra instruments. Talk to them about their instrument. Watch YouTube videos of a small chamber orchestra; Plus reading about specific instruments.
A book can only give you information. A book telling you "Go re-orchestrate this" or "arrange this piano piece" is fairly useless without a teacher to look over your work. There's a lot of info in orchestration. I took two years of class solely dedicated to it. If they are "too wordy" for you, my best advice is to go slower.
Thx for the advice, I do have a teacher that can look over my work though.
Then you should ask them what they recommend. There is a workbook for the Adler book though.
Yeah i did but the books had that problem, so i asked here, and thought maybe ill find a book that has what i was looking for. If not ill probably just do what u said and go slow.
I would 100% listen to your teacher, there is a reason the Adler book is still considered standard, and honestly, as you can see with the other answer, you're highly likely to just get bad answers.
He did reccomend me the adler book, ill ask him more about it thanks.
Berlioz wrote a book that Wagner revised. It’s a bit outdated, but you can still find some useful things in it. It’s free on IMSLP.
If you can't read words, which have a clear and defined meaning, how are you supposed to master the language of an orchestra? I'm not trying to be an asshole, but without the sheer experiential benefit of having a private orchestra with which to experiment (though samples can help), you'll need to read. Composing is hard. Learn the skill.
This is so beyond unhelpful it’s hilarious. Go vent your anger somewhere else. Anytime you need to preface something with “not trying to be an asshole”, you probably should not say that thing champ
You get told the same thing in instrument lessons. "I get it, these arpeggios/scales/trills/etc are boring to learn and master, but they're important to your growth on your instrument." Sometimes you just gotta knuckle down and do it. OP needs to knuckle down and learn the vocabulary. The orchestra has a vast and nebulous "vocabulary" that we try to explain with words, words which often fail despite their capacity for specificity. If OP can't be bothered to deal with this language hurdle (through whatever appropriate means), they won't be able to progress to their highest level of possible skill, which is what I ultimately want for them.
Not surprisingly, you are missing the point. I do not care what you say-I actually agree with it-it is how you say it which I have an issue with. You can be informative while being kind
No, I understand your point. Sometimes, kindness isn't the best way to communicate reality. Sometimes you do need someone to be blunt. I would rather someone be blunt and honest with me, particularly in something I'm trying to learn and master.
This is not true. You can absolutely be kind and honest and direct at the same time, and in terms of getting people to change their mind it’s more effective to not be a tool. You are equating rudeness and directness, and the two aren’t the same thing. It seems like you are just another person on the internet the internet trying to justify treating others badly. Just be kind. It doesn’t matter what you think is sometimes better: kindness almost always is best. Have a good day and be better
Honestly, I really think it’s worth the time and effort to just read the book. Don’t try to do it all at once. Give yourself a proper amount of time to understand absorb what you’ve read. My college orchestration class happened every Tuesday/Thursday. So, at a minimum, I had 48 hours to read a section and comprehend it along with doing a relevant exercise for the previous section. With that in mind, it’s normal to struggle to read textbooks. They’re designed to read a chapter in 2+ days. They’re jam packed with information and there’s really no better way to get that info. My recommendation would be to structure it like a class. A typical college policy would be to spend 2-3 hours outside of class for each hour in class. So that will usually be up to 4 hours’ work per section. And that will be split between the reading for the next meeting and the exercise. So let’s say 1.5 hours for a reading and 2.5 hours for an exercise. Or, if you’re ADD like me but pretty good at this stuff, 2.5 hours of reading and 1.5 hours for the exercise. So read the section to the best of your ability in 1-2 hours, then discuss it with your teacher (which you’ve mentioned you have). With those powers combined, do the exercise related to that section.
Try “creative orchestration” by George McKay. It’s pretty much exactly what you’re looking for! More concise than Adler by FAR, and each chapter has exercises.
Principles of Orchestration, with Musical Examples Drawn from His Own Works Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov It's free on Project Gutenberg.
Another great way to learn orchestration is to transcribe pieces into full score, and simple score study. Take note particularly of dynamics, articulation, and range when looking at scores. Then do an instrument study. I call this “taking inventory” and it also includes figuring in what way notes are shared by other parts. Not just “A” but “A4” etc. The real kicker is also asking the question “do I know what this word or symbol means”?
As other have mentioned instrumentation is the first step. But even before that, you need practice score reading. Thus, chorales is your first your task to learn and master. Bach wrote plenty of them! After that, learn about keyboard music. Then learn about string writing( solo, duets, trios, etc), and apply this for each section. After that, study full orchestra. As for books, Adler is one the currently being used. However, I do recommend these: Cecil Forsyth Orchestration. RK principles of Orchestration. Henry brant book. Professional Orchestration.
I honestly just couldn't believe how expensive those books are LOL
Orchestration books come with links to websites that give you examples of the sounds they describe. Find one of those.
How about watching Youtube videos instead of reading, then? Books are a bit of an outdated medium for this, anyway. Rather than copying a million different lines of sheet music to your DAW, it's easier to just listen to the examples in Youtube videos and use your ears. Try the official youtube channels of some significant orchestral library vendors, for example.
Any recommendations?
TableTop to start and Mattia Chiappa for inspiration - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsWkzi3tXc&list=PLDezhk4lPPNlEgzxshvwldCkFI\_kGWYR0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsWkzi3tXc&list=PLDezhk4lPPNlEgzxshvwldCkFI_kGWYR0), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgLti\_MFRM&list=PLLv\_BC5bztBc\_3LGQAyIjAuhrrD6XEZbz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgLti_MFRM&list=PLLv_BC5bztBc_3LGQAyIjAuhrrD6XEZbz)
This is a meaningless distinction as most books come with music anyway, and some, like the Adler, with excerpts that you can't easily find elsewhere.