Orchestration Introduction

In this video I’ll take you for a walk in Switzerland and talk about orchestration. A rather difficult topic for many of us. Maybe because you’re not familiar with it yet. Or you have the idea that you need to study it at a music school or university before you know anything about orchestration.

This is an introduction video though. So I won’t go in depth yet. That is something for the upcoming videos. But during my walk down the mountain I do share with you my simple explanation of orchestration. And three tips to get better in orchestration and boost your knowledge about this topic.

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What is orchestration?

In its most simple way orchestration is the art of choosing the instrument(s) that tells your story the best. To make the right decision you need to know something about the instruments in the orchestra. You need to know for instance at what range they like to play. When they naturally sound loud and when they can play pianissimo. What the instruments can do and what they can’t do.

If your goal is to write realistic orchestral music (midi mockups). That your composition once get played by a real orchestra. The knowledge of orchestration is very important. Then you should invest in getting better in it.

If your goal is to write music without being realistic (and that is fine!), orchestration is perhaps less important for you. With the virtual instruments and virtual libraries these days everything is possible. There are no rules. So if you’re looking for a particular sound that isn’t realistic, but does the job for you. Be happy with it!

Tips to get better

In this video I share a couple of tips with you to get better in orchestration.

• listen to a lot of orchestral music (preferably John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith or Alexandre Desplat …)
• let your composition be played by real instruments (maybe you know some people)
• transcribe, transcribe, transcribe!