Challenge your ears

This is a serious ear challenge 🙂 Can you recognise the orchestral instruments from the three examples I prepared for this video? Try it and share your scores with us in the comments (here or on Youtube)!

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Why a listening challenge?

In the first video about orchestration I mentioned transcribing film scores. A great activity to boost your knowledge and skills on orchestration. But I know it is also a difficult and hard one.

Transcribing scores all start with the capability of recognising the orchestral instruments within a music track. Which instruments are playing? What are the doing? Do they play a melody line, or chords, rhythmic stuff, bass lines or textures.

So I thought an ear challenge would be nice to start with. I prepared three examples and I challenge you: are you able to recognise all the instruments? We do a solo instrument, doubles and triples!

What will I learn?

This ‘simple’ listening challenge is more about listening alone. Yes, you train your ears and the more you do this, the better you’ll be at this. But it also gives you valuable insight of which combination of instruments work out well.

For example, think in terms of complementary to each other or creating contrast. If you know the combinations, you can use that in your composition and benefit from it!

Tips to get better in orchestration

• listen to a lot of orchestral film music (preferably John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith or Alexandre Desplat …)
• listen and study work from Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjajkovski, Ravel and Stravinsky
• let your composition be played by real instruments (maybe you know some people)
• transcribe, transcribe, transcribe!

Buy the book Principles of Orchestration from Rimsky Korsakov on Amazon.

Download scores for free on: https://imslp.org