Chapter 14
Composing for the
Standard Orchestra
In This Chapter
Discussing transposition
Exploring the ranges of transposing instruments
Checking out the ranges of non-transposing instruments
Making instruments make the sounds you want
W
ouldn’t it be nice to have an entire live ensemble on hand, at all times,
to play their bits in your compositions as you write them? Well, most
likely that’s not going to happen. Most, if not all, of the times when inspira-
tion hits, you’re going to be all alone, and you’re just going to have to figure
out on your own what parts of your composition the violins should play, or
the horns, or whether you should limit your composition to only one or two
instruments.Musicians that work with synthesizers and MIDI as their primary composi-
tion tools can easily fall into the trap of believing that what they’re playing on
the keyboard in front of them is easily replicable on live instruments, or with
a live singer’s vocals. You need to take a lot into account when writing for
multiple live instruments and their players — such as allotting time for horn
players to take a breath between phrases, the hand-span of a bass or guitar
player, the range of a singer’s voice — and if you don’t take these factors into
account, you’re going to end up with a very frustrated group of musicians.Concert Pitch and Transposition ...............................................................
There is a reason why the piano is such a well-loved composition tool. Not
only do the 88 keys of the piano contain virtually all the notes you will ever
need to create a solid foundation for a full orchestral piece, but the entire
piano is tuned to what is called concert pitch. Concert pitchsimply means
that when you hit a C note on the piano, you are actually playing a C. If you