My Principles of Orchestration

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The Art of Composing Podcast

Jon Brantingham

13 episodes

9 months ago

Jon Brantingham talks about everything related to music composition, music theory, and creativity, to get you started on the right foot while learning to compose. Discover what you need to be doing to consistently grow as a budding composer, what tips and tricks will make the process a little less painful, and most importantly, what you can do to find your own composing voice. Jon is a composer, music composition teacher, business owner, former Army helicopter pilot, father and husband. He doesn't enjoy long walks on the beach, but instead prefers to jump in and surf. Whether you like to write in a classical or romantic style, like Jon, or you like to write 4 minutes of bleeps and bloops and call that music, or maybe you are a singer-songwriter, the Art of Composing podcast will be your guide to learning the art and craft of music composition.

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My Principles of Orchestration

The Art of Composing Podcast

27 minutes 50 seconds

10 years ago

My Principles of Orchestration

Episode 9 of the Art of Composing Podcast. In this episode, you'll learn some valuable questions to ask yourself before orchestrating anything, and then my technique to efficiently learn the art of orchestration.

What is in this episode:

* Why you shouldn't orchestrate... yet.

* Valuable questions to find out if you are ready for orchestrating your own music.

* My technique for orchestrating your own pieces quickly, efficiently, and without getting overwhelmed.

Listen to the Final Orchestration of Sketchy Business From the Podcast

Download the Score and Sketch Sheet

Here is an example of a descriptive sketch. Notice, just the melody, the chords, and a description of what I want to do.

That is followed with actually sketching ideas. Here is Section 1.

Section 2.

Section 3.

I then turn it into a full score, which you can hear and see below.

Sketchy Business - Score and parts

Sketchy Business - Sketch

Support the Podcast!

Click Here to go to Jon's Patreon page, and support the podcast!

http://patreon.com/artofcomposing

Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:

* The Study of Orchestration (Third Edition)

* Sibelius

* Noteperformer

Transcript

Welcome

Hey everyone, we're back with another art of composing podcast. In this episode, we are going to learn about orchestration. What is it, and why you should or shouldn't be doing it. We are also going to go over, my technique for orchestrating small, practice pieces that sharpen your orchestration skills.

Featured Content

Orchestration, the technique of composing for orchestra is something that everyone needs to eventually learn. But when you are just starting off, I liken it to treasure hunting on the beach. You walk around with a metal detector, (aka your ear), looking for a chest of buried gold from 200 years ago. Turns out, all you find are the occasional bottle cap, maybe a quarter, and a lot of wasted time.

So my first question to you is - why are you orchestrating?

Just like many of you, I attempted to orchestrate pieces of music when I was younger. And I still have those files on my computer. Guess what, they're pretty terrible.

I mean, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself, I was 15 at the time, and I just wanted to copy what I heard from my favorite composers. There is nothing wrong with that desire. But just realize,