Part I. Commonly-used arranging techniques. Introduction: Arranging is about much more than deciding who plays what when. It is both a technical and artistic undertaking. The arranger must combine their artistic vision for the piece with the practical realities of instrument ranges, dynamics, breathing, and player skill. Principles / goals: Create a piece that is fun and appropriately challenging to play and conduct, that gives every instrument / family a chance to shine, and that helps the audience appreciate the translation of the music from the video game screen to the concert hall.

A. Interleaving. As one line ends, the new one begins. Creates a more seamless feeling.

“FF1 Prelude,” my arrangement, m. 5-6

“Warring Kingdoms,” Orchestral piece by me, m. 40-42

B. Lay down a “bass line” in weaker instruments then bring in the big guns. This way when the more complex or simply loud stuff enters, the underlying music is still in the listener’s

consciousness in a way it might not be if the treble and bass lines came in together.

Gustav Holst, “Mars,” opening bars

C. Punctuation: During tutti passages (that is, when everyone is playing), give everyone their own space in some way. Consider register, rhythm, and counterpoint.

Berlioz, “Symphonie Fantastique: Marche au Supplice,” m. 91-92

D. Doubling is when two (or more) instruments have the exact same line.

1. Certain cross-family doublings are common and useful. Violin and flute is a big one. Trumpet, with flutes an octave above, can be very effective. French horn and a single wind instrument. Bassoon and cello. Piano can double with almost any other single instrument, but see my doc about effective piano writing.

2. Do not have all the low instruments play the exact same bass line. In many GSO

scores we’ve performed, the electric bass, cellos, LH piano, tuba, and even trombones are all doing the exact same thing (in octaves). This means only the loudest instruments can be heard. A better solution is to either have the low instruments trade off (see below), or use some of them to punctuate the others.

E. Restating or repeating a theme or phrase with new orchestration. There are basically

three options for how to do this: (1) two very different orchestrations but at basically the same thickness (all brass play the theme, followed by all winds), (2) thick to thin, or (3) thin to thick.

FF1 Prelude, m. 17-24 of my arrangement

Highly highly recommended: Aaron Copland, "Appalachian Spring: Simple Gifts"; the melody repeats five times; each one with very different orchestrations, both thin and thick.

F. Accompanying a solo instrument: no single instrument, no matter how powerful, can cut through the power of the full orchestra. Try structuring soloistic passages as a dialogue between the soloist and either the orchestra as a whole or subgroups.

Alban Berg, "Violin Concerto," opening bars In this score, the “piano” part is a reduction of the rest of the orchestra. Observe how it trades off the same line with the violin soloist. While the soloist is actually playing, the orchestra is moving much more slowly, so as not to draw attention away from where it belongs.

Beethoven, "Violin Concerto," 1st movement, m. 114-121

In measures 114 and 115, the soloist (“Vl. pr.,” short for “Violine principale”) has a very active, jumping figure, while the orchestral strings either hold half notes or have a very simple bass line. Beginning in measure 116, the violin begins a long, dazzling sixteenth-note phrase, while the other strings become even less active. Then, on the downbeat of measure 118, the soloist reaches a conclusion, while at the same time the clarinets and bassoons (“Fg.”) begin a new melody of their own. Part II. Score preparation.

Introduction: My orchestration teacher in college told our class that you should expect to spend as much time on the layout and editing of a piece as you do writing or arranging it. Editing is fully 50% of the process, and 50% of the effort. Principles / goals: Show players and conductors your respect for their time, energy, and enthusiasm by giving them music that is clear and appealing, and that contains no ambiguity. A. Phrase markings, aka “slurs,” and articulations are really important for all music.

1. Different for strings! While slurs often correspond to phrases of music, for string players slurs specifically indicate when to change the bow. In particular, this means that a slur cannot include any repeated notes.

2. Make sure you really think about where phrases begin and end.

B. Articulations: Slurs and articulations are not mutually exclusive, especially tenuto markings. However, unslurred music should almost always have some sort of articulation. Exception: pizzicato strings. Do not mark pizzicato notes as staccato; this is confusing and redundant.

You can combine articulations to the degree that it makes sense to; accented staccato notes are pretty common, for example. Accented tenuto is rarer but possible; tenuto staccato is just silly. C. Dynamics: Dynamic changes should be relatively dramatic. Don’t put in a two-measure crescendo just to go from mf to f.

1. In general, try to change at least two levels any time you have a dynamic change. Exception: if you have a long crescendo or decrescendo, putting in the intermediate dynamics can be beneficial.

2. Dynamics and hairpins for singers go above the staff, although on the conductor’s score

they should be below, for uniformity’s sake, in my opinion.

3. Not everyone should have the same dynamic. However, be aware that simply giving a louder instrument a softer dynamic is not a substitute for good orchestration.

D. Beaming: If in doubt, show every beat. In 4/4 time, you can get away with “hiding” beats 2 and/or 4, but you must clearly show where the middle of the measure is (beat 3).

1. If writing in an unusual time like 5/4 or 7/4, decide on the subdivision and show that

clearly in the beaming. 3+2 should look different than 2+3:

2. If writing in compound time (6/8 or 12/8, usually), you must be doubly careful of all these

principles, for both played notes and rests. A full beat is a dotted quarter note!

3. Staccato and pizzicato notes don’t need to have short rhythmic values. This is particularly important in compound time. If you’re in 6/8 and want to have an instrument play a staccato note lasting one beat, do not put a quarter note followed by an eigthh rest, or an eighth note followed by a quarter rest. Just put a dotted quarter with a staccato over it. Any other way introduces needless reading difficulty.

4. Furthermore, an eighth note, followed by a sixteenth rest, followed by a sixteenth note, is sonically indistinguishable from a dotted eighth followed by a sixteenth. But the former is harder to read, while the latter is easy.

E. Accidentals and spelling. There are four main rules:

1. Do not write both the natural and sharp or flat version of a note in the same measure, if avoidable. So, rather than G and G-flat, use G and F-sharp. Differently named notes are easier to distinguish visually.

2. In minor keys, remember that the 7th step of the scale will usually be raised a half-step. Yes, you still have to write the accidental every time.

3. Courtesy accidentals are a good idea. Yes, it’s true that notes revert back to their “native” form after a measure. But if you have a measure where E is flatted, in a C major piece, then in the next measure the player will appreciate the reminder: E is now natural again.

The natural sign in m. 33 can be in parentheses if you want.

4. Avoid double sharps and double flats, unless doing so would violate rule #1 or #2.

F. Making good parts

1. Avoid crashes. Nothing should be on top of anything else.

2. Make them big enough to read, but avoid individual players’ parts going above two pages if possible. If you do have page turns, try to make them happen during rests.

3. Put in cues! Copy and paste a bit of prominent music just before someone returns from a

long rest. Make it small and label it as a cue otherwise people will play.

4. Conductor’s score. a. Make sure all the staves are in the proper order. By family, descending: winds,

brass, percussion, rhythm section, choir, strings. Within each family, high to low. b. Most conductors prefer transposing instruments to be in their natural

transpositions. That is, what the conductor sees is also what the player sees. (Not doing this can also cause huge ledger line problems with, for example, the bari and tenor saxes.)

c. Cannot be too tiny. You may want to hide empty staves to save room. Conductor’s score should be laid out for 8.5” by 14” paper; 8.5” by 11” is simply too small. I say this based on my experience with Banjo Kazooie.

d. COMBINE PARTS. There should not be two separate staves for flutes 1 and 2, two for clarinets, etc. (The only exceptions are Violin I and Violin II, and if we get three more horn players; in that case the horns will split into two “lows” and two “highs.”) Make sure that non-unison parts are readable; if they are moving at different rhythms, then the stems need to point in opposite directions.

e. The above principle especially applies to percussion. Do not create a separate staff for each percussion instrument you want in your piece! Just indicate when a given player changes instruments (this may mean changing the clef as well).

f. You must have ABSOLUTE CONSISTENCY between the conductor’s score and the parts! Do not extract parts until you are sure that you are done with all of the above steps of editing.