Skip to main content

How to Build Your Own Instrumentation

Building your own instrumentation is a process called orchestration. In orchestration, you learn how to combine instruments to create a desired sound or effect. While the study of orchestration is an in-depth concept to address, there are some basic techniques that can make your building of instrumentation more effective. The key is to knowing the effect you want to create with your music and the types of instrument combinations available.

Step 1

Learn about the instruments available in the different instrument families. Brass instruments include trumpets, trombones, horns and tubas. Woodwinds include flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. Percussion instruments are any sort of instrument that is hit or struck with a stick or mallet. Strings include violins, violas, cellos and basses.

Step 2

Decide on the type of sound you want for your music. If you desire a majestic sound, use brass instruments. For a light and colorful sound, select woodwinds. For loud, rhythmic pieces, use percussion instruments, and for music that is highly sustained and with a wide note range, choose strings. You also can combine different instrument groups to create a custom sound.

Step 3

Build your instrumentation by using the appropriate number of instruments for the task. An orchestra will have many more instruments than a chamber group. A rock band or woodwind ensemble typically only will have one instrument per part, and brass ensembles typically will have several players per part. Study the different types of ensembles to get a feel for the proportions of instruments needed in each ensemble.

Step 4

Learn how instruments work in combination with each other. When a string instrument blends with a woodwind instrument, the two types of instruments will take on each others characteristics. An oboe in conjunction with a violin will have the combined sound of a continuous sound mixed with a nasal, grainy quality. Take an orchestration and instrumentation course to learn about the several instruments available.

Step 5

Include instruments from each octave range to ensure you will have a full sound capable of playing from low to high. For example, use a violin, viola, cello and bass in a string piece. For brass pieces, you would use a trumpet, trombone, horn and tuba, and for woodwinds, you also would want to include one of each instrument. If you want everything to be high or low, then use instruments from that range.

Step 6

Learn how different instruments sound together. Brass instruments generally do not blend well with other instruments except for saxophones; whereas, woodwinds and strings blend extremely well together.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Stories: The Power of Audiation in Music Composition

Happy Sunday! Today, let’s explore the transformative power of audiation in music composition and share an inspiring story about a composer who mastered this skill. Audiation, the ability to hear and understand music in your mind, is a crucial tool for composers, enabling them to bring their musical ideas to life with greater detail and precision. What is Audiation? Audiation is the process of hearing and comprehending music in your mind without any external sound. It is similar to thinking in a language, where you can understand and manipulate words and sentences internally.  For composers, audiation is an essential skill that allows them to imagine, develop, and refine their musical ideas before they are played or written down 1 . The Benefits of Audiation for Composers 1. Enhanced Musical Understanding Audiation helps composers develop a deeper understanding of music. By hearing and analyzing music internally, they can grasp the relationships between different musical elements, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music

Music has evolved through the centuries and undergone drastic changes. One of the most significant transitions was from the Baroque to the Classical period of music. In this paragraph, I will compare and contrast some of the main features of these two styles, such as ensembles, instrumentation, and counterpoint study. The Baroque and Classical periods of music have many similarities. While the style of music changed drastically, certain key elements remained the same between the two styles. Composers in the Classical period sought to simplify music and create clearly audible musical lines. In contrast, composers from the Baroque period were interested in creating complex and highly ornamented musical lines. The Baroque period occurs from approximately 1600 to 1750, and the Classical period extends from 1750 to 1820. Ensembles Ensembles are groups of musicians that perform together. Both the Baroque and the Classical period had similar types of ensembles, such as operas, orchestras, str...
Post a Comment
Read more

List of Musical Techniques and Their Meanings

Musical techniques are the building blocks of any basic music training. These techniques allow performers to improve their coordination and develop accuracy through repetitive daily exercises. Musical techniques progressively build upon previously learned techniques. Scales Scales form the basis for other musical techniques. Student may study major and minor scales as well as modern scales, such as the whole-tone and octatonic scales. A scale consists of patterns of half steps and whole steps. These whole steps and half-step arrangements will be different for each scale. Scales are musical techniques that can help a performer to play faster and more accurately, and make learning new pieces easier. Chords Chords require knowledge of major and minor scales. Chords come in several different forms that affect the sound. Triads consist of three notes spaced a third apart and classified as major, minor, augmented and diminished chords. Seventh chords build on triads and have an additional no...
Post a Comment
Read more