Instrumental Thinking — Part I

With the piccolo, we start with the highest instrument in the group of woodwinds. We discuss the ideal range for where to play the initial folksong. Further, example 1a will illustrate the impact of instrumental thinking when you transform a simple folksong into a virtuoso piccolo part, its implications, the application of typical piccolo figures and so on.

We notice here the difference between the piccolo and the flute and the option of changing the key according to the best registers of the flute. Also, the variation for this instrument differs much more than the piccolo's. Some tips are concluded concerning instrumental treatment and compositional tools as well.

The alto flute is not so commonly used in orchestrations or film scores, even in contemporary orchestral literature, but it has an exceptionally beautiful timbre in the low register. Here, we will discover how this characteristic will be translated from our initial folksong into an instrumental version.

With the oboe and later on the English Horn, we arrive at the double reed instruments of the woodwind family. In this lecture, we attempt to optimize the strengths of the staccato-articulation of the oboe into a faster variation with more variation in the use of registers as well.

In this lecture, we discuss the main differences in timbre between an oboe and the English horn.  They are closely related to each other; they both differ in range and register, though.

The clarinet is perhaps the most versatile and flexible instrument among woodwinds. A clarinet in B-flat and A are barely a minor second apart in terms of tessitura, yet there is a world of difference in color and timbre. Playing arpeggios that cross registers, trills, fast runs, staccato playing, all lie well for this instrument.

With the bass clarinet, we have now arrived at the bass instruments in the woodwind family. My preference is very much for the bass clarinet for the same reason as the clarinet, namely the enormous range on the one hand, the flexibility in technique but also the deep, full, round bass tone on the other, which contrasts with the nasal colors of a bassoon.

The second bass instrument that is as important or perhaps more prominent than the bass clarinet, especially in the traditional sense is the bassoon. The bassoon is the second double reed instrument in the woodwind family and is also flexible and interesting for staccato passages because of its double reed. It has a large tessitura, namely the lowest note a B-flat, three octaves and above that even higher notes up to E5, but that is quite exceptional.

Another instrument that captures the imagination is the double bassoon. The double bassoon sounds an octave lower than the tessitura of a bassoon. The variation of the folksong demonstrates more virtuosity by the instrument, and the famous Ravel solo will be shown here as well.

With the trumpet, we enter the second family in the orchestra, the brass instruments. In a traditional symphony orchestra, this usually consists of 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, a bass trombone and a tuba.

The horn is the ultimate orchestral instrument par excellence. It is an enormously versatile instru- ment, has great tessitura and is an ideal instrument for blending between different groups. Both with the woodwinds and the strings, the horn blends excellently.

Among the bass instruments of the brass section, trombones usually consist of a group of three sometimes four trombones, split into three or two tenor trombones and a bass trombone sup- plemented by a tuba.

The tuba is literally and figuratively the heavyweight in the bass section of a large symphony orchestra. It sounds like a foundation in the low register.

The percussion is a very extensive group that we will not cover in full here: I prefer to focus on the instruments most used in the orchestra, namely the melodic percussion. I have focused mainly on the Glockenspiel, tubular bells, vibraphone, marimba, timpani, and a combination of these instruments. Each instrument has its own typical timbre, and I want to explore this mainly through the folk melody.

The vibraphone is less frequently prescribed than a xylophone or a marimba but is still relatively present in modern symphonic orchestral literature, almost standard even in most wind orchestras. It is above all a melodic instrument rather than a percussion instrument or an instrument suitable for rhythmic passages than an instrument for melodic and harmonic coloring.

Among orchestral musicians, the timpanist holds a separate position in the orchestra. The percussionist who plays the timpani may only play timpani. In most symphony orchestras, a timpanist has a standard set of 5 pedal timpani available. Not everything is playable for pedal timpani: stepwise tuning changes are possible with the pedal system, but practical limitations remain.

The harp is an instrument with seven pedals: it has a system where each pedal can be tuned up or down twice. With one pedal change, all the strings of that pitch can be raised or lowered by 1/2 tone.  Essentially, the harp is an accompanying instrument in the orchestra to support or color harmonically, it doesn't come into play much solo. There are famous examples of this, such as the introduction to the Flower Waltz of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite, which is one of the great solo parts for harp.

We can call the strings the soul or beating heart of the symphony orchestra. Why should we consider the strings essential primary in a symphony orchestra? First, because it is not only the largest group but, above all, the most homogeneous group in the orchestra: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses are perfectly matched in construction and timbre, and, because of the way the tones are analogously produced, they can blend fantastically with each other, blend into each other.

With the viola, we end up a fifth lower than model 20a, this setting is now in C aeolian or antique because of the viola's tuning so that we can have the bass note, the tonic on the lowest string resonate as an open string. So, this consideration is in fact purely acoustic and a purely instrumental one, not a compositional one. The phrase is repeated alternately each time in the two registers. Due to the tuning of the instrument, the so-called high register in this version is equivalent to the middle register of the violin but still sounds more rarefied.

The cello is tuned an octave lower than the viola and therefore perhaps the most sonorous instrument among strings, because it has such a variety of diverse-sounding registers. The cello sounds beautiful in all registers, the low depth, the sonorous middle register and then the high subtle singing register: think of Le Cygne from Le Carnaval des animaux by Saint-Saëns and many other pieces.

In this lesson, we discuss the double bass as a solo instrument and as a group as well. Let us dwell for a moment on the double basses as an orchestral group: their supporting bass function with especially the coloring function of the lower notes in the orchestra is essential. Double basses (numbering from 4 to 8 players depending on the size of the orchestra, 6 being a common average number) are mainly responsible for this. The most common playing modes besides arco is tremolo which always gives a menacing effect and even more the pizzicato.

n Part 2, we continue the exploration of instrumental thinking within the different orchestral groups, we go through all groups following the same order and arrangement as in Part 1. There, we covered the solo instrumental variations for each instrument, and we will now explore what kind of musical and compositional interaction occurs when we start combining multiple instruments.