How to Write and Orchestrate for Strings

as a composer just starting out do you struggle to write effectively for the string section hi today i'm going to walk you through step by step how to write an orchestrate for a string section such as this [Music] so today i'll concentrate more on the actual orchestration techniques used rather than the composing process check out my recent video five beginner tips for melody writing which details how i wrote the main melody of the piece i'm showing you today whether you're composing using samples or eventually plan to make a recording with players such as a string quartet the techniques i'll show you will work well for any situation involving strings let's start by looking at the individual instruments which make up a typical string section the strings are the largest family in the orchestra and are comprised of four different instruments violins violas cellos and basses it's an incredibly versatile family of instruments being able to play long to stay notes quietly and expressively right up to loud and short staccato aggressive notes like the repeating ostinatos from the batman trilogy soundtrack or the strings from the shower scene in psycho the violins are the highest pitched notes of the string section with their lowest note being g2 which is the g below middle c right up to roughly around e7 in an orchestra as well as chamber ensembles such as the string quartet we'll have two sections of violins the first and seconds an orchestra will have more violins than any other of the stringed instruments with the typical orchestra having around 35 lines split between the first and seconds next we have the violas these are slightly larger than the violins and are typically used to bridge the gap between the violins and the cellos the violas can go down an extra five notes to the c below middle c or c2 right up to the a5 area and are also the only instrument in the orchestra which makes use of the outer clef they have a slightly warmer and richer sound and a typical orchestra would normally have around 12 violas next we have the cellos which operate around the lower end of the string's register a cello can go as low as c1 which is two octaves below middle c right up to the a5 region they often used to play bass lines but can also sound extremely expressive when used to play melodies particularly in the upper register of the instrument again a typical orchestra would have around 10 cellos finally we have the bases which are used to reinforce the low end adding might and power to the sound the double bass can play as low as e0 which is three octaves below middle c and can go up to b flat three which is the b flat above middle c you'd normally expect to see around eight bases in an orchestra in addition to the violins violas jellos and basses a typical orchestra would also have one or two harps whilst not technically part of the normal string section a harps sound is generated by plucking strings so i've included it in this piece the harp has an extremely large range from a c flat zero which is three octaves below middle c right up to g6 so here i have a piece which was written to accompany a video of a love scene i'll walk you through each section of the piece detailing the orchestration techniques used i was lucky enough to have the piece recorded by real string section so that's what you'll hear in this video there are two main musical components which the orchestration is focused around the melody or foreground and then the accompaniment or supporting harmonies which is the background let's take a listen to the first 10 bars [Music] so [Music] okay so the opening here is designed to set the mood for the piece delicate and hopefully romantic in this instruction the first violins have a simple accompaniment of one sustained high pedal note whilst the second violins and violas are playing the melody part in octaves these first three bars are like a question bars four and five are like the response or answer for the answering phrase the melody is passed to the violins to give it more weight whilst the harmony is covered by the violas and cellos this repeats for the next 5 bars with the question and then answer again the 2 4 bar or half bar was added so that the melody which comes in at bar 11 would hit a cut or edit in the love scene the next section is the main melody piece and i cover how i came up with the tune extensively in my previous video five beginner tips for writing a melody here there is a very clear division in the roles of each string instrument the violins have the tune or melody as part of the foreground and the violas cellos and basses who are bringing for the first time for extra weight are playing the accompaniment as the background the harmony is relatively simple making use of triads with the notes split between the vehilers cellos and basses you can see that i've divided both the violas and cellos into two in order to get a spread of four notes giving a richer sound the basses are playing the root note of each chord at the same pitch as the lowest cello note bases are what we call a transposing instrument and so sound an octave lower than written so although this first e is written higher than the low e on the cello line it's actually the same pitch let's take a listen [Music] for the whole melody the first and second violins are playing the same pitches in unison in order to achieve a thicker sound and giving the melody more weight you can see that in bar 16 the violas are also playing a rhythm similar to the main melody but instead of rising like the violins are they're descending having two musical lines moving in opposite directions like this is called contrary motion and is an extremely effective composing and orchestration technique when voicing and orchestrating string chords make sure you don't have notes which are too close together in the lower register otherwise the music could start to sound muddy for the low end of the cello range try to keep notes at least five notes apart from each other notes which are higher in pitch such as the cello notes in bar 13 are okay to have closer together in this case the d and f sharp are a third part dividing harmony in the violas can also be effective when playing in thirds such as the bar 18 here from bars 19 to 27 i've included a contrasting section or b section here the melody falls back to just the first violins for the first four bars with the seconds violas and cellos again playing a simple harmonic accompaniment notice how the basses are not playing for three bars remember you don't have to use all of the string instruments all the time by having an instrument resting it can help to add more impact when they are reintroduced such as in bar 22 here [Music] whilst the violins normally get their fair share in playing melodies in this section i've given the cellos the tune when playing in the upper half of the register the cellos can be extremely expressive and intense for melody writing here you can see the first violins have an extremely high pedal note sustaining throughout the harmonic changes below it this leads to the job of setting out the main harmony to the second violins violas and basses which help to set out the cmaj7 chord the melody is then passed back to the second violins and violas who are playing in unison before the first and second violins then take over the melody in bars 34 and 35. [Music] for the last section of the piece the high sustaining pedal note in the violins returns with the tune split between the second violins and violas playing in unison this leads the cellos and basses to underpin the harmony the music gradually starts increasing in intensity from bar 41 onwards i wanted to achieve a richer warm sound as much as possible so it was time to give the melody back to the violins and then dividing both the violas and challenges into two along with the bass notes to give as large a sound as possible the high point of the piece being bar 44 where the violins are in octaves and the violas cellos and basses are all divided spelling out the chord of b minor the music then resolves to the c major chord from bar 45 before slowly dying away [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now let's take a listen to the whole piece in one go [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so that's a brief introduction into the world of string arranging and orchestrating remember to think clearly in terms of melody or foreground and the complement or background traditionally the violin's job is to play the melody and the violas jellies and basses concentrate on the accompaniment of course these designations can be broken i have got experimenting with the melody in the bases with the violins playing and supporting harmony if you found this video useful make sure you subscribe to the channel for more composing and music theory tips and tricks also if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section below

Channel: Composing Academy

Views: 38,766

Keywords: Arranging for strings, Orchestrating for strings, How to compose for strings, Composing for Strings, How to compose for Strings, Orchestra Arranging, Orchestral Arranging, Orchestration, Strings arranging tutorial, Strings Orchestration Tutorial, String Orchestra, How to write for Strings, Violin, Violins, Viola, Cello, Bass, Harp, Writing for Strings, writing for violins, Beginner Composers, Beginner's guide to composing, Composing, Writing Music, Compose your own music

Id: 7-Yp3qsJoqs

Length: 13min 46sec (826 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 14 2021