Idiot's Guides - Music Theory

by Michael Miller

  With a few exceptions, instruments not listed here are nontransposing—that is, what they play sounds exactly as written, in concert pitch. The best example of a nontransposing instrument is the piano; you read middle C, you play middle C, the piano sounds middle C—no transposing necessary.

  What does all this mean in terms of actual transposition? The next table details how each type of instrument transposes each of the possible concert keys. The key listed for each instrument is the key that you write for that instrument in order to sound the concert key. (For example, for the concert key of C, you would write a B♭ instrument in the key of D, an E♭ instrument in the key of A, and an F instrument in the key of G.)

  Concert Key Transpositions

  When you write a part for a transposing instrument, you do all the transposing up front, by changing the key of the piece. That is, you don’t transpose each and every note individually; the transposition is done by shifting the key signature for the transposing instrument. For example, if a composition is in the concert key of C Major, you would write the trumpet part in D Major.

  As you learned in Chapter 14, all of today’s music notation programs will automatically perform this transposition for you, saving you the trouble of transposing all the instruments manually. With a program like Finale or Sibelius, you can write the entire piece in concert pitch and then have the program create individual output in the instruments’ transposed pitch. Easy!

  Good Keys and Bad Keys

  Because of the need to transpose the nonconcert key instruments, you can end up with some instruments reading a whole bunch of sharps and flats, which of course is problematic. For example, the concert key of A has three sharps, and is relatively easy for nontransposing instruments to read. But for B♭ instruments, such as trumpets, the transposed key is B, which has five sharps and is a bear to read. For that reason, you probably want to avoid composing in the concert key of A—unless you want to give your trumpet section a real workout!

  In general, you want to arrange things so no instrument is reading more than three sharps or flats. Taking this challenge into account, the following table shows the best—and the worst—keys to compose in.

  Good and Bad Concert Keys

  Good Keys

  Acceptable Keys

  Bad Keys

  E♭

  C

  D♭

  F

  G

  D

  B♭

  A♭

  E

  G♭

  A

  B

  Each instrument has its own playable range, and it’s important to know the lowest and highest notes possible for each instrument. To that end, check out the table of instrument ranges online at idiotsguides.com/musictheory—you’ll use it!

  Choosing Instruments for an Arrangement

  Knowing how each instrument sounds (and is written) is just the first step in the study of orchestration. What’s more important is using that information to create your own compositions and arrangements.

  When composing or arranging a piece, one of the first things you need to do is determine for what instruments you’re writing. A piece written for solo bassoon and piano accompaniment will sound quite different from one written for full symphonic orchestra. The characteristics and range of each instrument will influence the music you write. Conversely, the sounds you hear in your head will help determine the instruments you choose to write for.

  This is why it’s so very important to have fixed in your mind how each instrument sounds—both generally and across various parts of its range. If you have a particular sound in your head, you should be able to choose which instrument(s) can best produce that sound—or, in some instances, which combinations of instruments can do the job.

  For example, you might know what a flute sounds like, and you might know what a flugelhorn sounds like, but do you know what they sound like when played together? It’s actually a quite interesting sound, especially when they’re played in unison. (They sound a little different when they’re playing together in harmony, but still interesting.) Or how about paring a trombone in its high range with a cello? Or a baritone sax with a bassoon? Or a violin with a French horn? Or a piccolo with a xylophone?

  You get the point. There’s an entire world of musical colors out there for you to choose from, if you know how to choose.

  And after you’ve chosen your instruments, you need to know how to best use those instruments within your composition. There are various ways to voice a saxophone section, for example, which produce entirely different sounds. Voice the saxes in nice open thirds, and you have a lyrical quality that sounds good in ballads and slow passages. Voice them in tighter blocks, and you get a buoyant sound that’s good for fast passages.

  I can’t teach you all the possible combinations of instruments, or how to best use each combination—at least not in this book. For that, you have to embark on your own personal study of orchestration. It’s definitely worth the effort.

  Common Ensembles

  Although you can compose and arrange for any combination of instruments and voices you like, you’re likely to run into certain established ensembles over the course of your musical career. When asked to compose a piece for orchestra or string quartet, it helps to know precisely what instruments are involved—and how they’re used.

  For that reason, we’ll look at a half-dozen or so of the most popular instrumental and vocal ensembles. Read on to learn more.

  Choir

  A choir can contain singers of any level of expertise, and can embrace music from a variety of genres, from the classical repertoire to the latest pop hits. Of course, to be accurate, there isn’t a single ensemble type called “choir”; there are actually many different types of vocal ensembles for which you can arrange. Some of the more popular forms include:

  Trio. A vocal trio is just what it says—three voices. In the classical genre, trio music is typically written for female voices (soprano, second soprano, and alto), although trios in pop music can consist of all female, all male, or mixed voices.

  Quartet. A quartet is a four-voice ensemble. In classical music (and some pop and jazz) the breakdown is standard SATB—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Of course, you can have all-female or all-male quartets, like those in barbershop quartets. But the mixed-voice quartet is the most popular.

  Chamber choir. A chamber choir is a small choir, normally with 12 to 24 singers, typically performing repertoire from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There are also some modern chamber choirs that sing everything from Renaissance music to jazz.

  Madrigal choir. Another common vocal chamber group is the madrigal choir. The madrigal is a form of choral music that was popular in Europe primarily in the sixteenth century. It is usually sung a cappella.

  Swing choir. A so-called swing or show choir is a mid-sized, mixed-voice ensemble that performs various types of popular music, from Broadway show tunes to the latest pop songs. (This is the type of choir seen in the TV show Glee.) Swing choirs typically have a full rhythm section accompaniment—piano, bass, drums, and sometimes guitar.

  Large choirs. This is the traditional large choir or chorus, encompassing everything from junior high or high school choirs to church choirs to community choirs and beyond. These choirs can be of any size and composition—while mixed-voice is most common, there are also many popular all-male and all-female choruses.

  To make it simple, a high school or adult mixed-voice ensemble typically has four voice parts—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. (Occasionally, each of these parts are split, so that you have first and second soprano, first and second alto, and so on.) Women’s choirs have three or four voice parts: soprano I, soprano II, alto I, and alto II (optional). And men’s choirs have three or four voice parts: tenor I, tenor II (optional), baritone, and bass.

  TIP

  When arranging for voices, remember that singers need to breathe. (So, for that matter, do woodwind and brass players.) Don’t tie to
gether four whole notes at a slow tempo, or the singers might pass out trying to make it to the end of a phrase. Try to arrange natural breathing places at the ends of phrases, and don’t hesitate to insert a short rest after a few long notes.

  Symphonic Orchestra

  The modern orchestra is a very large ensemble. It’s not necessary to have every instrument playing at all times, but you still have a large number of instruments to choose from for your orchestral arrangements.

  A full symphonic orchestra can include virtually every instrument available, including a complete complement of strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. It’s all hands on board, with multiple instances of most instruments, especially in the string sections.

  The traditional orchestral string section consists of first and second violins, a single viola section, a cello section, and a section of double basses. In a large orchestra, you may have as many as 16 first violins, 14 second violins, 12 violas, 10 cellos, and 8 basses. Smaller orchestras use a similar ratio between sections, but with fewer individual instruments to start with—such as an 8-7-6-5-4 mix.

  Woodwinds have an important but limited role in the modern orchestra. Orchestral instrumentation typically includes piccolo, first and second flute, first and second oboe, English horn, first and second B♭ clarinet, bass clarinet, first and second bassoon, and contrabassoon. (Note the total absence of the saxophone family.)

  The orchestral brass section is actually quite large, at least in number of parts. Typical orchestral instrumentation includes four French horn parts, three trumpets, three trombones, and a single tuba. You may have one or two instruments per part—although one instrument per part is most common.

  The orchestral percussion section includes a wide variety of instruments played by a small number of players; a single player typically plays multiple instruments, as the piece requires. Common orchestral percussion includes timpani, a range of mallet instruments (orchestra bells, chimes, xylophone, marimba, sometimes vibraphone), traditional percussion (snare drum, bass drum, suspended and crash cymbals), and a variety of hand percussion (sleigh bells, finger cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and so forth).

  By the way, the symphonic orchestra is used for more than just symphonies. Many film and television soundtracks employ full orchestras, as do some videogame scores; some rock bands even call in an orchestra to fill things out on occasion. Because of all the instruments available, the orchestra is perhaps the most versatile type of instrumental ensemble available, and worthy of your studies.

  TIP

  On a symphonic score (discussed in Chapter 21), the instruments are displayed in the following top-to-bottom order: woodwinds, brass, percussion, special instruments (like piano or harp), and, finally, strings.

  Chamber Orchestra

  A chamber orchestra is a stripped-down version of the full symphonic orchestra, typically playing chamber music in smaller halls. The typical chamber orchestra employs a small string section (first and second violin, viola, and cello), a handful of woodwinds and brass (flute, oboe, B♭ clarinet, bassoon, French horn, and trumpet), and the occasional piano and timpani. Chamber orchestras typically have fewer musicians on each part. Instead of an entire section of violins, for example, there might only be one or two violinists on each part.

  NOTE

  Note the addition of the piano to the chamber orchestra (between the timpani and the strings); the piano is infrequently used in the full orchestra.

  String Orchestra

  A string orchestra is simply the five primary instruments of the string section (first violin, second violin, viola, cello, and double bass), sometimes accompanied by a piano. There are no brass, woodwind, or percussion instruments in this ensemble.

  String Quartet

  Another common ensemble in both classical and contemporary music is the string quartet. As the name implies, this is a grouping of four string instruments (one each—no doubling per part): first and second violin, viola, and cello. (There’s no bass in a string quartet.)

  Concert Band

  A concert band is less like a marching band and more like an orchestra without the strings. A typical concert band contains virtually all the brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments from the larger orchestra, but more of them—and with saxophones added. Just no strings.

  The concert band repertoire is symphonic in nature, like an orchestra, and the instruments play much the same roles as they do in orchestral works. You typically find multiple parts per section, and multiple players per part. There might be a little more use of the percussion section in a band arrangement, too, compared to the traditional orchestra.

  TIP

  Since concert and marching bands don’t have strings, you can tailor your arrangements for woodwind and brass instruments. That means selecting keys that are “band-friendly”—that is, keys that are easy to play for all the horn players, such as concert F, B♭, E♭, and A♭. You should avoid sharp keys, as well as keys with more than four flats.

  Marching Band

  Then there’s the marching band, which has similar instrumentation to a concert band, minus the following instruments: oboe, English horn, bassoon, alto clarinet, cornet, and bass trombone. The percussion section is also different, with a lot more snare drums and bass drums and crash cymbals, less hand percussion, and (in many cases) a separate “pit” with nonmobile instruments, such as timpani, xylophones, and the like.

  That said, there’s really no such thing as a “standard” marching band these days. A band from a small school might have fewer than 20 members; a “pep” band organized for high school basketball games might have 30 to 40 members; a monster band from a large high school or college might have 200 members or more. Then there’s the special category of drum corps, a streamlined band that consists solely of drums and brass instruments—no woodwinds.

  There’s also considerable variation in the ages and skills of the players. Writing for a middle-school marching band is going to be a lot different than writing for a high-school or college band. And the talent level (and interest) will vary depending on how focused the band is on competition, versus just playing at football games and a few local parades.

  So you may need to keep your arrangements simple. That’s also a good idea when you realize that many marching bands require their musicians to memorize their music—and then march their routine. Make it too hard to play and the kids won’t be able to remember it!

  Big Band (Jazz Band)

  Another popular ensemble, especially in the jazz idiom, is the so-called jazz band or big band. A typical jazz band includes the following:

  Sax section with three to five players on alto, tenor, and baritone saxes

  Trumpet section with three to five pieces

  Trombone section with three to five instruments

  Rhythm section consisting of piano, bass, drums, and sometimes guitar

  And that’s it. Anywhere from 12 to 20 players, all capable of playing section parts or solos. It’s amazing how versatile this combination of instruments really is.

  NOTE

  Sax players sometimes double on flute. Trumpet players sometimes play fluegelhorn, especially on ballads.

  Today’s big bands can play in a variety of styles. The most common styles are classic 1940’s swing (Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw), straight ahead jazz (Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Woody Herman), hard driving jazz (Buddy Rich, Big Phat Band), blues (Count Basie), Latin/jazz (Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie), jazz/rock (Maynard Ferguson), and ballads (any and all). A given band may specialize in a particular style, or may have a book that encompasses multiple styles.

  Whatever the style, big-band music often adheres to an established-yet-flexible form. You start with some sort of an introduction, move into a series of verses and choruses (some of which are used as sections for improvisation), perhaps play through a short interlude, ramp it up for the shout chorus, and then drive through to the ending. Just remember to leave room for those instrumental solos—big bands
do play jazz, and jazz is all about the improvisation.

  Rock Band (Rhythm Section)

  A typical rock band consists of one or more electric guitars, bass, and drums. You can add lots of other instruments, however; keyboards are common, as are acoustic guitars. This is also the basic instrumentation you’ll see in most church praise bands, in many folk bands (but with acoustic instruments instead of electric ones, of course), and as the rhythm section in larger ensembles, such as big bands.

  As you can see, it’s a very versatile combination of instruments—and gets even more versatile when you augment the basic configuration with other instruments. Add a horn section with trumpet and a couple of saxes if you want a more soulful punch; add a cello or string quartet if you want a more orchestral sound; or add a pedal-steel guitar and fiddle if you want a country band.

  The rock band’s rhythm section is there to back the singer; in larger ensembles, the rhythm section’s function is to back the other instruments. It provides not only the underlying beat (typically via repeated rhythmic patterns), but also the basic harmonic background to a piece.

  And here’s an important thing to know about arranging for a rock band or rhythm section—in most forms of jazz and popular music, you don’t actually write out all the notes. That’s right, most rhythm section parts are just sketches; you rely on the individual players to essentially ad lib their own parts.