Final version now posted

[belkina]

Note the use of various small touches to give this version a few special moments. These details must be subtle, and also, added at the right places.

Important question: *where* in the phrase are the appropriate moments for special emphasis, and why? When you understand this question, you will have made some real progress towards more refined orchestration! :-)

[nova.music]

This exercise is exellant! I was a little confused on how this was going to work at first, but I get it now. I really see how things came together and got much better. The last note has always bothered me. On all the versions I heard it stuck out as strident and ugly. On this version the high last note is soften thru dividing parts.

I still worry about the last note--being so high -- sounding strident. Would it sit as nicely as it does in this midi file with a real Orchestra playing it? Should it be lowered an octave?

THANK YOU !

[nova.music]

Oops! Forgive my last question. I just realized I was looking at the harp part. Not the 1st violin. The last violin note is played in a lower register. This resolves the issue very nicely.

[qccowboy]

Oops! Forgive my last question. I just realized I was looking at the harp part. Not the 1st violin. The last violin note is played in a lower register. This resolves the issue very nicely.

but to answer your question anyways, that violin note need not be strident. The strings are capable of amazingly light and delicate pianissimo high notes, even extreme high ones.

[nova.music]

Quote:
Originally Posted by nova.music
Oops! Forgive my last question. I just realized I was looking at the harp part. Not the 1st violin. The last violin note is played in a lower register. This resolves the issue very nicely.


but to answer your question anyways, that violin note need not be strident. The strings are capable of amazingly light and delicate pianissimo high notes, even extreme high ones.


--I never really thought about your point, it is a good one. But I would still bet that no matter how delicate the 1st violins can play notes that high up, a note played above the staff after all the preceding were played below would stick out--thus becoming strident. Listen to version 1E and see if you think this is true. The harp, besides being softer, is able to prepare that note with an arp. -I'm willing to listen to an opposing view.....

[belkina]

>--I never really thought about your point, it is a good one. But I would still bet that no matter how delicate the 1st violins can play notes that high up, a note played above the staff after all the preceding were played below would stick out--thus becoming strident.

Your ears are telling you something useful, but the problem is not really the violins. Rather, the issue is this: If a note suddenly appears in a register where nothing has happened before, it will attract attention to itself. I call that "opening up a new register". Now, the issue then becomes: is it appropriate or not? In mid-phrase, it should normally only occur at a climax. It could also occur at a cadence, since cadences and climaxes are SPECIAL moments in the phrase, which deserve underlining. Of course there is also a question of degree: There is a difference between a new note in high trumpet, 2 octaves above the others, and a new note in the flute, a 3rd higher. But the real point is the NOVELTY.

Does that help?

[nova.music]

Yep that helps....it adds yet another little bit of knowledge on the way to total control of my music with composing/arranging/orchestrating tools.