Quote:
Originally Posted by flint-wwrr
Hi QC, yeah, that's what I was indicating. That high D (sounding G), while certainly possible, is highly impractical and ill-advised. I totally agree with you that the horn should be used in a more characteristic register.
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hehe, I suspected we were agreeing in the first place
I REALLY wish people would learn to write for insturments in ranges where they are most characteristic, before trying to write stuff that is at the extreme limits of playability.
There was a score posted on this forum once with horn parts (transposed) with written high E flats... yes, e flats ABOVE the staff.
When we commented on it, he said "well, the horn player I talked to said he can play them".
Yes, except, that doesn't mean it will SOUND good.
Anyways, to the OP:
The best thing is to get an orchestration/instrumentation book (the Piston book is a good start - it's inexpensive, and relatively complete.. there are better books, but also considerably more expensive).
Then another wise move is to avoid writing for extremely obscure instruments. While
serpent and
sackbut certainly exist, like your
soprano trombone, they are rare, and finding an ensemble with musicans who HAVE those instruments will be more than a "challenge".
Add to that the fact that writing idiomatically for a rare instrument is a new challenge since you risk not really having a reference easily at hand.