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Old May 27 2008, 5:12 PM
Maelstrom Maelstrom is online now

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Romantic Composer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by QcCowboy View Post
If you have different dynamics in a passage for every part of the orchestra it is a SURE sign that you did not orchestrate properly.

Remember that a forte flute does not sound the same as a piano flute. If the passage is marked piano for everyone but that flute is marked forte, the sound will NOT be "soft with a flute coming out of the mix".. it will sound like a flautist blowing his brains out while everyone else is relaxing.
This could be true (Not a quote of you, Gardener)

I fully agree that notating the dynamics individually is a very clear and direct way of indicating to the player their role in the music. However, I rarely see this being done. I am doing this merely out of convention, after looking at the scores of Beethoven's and Schubert's symphonies.

Also, I think that having uniform dynamics makes players feel part of a specific group (such as having Bassoons, Flutes, and Oboes at piano will make them feel part of a group). From personal experience, playing forte while others play at piano eliminates the "group" feeling, and makes it seem soloistic.

There are some passages within the overture (the trumpet beginning) where I do want a soloistic feel and I think that having the trumpets at mf while the rest of the orchestra is at mp is fine, but due to convention I wrote it uniformly. I am pretty confident in the dynamic orchestration of the piece. Again, please let me know if there are any glaring errors.

So those are my (hopefully logical) reasons.
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Favorite composers: Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Bach, Schumann
Playable instruments: Saxophones, Violin, Clarinet, Piano
Favorite pieces: F.M-B.:String Quartet in A minor
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