Crescendo Help

Hello Pro Composers

I need some advice or something on a crescendo in this piece I'm writing.

It's not really a crescendo at the moment, and I feel like it breaks in too loud and sounds "unacceptable" kind of.

What do you guys think? Any advice?

Click here for the mp3

This is the score for the section I'm on about, bar 13 kicks in at 0:20:



Thanks.

maybe this is where either a good orchestration book, or a course in orchestration, might come in handy.

you need to "orchestrate your crescendo".

There are a couple of issues that need to be dealt with here.

1. you have a sudden shift in register in the strings (violin 1 suddenly popping in one octave higher)
2. you are adding a new timbre (woodwinds) all in one shot
3. you are REMOVING another sustained part (violas and celli) suddenly AT the junction of this change

any single one of these issues could destroy your effect... all three at once? KABOOM!

Yeah, listen to Mich more than me lol, but I've personally always had a bit of a good thing going with crescendos, and changing parts gradually is the key. For example you go from mp to f all at once, you might want to try putting a hairpin on the violin II staff to make the increase more gradual.

At the very least you need to put a hairpin on Vln I I think, because that cuts in far too suddenly. Start it off quiter, and increase it over a couple of bars to make the transition smoother.

Thanks, I am looking into orchestration books now.

That was definitely the big thing, the big hit of woodwinds just didn't sound right, it didn't blend in at all and had me confused because I knew I wanted to bring some woodwind chords in at that point.

any single one of these issues could destroy your effect... all three at once? KABOOM!

Are you saying that there is no chance of orchestrating such a change, or is it possible?

Fox: I tried hairpins on the violins, didn't produce an effect I wanted. I think it's gonna need to be more of an instrumental crescendo as opposed to a dynamic one.

Originally Posted by Chris

Are you saying that there is no chance of orchestrating such a change, or is it possible?

I'm saying that you have inserted into your music three difficult issues to overcome at once.

To achieve a smooth crescendo, you must avoid

1. sudden changes of register
2. sudden changes of texture (removal of groups/adding of groups of instruments)
3. sudden changes in instrumentation

The keyword is "smooth": add instruments gradually, change registers gradually, gradually add or remove density from a texture.

A smooth crescendo can also depend heavily on the amount of time you give it to develop. It's obviously harder to go smoothly from a soft and very sparse texture to a loud a dense one in two short beats.

Sometimes, it is best to reconsider the timing you are intending for your music. To create a good crescendo transition, it sometimes becomes obligatory to add some beats, to give yourself room to work.

Fox: I tried hairpins on the violins, didn't produce an effect I wanted.

You make it sound as if Sibelius/Finale is not playing it as you want to hear it. And I really hope that you're not basing your whole orchestration on what finale can play, because it's not at all close to what will sound in real life by real musicians. Still, that doesn't mean that your crescendo will sound just fine as you've written it (and as Qcc has pointed out), but still, you have to think more about the players than about finale's playback.

Or, of course if this piece isn't going to be performmed so you want the best possible sound you can synthesize, adjust the crescendo in a sequencer. After you've fixed the notation the best you can of course.

Thanks for the further comments guys, particularly those 3 pointers Michel.

I had a go at solving the problem today and addressed all 3 of these issues.

Juji you are RIGHT man, those decisions were based on Sibelius playback.



I guess a crescendo probably would work well on the violins when played by actual musicians.

Anyway, I'll post the new score tomorrow (don't have it on this computer) and you guys can rip me to shreds again.

Thanks.

Okay, here is the new crescendo:



Thoughts?

I's have thought that the last measre of the 1st page, 1st violins could come in on the first beat, on maybe a D for a dotted half, then up to an E before finally coming to that high A...
the A on th next page is nice, but you don't want to be giving it away BEFORE it's time, do you?
Avoid as much as possible giving away your hand in advance when you're doing a build-up of this sort. Don't announce to your audience WHERE the build-up is going.

which means I'd avoid that high A on the flute as well.