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Thank you - you are the best 😁

Yes, just give me a few to write it in this case.

Do you have an example of how that would look on a piece like this?

You know, few things have had more impact on my harmony than these sorts of unusual modulations with "chromatic slippage," as I sometimes call it! I also like to just let whatever stepwise chromaticism I have in the bass and melody lines help me determine what chords might be possible when I add the middle voices. Anyone who listens to my music also knows I don't always prepare modulations, but like jarring transitions sometimes! Thought of one more thing: I've been looking into late Faure, as in his final work the String Quartet in E Minor, and he is a master of that sort of thing, though I don't want to obscure tonal centers so much, I still like to bang out plain triads. Gabriel Fauré - String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 121

This thread made me think about one of my own projects, to orchestrate piano songs I wrote a long time ago in 1993, and I wrote this, possibly to let myself and others know that even orchestrating ONE song or piano piece requires a lot of thought! The thread of someone asking for help on their orchestration exam...really, it triggered me to think; I would have to take myself back to school to do this effectively! I would begin by simply comparing Mahler's orchestrations of his Wunderhorn songs with the piano versions. I think the only reason I could ever orchestrate at all was because I listened to every Mahler symphony a couple dozen times! EVEN THE SEVENTH! 🤣Or was it a few dozen times? I also am not completely confident in my ability to orchestrate piano music; it's really hard! It's really true: I never worked too hard on orchestration, just learned a bit from Mahler by osmosis, and have not written much orchestral, and I think the orchestration is decent, but really just all the Mahler I listened to and the scores I studied by him and others...I wish you luck! Mahler is a good model: no matter how huge the orchestra, it is rarely used all at once, but still, everyone gets something valuable to do, and in those huge scores, one staccato mark, say, on one note matters.

YES...yes yes lol. I am a pianist as well and this is something I was conflicted about the entire time I was writing this arrangement. How to keep that lower sustained harmony since the piece clearly doesn't have too many lol My cello friends were telling me to just give them the chord tones at the beginning of each bar, but then the line is moving so they're not sustained. Which is adding to the thin sound. I really appreciate your feedback, I want this to be as good as it can be, so anything helps.

Yes, it was our choice and I should have said this in my original message, but the assignment was to orchestrate an excerpt. As in, if your piece was shorter than 4 minutes, you had to pick something else lol. Should I keep the flutes in, but just double it in the strings so we get more of a full texture? What are your thoughts on the rest of the ensemble holding that Em chord while the flutes and strings fly down? Also, what do you think about that rhythm? I'm probably going to need to edit so it sounds smoother. As always, I greatly appreciate your feedback 😁

I Do like to be by the Seaside Imagine being born in 1909 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMlqhXk6ndw 1: Wurlitzer organ | 2: Hammond organ Wurlitzer organ.mp3 Hammond organ.mp3

From the eyes of a pianist: One thing I feel you have not considered in your orchestration is the fact pianos have a sustain pedal. One thing clearly lacking is the sense of prolonged chords over an active line. In the video you linked, it has the pedal markings in place, so you can reference where Price does that. This is another key reason why your orchestration sounds empty. How to orchestrate this? As one example, I am going to link this video by Alex Heppelmann: https://youtu.be/sTZCFa7B6BA?si=vI-hAEGclgkSde-V Disclaimer, it is 27 minutes long, however, it's very thorough describing how to take a piano melody and use the orchestra to create some ideas of a piano sustain pedal. In my personal style, I will use the horns to sustain the harmony on long tones, while the strings pulse the harmony similar to what a piano score would do. If not this, I would swap the roles. The melody in this case, would be featured in woodwinds, another instrument family, or lead/solo instrument. Good luck to you and if you want to see some sample notation, let us know! This Fantasie is a very wonderful piece and I find it is so conversational. It really feels like an orchestra notated in the piano and in my opinion is an excellent piece to showcase the capabilities of the piano and a performer.

Hi @BlackkBeethoven The first PDF file that you've uploaded doesn't seem to be working, so I have to pause the YT video to compare your score to the original piece. I think you've chosen a very difficult piano piece to orchestrate. I am assuming it was your choice to orchestrate whatever piano piece you wanted since you say you like Florence Price so much. I could say more about your choice given that you knew you only had 4 minutes to work with and the piece is over 7 minutes long - but it's too late to bother about that now. This piece is difficult to orchestrate because of the many florid fioraturas/roulades that it contains. But there are things you could do to facilitate them throughout the orchestra. First, since the fioraturas in the beginning go all the way from the very high range to the moderately low, I would have made sure to give those to the strings since they have a more homogeneous sound throughout their range. So I'm surprised to see that you have just the Flutes/Piccolo on that part - that part is very thinly scored and isn't utilizing the full body of the orchestra. If I had my way with that part I would have given it to the woodwinds and the strings doubling each other + harp. I'm guessing you don't have harp. You've retained the piano staff in this score even though the piano doesn't play anything. I don't think you should have the piano play anything in this orchestration because it would most likely serve as a crutch to fill in holes that your orchestration should fill. Speaking of holes - in measure 6 you have the trombone start the low melody but then it's not continued for some reason. You score the melody more fully without fragmentation in measures 8 - 9. Throughout this whole introduction you really underuse the strings and I think for that reason the piece doesn't sound fully scored. Those are just my first impressions of the introduction of the piece. Good luck in your final and thanks for sharing!

Hey everyone, Just survived the rough draft reading for my orchestration final… and whew, it told me exactly where the holes are 😅 Next Wednesday is the graded final reading session, and that’s it for the semester. I’ve got 4 minutes total to work with, and I want to make every second sound as full and grandiose as humanly possible. This is where you all come in: I need feedback. and LOTS of it. The thorough, measure-by-measure kind. The more detailed, the better. If you’ve got thoughts on: • Range issues (too high, too low, awkward spots, etc.) • Fullness/balance (where can it sound bigger, richer, more epic?) • Orchestration ideas (doublings, color, texture, part-writing tweaks) • Any “this feels empty, fix it like this” moments • And especially help with how to CADENCE/land the piece from where it currently is (I’ve got a strict 4-minute cutoff, so I need a strong, convincing ending) I got feedback from the players today, and these are their notes: Strings want to play more Not as full-sounding (too many breaks where someone plays something, then the next measure it completely switches -- more feathering) Sustained tones for low brass and low strings More dynamic/articulation markings Viola wants more Chord into big run at the beginning needs to be smoother and more grand - I was thinking of having more people play, then thin it out as the piece "begins." And most importantly...Florence Price is one of my favorite composers, and I want this orchestration to do her justice. I've attached the full score, a recording from the reading session, and the PDF of the original piano piece (marked with where I've reached so far) FANTASIE NEGRE.pdf Fantasie Nègre - ORCHESTRATION FINAL.pdf FANTASIE Negre (Reading Session).mp3

Of course there are those great organ sonatas, but this is like something he would have improvised in church.

Nope. Just stumbled upon it in NF and it was really good, so this thread was just me shilling someone else's work!

It is not yours, is it?

Same here!

Nice. I found a sneaky way to transfer from Bb minor to B major.

This is actually quite good. Light and mood-like which isn't normally my thing, and I might want a piece like this to be shorter, more condensed, but it's still playing, and I'm enjoying it. I'll look into these Emotudes of yours, some very good writing here!

I can tell it's good by reading the score, I'll give it a listen when I can. It's just that every time I see the thread title, it makes me think of The Knack up on stage singing "My, My, My, Sheherazade." 😁 Some of it sounds like creepy Mahler!

I think what you mean by the transition in the first theme is the D F# G# whole tone chord (one could call it an altered version of the dom.7 in A Minor with the F# being a ninth) on the last beat of m.4 , the suspended F natural in the violin, and the enharmonic modulation, the G# becoming Ab in Ab Major. A sneaky way to get from A Minor to Ab Major really fast!

For some reason, I can't seem to edit the title on the link to Noteflight from "ba" to Bagatelle. I could unpublish and republish it, but I guess "ba" will do.😃

i love the texture in this. its very subtle but it goes really well with your description! it is imaginative in a way that i could visualize the imagery. for example the gusts of winds starting on b.28 using the dynamics, or the rain on b.52. the beginning usages of harmonics to represent the clouds and the subsequent ones are also pretty cool the string writings are lovely in my opinion, in the way that you took advantage of the different individual string timbres of the quartet. those low C string cello notes are powerful and prominent, especially on b.48 where, i think, it indicates the start of the "wall of rain" section contrasting the high register notes of the preceding section and finally, im fond of the way you use the variety of dissonances and added notes, it feels very effective and not over bearing that you're drowning in a chromatic porridge Melodies Themes Motives 5 Harmony Chords Textures 9 Form Development Structure Time 10 Originality Creativity 10 Score Presentation 10 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 7 Execution of Given Challenge 10 Taste 9 Average Score: 8.75 final note: its peak.

Hi Sam Yes message any Vocals over to personal messenger, and ill add them to the mix, youll be surprised ! But please Sam .......Nows the time to stop smoking. xxx To Finalize this Subject : The Body converts Nicotine into Acrylamide via the URINE. 1:That's why female smokers develop "Ovarian Cancer" 2: That's why male smokers develop "Prostate Cancer" The body also converts Nicotine into Formaldehyde via the Stomach & Brain which is a kind of "Burning Acid"................linked to Internal Bleeding. But don't worry..........All Hospitals have a "Cold-Storage-Mortuary" should anything go wrong , with the next operation.

Hi Everyone. this is the latest track that i have composed. The song is in malayalam language, but i was looking to get some feedback on the arrangement. The vocals are dummy and are done in Ai. they will be replaced once final lyrics are ready and vocal recording is done. Need your honest opinion on what should be improved, what could be done to elevate the track. Ranam.mp3

Hello there! Here is the latest installment of preludes, no.16. This one deals with a lot of two voice counterpoint and a relentless ramble on one theme. As a personal side note, these have been a lot of fun to write, and it's been great simultaneously writing a bunch at once. I had a sporadic burst of ideas when I started this one, and it lead to a lot of spread out writing. I guess what I'm SAYIN' is... more to come! :D Thanks for listening and reading... any comments of any kind are welcome! P.S. some of those tempo markings are to mimic rubato, dunno I suck as an editor Prelude No 16.mp3 Prelude No 16 - Score.pdf

Merci beaucoup ! Je suis ravi que cela vous plaise :)