April 5, 200916 yr Was curious if it was wrong in a large orchestral work with chorus to double the voices with woodwinds. I have a passage where the violins and violas play an ostinato pattern at piano with choir and woodwinds above. Woodwinds doubling the choir. I start the woodwinds doubling each other as such (flute with bassoon 2octaves below; oboe with clarinet 1 octave below) but then go into each woodwind doubling the individual choral lines. Is this possible? Will it reinforce the vocal line any? Or should I have the strings assisting. I don't really want to lose the ostinato pattern because it is structurally essential (the work is in compounded ternary form the ostinato begins in the first A section then moves into the B section and is required for the music to move back into the A section itself.)
September 9, 200916 yr Try and use this as a rule of thumb when it comes to woodwind doubling. When doubling at the octave, 2 on the lower pitch and one on the higher pitch. When writing a doubled part, always use odd numbers of players. The easiest way to understand this is to ask 2 flute players to play at the octave and try to stay in tune. Then, add another player on the bottom note, suddenly it doesn't sound so bad.
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