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How To Start An Orchestral Piece?


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So I'm about to dive into my first full orchestra piece, and I'd like some ideas on how I should approach starting out the first draft. I'm not looking for orchestration advice, just answers to how you guys start writing for orchestra. What's your approach? Start with a piano reduction, go right at it, a combination, etc etc etc.

 

Also, it's been a long time YC. Glad this place is still around. :)

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If you are not as crafty as Austentine, here's a general outline of steps that you could follow:

1. create a lead sheet of the theme(s) you want to have in your score

2. createb a sketch score of the piece

3. create a full ochrestral score of the piece.

 

*the skecth score is usually a two piano score that encompasses all the ideas and themes! I am sure

there are mini substeps with in the three main steps i have listed. Noneless, I want to list the main steps down.

A lead sheat containts the writen theme(melody) with the hamony(chords) written above theme.  Remember, to have patience.

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I am lazy, I do not care to skech a proper piano draft as a first stage. But just try to figure out what suits the best for you. Especially if you start with it, just experiment, and try another approach if you feel the current isn't working.

I know of composers that start with only a piano version, and say that is the least distracting for them.

I thought Shostakovich used a kind of midway: He starts for 3 pianos, one playing the woodwind part, one for the brass, one for the strings.

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It can happen a looooot of things, better you start and tell us if you find a problem, if will be just first orchestral work don't try to go too far.

 

 

In my case, I never write reductions, I write directly for all, very often my imagination goes too fast and I write the ending just after starting, so I write a work for my ending, in the middle part usually I write something, one page, next day I write another page, next day I listen and I don't like it and delete the whole thing and rewrite, that's why I'm so slow, I write like 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 + 1 + 1 - 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 7 etc I reject so many ideas

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What you have seen/ witness is how composition is skinning the cat: no wrong method of doing so, but correct theory behind it.

Every one has thier own method of writing.  When I start a Piano comp, I just play through it in my mind and try to envison the sounds.

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First picture the cast of instrumentalists. Is it a full orchestra, or a smaller one? For those not experienced I'd suggest something smaller for the beginning.

I think composing it from the piano extract is not a good idea. Prokofiev had lots of problems with that practice. His orchestration is often clumsy and brutally difficult. Even though his Classical symphony is beautiful lots of orchestras hate it. :) The biggest blesssing is hearing what you intend to write.

And, I also think it's not wise to compose horisontal lines. I always write every bar in vertical way, except when a significant melody is apparent.

 

Goood luck!

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If you are not as crafty as Austentine, here's a general outline of steps that you could follow:

1. create a lead sheet of the theme(s) you want to have in your score

2. createb a sketch score of the piece

3. create a full ochrestral score of the piece.

What I usually do before no. 1 here is to make a drawing of it. A roadmap of where I want it to go. It can end up looking like a mountain, a sheep, a tree, anything really as long as it makes sense on A3

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