String Arranging
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
String players often discuss the need for ‘bow markings’ or simply ‘bowings’, but what are they and why do they matter?
The basic premise is that the bow travels in two directions (down and up) and whereas a versatile player should be able to play all but the most challenging passages of music starting with either direction, often one direction leads to greater ease and comfort than another. As intricate passages of music often involve many changes of string (bowing from one string to another) the direction of the bowing takes on a greater significance as it will lead to a clockwise or anti-clockwise movement of the arm (whether that be emanating from the elbow or shoulder). Generally, if a rapid bow stroke starts on the lower string and leads to the upper string, then a clockwise movement is more effortless (although there are many instances where the opposite can create a desired effect!). In this instance, a down bow on the lower string followed by an up bow on the upper string could allow the player to perform the passage smoothly. This is just the beginning, as the array of different musical contexts where an appropriate bowing can help create the desired effect are almost limitless.
Bows are also weighted in favour of the bottom part (the ‘heel’) with a much lighter upper part (leading to the ‘tip’). This means that the proportion of weight isn’t evenly distributed (which is why the point of balance on a bow is approximately a third of the way up the bow from the ‘heel’). Again, an accomplished player shouldn’t need to crescendo down to the ‘heel’ or diminuendo up to the ‘tip’ but acheive the opposite with ease. Nevertheless, there are many examples where this knowledge can be put to good use.
In a more ‘legato’ context, all of the members of the string section are capable of acheiving a seamless, singing line where the changes of bow become invisible and the sound takes on a glowing, expressive quality - like an endlessly spun sound. This is where we can close our eyes and forget that the bow exists at all (an aspiration of most string players!). Whereas the composer’s intentions are always paramount, if more bow strokes are needed to play a certain passage, they can remain invisible if placed at natural ‘breathing points’ along the way.
If you are a composer, arranger or orchestrator and are unsure of the role of bow markings in a composition, the best advice would be to spend an hour in the company of a professional player who could explain bowings in different contexts. Or you could take a leaf out of the great Baroque masters’ book: simply leave your score blank and leave it up to the string players to bow it to their satisfaction!
Tags: Bow notation, Bowed instruments, Bowing and fingering, Orchestrator Vaughan Jones, string arranger, String Arranging, String notation, String orchestration, Vaughan Jones violinist, Violin bowings
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Monday, April 18th, 2011
About a year ago I wrote a blog entry called ‘Bring on the Viola‘ which discussed the merits of this sometimes overlooked and under-appreciated instrument of the string family. I thought it worth adding another blog entry as in the intervening year, we have worked with a number of clients who seem unaware of the existence of the viola!
If a songwriter has written some string parts and found that three of them are in the register of the violin and the fourth down in the cello register, then it may be worth transferring one of the violin lines to the viola to create a more natural and full sounding string section.
So why do people forget this important instrument? I don’t know… but we get plenty of enquiries from people requesting violin and cello parts to be added to a track, yet omitting the viola. As an analogy, this would be like a rock band having a lead guitar and a bass player, but no rhythm guitar to fill out the middle register.
Although only five notes lower than the violin, the viola has a completely different sound. It is more rounded and mellower, making it the perfect instrument to blend with both cello and violin and it can be brought forward in a song as a solo instrument in it’s own right. A violin is more frequently chosen to perform solos in an instrumental break, but there are certain tracks where the viola would be much more at home and give the song a softer edge.
Tags: Arranging for strings, Orchestrating for strings, qualities of the viola, session string players, session viola, string arranger, violin and cello parts, violin instrumental break, writing for strings
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Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
The Trill (also known as The Shake for some reason…) is a musical device which is common to most instruments as well as more accomplished vocalists. It is written as the letters ‘tr’ followed by a wiggly line directly above the note or notes to be trilled and is performed by rapidly alternating the written note with the note immediately above it in the musical scale. If the trill is to oscillate to a note foreign to the key signature, an accidental (sharp, flat or natural sign) would be notated above the note in question. Apart from this, trills are generally diatonic (meaning the interval between the two notes would be in accordance with the key of the piece) and therefore some trills are likely to be semitones and some full tones. If a composer or orchestrator requires a note to be trilled downwards (i.e. with the note below it), this would generally be written a note lower and start with a grace note above (e.g. if a composer wished to trill downwards between the notes C and B then he or she would write a grace note on the note C followed by a written B with the trill symbol directly above it).
For stringed instruments, trills almost always tend to be played slurred. This means that the fingers rapidly alternate notes as the bow continues it’s stroke. It is very rare for a trill to be bowed separately (i.e. the bow changing direction as each note changes). If this was ever required, generally the composer would have to write out the notes in full rather than applying the trill symbol.
Trills can be highly effective in pieces of music written for solo instruments as well as those composed for larger sections of stringed instruments and provide a graceful and often dream-like character to a passage. They are also associated strongly with the 17th and 18th centuries and therefore can often conjure up an antiquated and charming feel to a piece which will evoke associations with an older style.
Although to the listener it would appear that trills require an advanced level of co-ordination to play, in effect they are slightly more straightforward in that generally the upper finger does the trilling whilst the lower finger remains on the lower note. It is also possible to trill between an open string and a first finger.
If a composer or string arranger would like a player to trill between an interval greater than a tone and a half (e.g. a trill symbol could be applied to the note C and by the use of an accidental could enable a trill with a D#, giving a tone and a half), then like the separate bows, this would usually be notated in full. Depending on the speed of the piece, this could be written with demi semi quavers all slurred in the same bow.
Tags: 17th century music, 18th century violin style, classical music, composing for strings, Orchestration for strings, String Arranging, string section, the shake, trilling on violin, Trills, Vaughan Jones string arranger, Vaughan Jones Violin, Writing for stringed instruments
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Sunday, March 13th, 2011
Grace Notes fall into the category of ‘ornamentation’ as they are embellishments which help to give life and energy to a phrase. They are not unique to strings and may have originated in the late baroque period when used as a keyboard ornament and can be performed on almost every orchestral instrument.
A Grace Note is written in notation smaller than the standard size of a note on the stave and often has a diagonal line struck through it. It is a brief note which has no measured time allotted to it and is basically played as rapidly as possible before the main note itself. In folk music, this note is often referred to as a flick and it helps to give a note or phrase a sprightly, dancing quality. Often a string arranger may add grace notes if a phrase is repeated in an identical fashion, so by adding these notes (also known as appoggiaturas) it helps to give colour and variety to a phrase that would otherwise be a bland repetition. There is nothing worse than a ‘cut and paste’ approach to arranging where phrases are repeated without any variety giving the impression of an unvarying theme.
Interestingly, the term ‘acciaccatura’ is often wrongly applied to grace notes. This term actually means a ‘crushed’ note where two notes are played simultaneously and the dissonant note released immediately rather than being an independent note performed before the main note - again this happens a lot in folk and traditional music. So when a string arranger is writing string parts for a folk track, this could also be a technique to be made good use of.
Tags: acciaccatura, additing strings to a folk track, appoggiatura, Arranging for strings, composing for strings, dissonant notes, grace notes, notating string parts, orchestration, string arranger, String Arranging, strings for a folk track
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Saturday, February 5th, 2011
Many of the songwriters and music producers we deal with don’t read music and therefore rely on allowing programs such as Logic to print out a score of the music for them - these are then sent to us by email along with the song or track and we are asked to record the written string parts .
People often put a lot of faith in a midi score and don’t realise that the slightest discrepancy in rhythm or pitch (when played in on a keyboard) results in an inaccurate print out of the music represented. Sometimes this can take the form of many tiny note values tied onto the next in it’s attempt to rationalise the rhythm of the music. This can mean that the music is often scored with highly complex rhythms that no musician could easily read or play. Another common problem is the incorrect use of enharmonic notes. Enharmonic notes are those that differ from each other in name but not in pitch (e.g a Bb and an A#). This means that a session musician can be playing in a ‘flat key’ and half the notes are printed out as sharps which throws the musician and can mean that they are temporarily unable to understand the notes at speed. Recording has to stop whilst the players work out what the part should be - often spending quite some time re-notating the score.
On a more subtle level, a midi score is rather like a rough sketch of a painting without any of the details. There are no dynamic markings, articulations, slurs or marks of expression so providing this to a group of studio musicians is asking them to use a lot of guesswork in how they’ll play the music. All of this wastes valuable recording time and when there are several musicians involved, this can amount to money down the drain as the clock ticks by and they try and make sense of the score.
Although deciding against the professional services of an orchestrator or string arranger might seem like saving money, providing session musicians with a computer generated score means there will almost certainly be parts which are unclear, lack detail or in the worst case scenario can mean the final recording doesn’t sound as it was intended to. String parts in particular are best written by someone who understands how a stringed instrument is played (see previous blog entries on the drawback of composing string parts on a keyboard).
When we are sent a score generated by midi, there are almost always problems with clefs (such as the viola being written in the treble clef) and notes out of the range of a real instrument - despite the program saying it should be playable.
Arranging and orchestrating is something which requires training and subtlety - and a computer as yet can’t match the accuracy and detail of a trained arranger.
Tags: composing for strings, cost of a string arranger, doing string arrangements, getting the best use of studio musicians, hire a string section, live strings on a track, Logic music composition, Logic music writing, Logic score, midi scoring, Orchestrating for strings, Scoring from Logic, session musicians, session string players, string arranger, String Arranging
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Sunday, January 30th, 2011
Over the last couple of weeks we have been recording strings for an album of healing / ambient music which has also featured oboe, cor anglais, flute, alto flute and harp - it has been quite a new experience.
On looking at the score, many of the notes are held for several bars and the pieces are very slow in tempo so it would sound like an easy task to record, compared with something faster or more lively. In practice, playing ultra-slowly is a task that requires patience and concentration as it is very easy to lose one’s place. As we were layering in order to give the impression of a larger body of players, it was also important to know where we had changed bow stroke so that on the following take, the bowing changes could be staggered (this means that when the bow changes direction, on each take it is done in a different place to give the impression of a seamless sound).
Another aspect is being aware of the overall sound needed when all of the strings have been recorded. A good example of this is where crescendos or diminuendos are written in all of the parts. If there are 8 overdubs for example, then the changes in dynamic can sound much bigger than would have been anticipated after each of the individual takes. The same is true for individual dynamics, whether soft or loud.
In any situation where overdubbing strings occurs, the overall tuning is another vital issue to get right from the very first take as even slight variations can become magnified as further layers are added, particularly if there is a spread of sound over four or five octaves.
In music of a very slow nature, the challenge is to keep a beautiful sound that doesn’t break up, have any lumpiness to it or sound as if the bow is changing. This can only be achieved by a singing cantabile approach where one is thinking in phrases with a strong rhythmical pulse, despite the sustained nature of the music.
Tags: ambient music strings, bow changes, healing music, healing music real instruments, hire a string section, hire a violinist, hire string players, meditation music, music for relaxation, new age music, overdubbing strings, overlayering strings, playing slowly, real instruments for new age music, rhythmical pulse, session strings, sustained notes
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Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Last weekend we spent quite a lot of time in the studio, recording some original music which I had been asked to compose for an album. We recorded three pieces, all for string orchestra and after all the mixing / mastering had taken place, I made an interesting discovery.
Having been given the brief of writing and recording a piece for string orchestra, I had composed something in nine part harmony and it had been recorded for 47 piece string orchestra - including 12 first violins, 12 second violins, ten violas, eight cellos and five double basses - roughly the same sized string section as an opera orchestra. The final mix sounded powerful, emotionally intense and quite cinematic - several people commenting that it would be ideal as a film soundtrack with quite a panoramic feel.
Nevertheless, it didn’t have quite the right sound for the album (it needed to be warm, rounded and mellow) so after scratching our heads a little, the engineer muted about half of the instruments and re-mixed it, this time with 28 parts - 8 first violins, 8 second violins, 5 violas, 4 cellos and 3 double basses. Despite being a smaller section (more like a chamber orchestra), this really benefited the music. By dropping half the section out, it became clearer, purer and less intense with all the crescendos and diminuendos becoming more subtle and less ‘in your face’ than the larger orchestra had sounded.
This came as a surprise to both me and the client who had originally been quite set on a full orchestra and it goes to show that in certain circumstances, less can definitely be more. So when arranging strings for a piece, or as in this case composing new music with a specific aim in mind, it’s worth thinking of what kind of impact the strings are going to have - rather than being more powerful and ‘better’, could a huge orchestral sound actually detract from the music, losing the subtlety and clarity that a smaller section would have brought?
Perhaps composing strings for chamber ensemble or solo strings and bringing it further forward in the mix can have more impact than a symphony orchestra sized sound in a track.
Tags: composing for solo strings, composing music for strings, hire a string section, hiring live string players, number of string players in an orchestra, Orchestrating for strings, recording strings in a small studio, size of a string section, size of an orchestra, String Arranging, String orchestra, strings in the mix, studio strings
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Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
I remember a colleague of mine saying that rock and pop arrangements for strings fell flat and didn’t seem to work, yet arrangements of other styles were often successful. I think the reason she said this was that many published arrangements fail to take into account the intricacies of the percussion (or drum kit), rhythms and regularity of accents which often fall on the second and fourth beats. Once these are taken out of an arrangement, the song does frequently sound dull and lifeless.
This doesn’t just apply to re-creating pop and rock covers for string quartet or string orchestra, but in any string arrangement where percussion is going to be absent or less prominent. Some bands or songwriters might want to experiment with recording a track that has no conventional percussion section, but replacing the rhythmic pulse with effects created on stringed instruments or an orchestra. In this way, the sound could be acoustic with very little electronic input, yet still retain all of the energy and impact of a standard rock and pop track. So what are the techniques a string arranger might use when orchestrating a self sustaining rock track?
There are four markings that can be added to notes to convey differences in length and emphasis.
Firstly, if dots are added (underneath or over the note heads), this would give a very short and spiky staccato feel to the music. Alternatively, the addition of lines to the notes give them a brushed sound with a greater length. I often write both a line and a dot to denote somewhere between the two, where the notes are separated but are a little bit longer than a staccato dot. This can be ideal for imitating rhythm guitars where essentially the note is plucked so is not fully legato.
Another marking which can replace the rhythmic drive of a drum kit are the accent (<) which can punctuate a note and if added to the second and fourth beats give the music it’s regular emphasis as a drum beat would. The final notation could be an ’sfz’ which is an abbreviation of the word sforzando. This is a way of marking in a stronger accent and means a sudden loudness - I sometimes notate this with an accent to produce a much more violent, raw note which again when added regularly can give a really strong drive, particularly in a string orchestra.
In terms of instruments, these accents and rhythmic effects can be added to any of them but generally to give the feeling of the interplay between bass guitar and drums, would be used to best effect in the double bass and ‘cello sections (or the ‘cellos and violas in the absence of double basses).
Tags: accents in string notation, arranging rock for strings, cello arranging, how to write string arrangements, orchestral rock, rhythm into a string section, Scoring for strings, sforzando, string arrangements, string arranger, string orchestra for rock music, strings for rock track, Vaughan Jones string arranger
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Monday, September 13th, 2010
Occasionally we receive enquiries from people who would like strings written or arranged for their track but on listening to the track, it sounds very full already without strings: in short, adding strings can just be one more thing that makes a song too ‘busy’ and risks overloading the listener with too much going on.
Although in many cases, strings can be written around melodies and other instrumentation to fill in, enhance, support or even add new counter melodies there are some songs that just won’t benefit from strings at all and if the string arranger has sound musical judgement, he or she may advise a client not to use their services at all.
So what type of song may not need strings at all? Any track which is already heavily laden with guitar and percussion, vocals, keyboard and bass will need to have ‘room’ in it for strings - either as an instrumental break, or in a verse / chorus where things are quieter and the strings can come through. Strings can also be used to add a ’sheen’ of simple chords over the top of other instruments if there is already a lot going on. When a track sounds complete with a full range of notes already covered there may not be any benefit at all from including yet another group of instruments (a string section) and the song can begin to feel cluttered or over the top.
Problems can arise when a band or songwriter have already produced a song then decide afterwards that they’d like to include strings as well on top of everything else. If the piece is written knowing that the strings will be coming in at some point, space can be left for them (a bit like designing the layout of a room and leaving space for a sofa rather than cramming it in somewhere as an afterthought!).
Tags: adding string parts to a pop track, adding strings to a song, arranging string parts, leaving space for strings, music production, musical judgement, programming synth strings, string arrangement, string arranger, String Arranging, synth strings, Vaughan Jones string arranger
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Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
‘Saltando’ is an Italian musical term used when string players are being asked to play with a rapid, bouncing stroke in the middle of the bow - rather like sautille bowing. The speed at which this is executed allows the bow to bounce slightly off the string between each note of it’s own accord. The natural springiness of the bow gives the feeling that the bow is actually bouncing without intervention (although the reality is that it’s momentum which allows this to happen).
Saltando strokes, like Sautille strokes are both rapid forms of playing ’spiccato’ (a generic term meaning any bowing where there is a lift between each note).
From a players point of view, both saltando and spiccato seem to give the impression - both visually and by the sound they make - of a vertical bouncing of the bow. The reality is actually different, with the bow being encouraged to brush the string in a horizontal way, so there is only a fractional lift at the end of each stroke. When played loudly however, there can be a much more noticeable lift (for example in the final section of Sarasate’s ‘Zigeunerweissen’ which we have a sound clip of on the home page of the String Section website) which gives the sound an energy that lends excitement and dynamism to a string arrangement or composition.
Tags: composing for strings, notating for stringed instruments, Orchestrating for strings, Saltando bowing, sautille bowing, spiccato bowing, String Arranging, violin bow strokes, writing music for strings, Zigeunerweissen
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