Posts Tagged ‘String orchestra’
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Really, I don’t like the term ‘up and down bow’ very much because the motion of a bow is very fluid and when played artfully, gives a seamless, warm, glowing sound - nothing to do with ‘up’ or ‘down’ which sounds very rigid. My violin teacher (Kato Havas) says that all a bow going ‘up and down’ does is iron the music flat, so to get to the essence of the music the player should try and achieve a naturalness of phrasing which transcends the bow.
Nevertheless, there are instances when composers or string arrangers purposefully write a certain bow direction to attain a musical effect. For example, Stravinsky wrote several down bows (travelling in a downward motion repeatedly, lifted from the string in between notes) in a row to create an aggressive, percussive effect. An example of ‘up bows’ is in Paganini’s 24th Caprice where he alternates left hand pizzicatos (a future blog entry!) with ‘up bows’ played near the tip of the bow - the effect is of a whipping, pecking sound that goes well when alternated with the pizzicato.
Symbols are added to a score to indicate when there is a particular ‘up or down’ direction to the bowing. In 18th and 19th century music, this was often left to the discretion of the individual player but increasingly in the 20th century composers began to specify up and down bow markings more, frequently seeking the advice of professional string players on how best to ‘bow’ the piece.
In a live orchestral performance, bowings are marked into the parts in advance to enable each section to play with synchronised bows travelling in the same direction together - although Leopold Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra were famous in using ‘free bowing’ which the conductor felt achieved a more glossy sound, even though it didn’t look as impressively uniform.This leads onto the phrase ’staggered bowing’. This is where longer notes which would require more than one bow direction to keep sustained are bowed in such a way that members of a string section change in different places, this gives a smooth and continuous effect so that the change in bowing is inaudible.
Tags: Arranging for strings, bow direction, bow markings, bowings, composing for strings, down bows, Live strings, orchestration, session strings, staggered bowing, String Arranging, string composing, String orchestra, string section, studio strings, up bows, use of the bow, violin bow
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
The literal definition of the Italian word ‘Rubato’ is ‘robbed time’, which doesn’t seem to be a particularly attractive way of describing something that adds such emotional meaning to a piece of music. In essence, it is where music is slowed down or speeded up to create an expressive effect. When done with artistry and musical sensitivity, rubato can subtly ebb and flow but without distorting the rhythmic pulse. What is taken away is always added back, rubato would never slow a pulse down and then not regain it later on, it is in a sense elastic.
In the studio, the only way of effectively playing rubato in an ensemble is through playing ‘live’, where all the musicians are actively listening to each other and making minute adjustments as they play. It would not be possible to achieve a natural ‘pulling up’ or quickening with a click track. A click track is frequently used in recording situations, especially where string parts are to be added over existing instruments or vocals - it takes the form of a metronome beat heard only in the headphones of the session musicians who are working on the track. A click can be speeded or slowed to suit the beat of the music players are working on and can even accelerate or slow down, but this rarely sounds very natural.
When music is of a metronomic nature (such as rock or pop music), then a click track can be highly effective and when used well, will not be betrayed in the end result. Recordings can sound perfectly natural where a click track has been used and often can have a tightness and accuracy that could only be achieved with a lot of rehearsing. Of course, if multiple overdubs are used then a click track is an essential tool and will cut down the studio time needed.
In more sophisticated music which is ever changing, the use of a click track can be more of a hindrance than a help and in that situation, musicians opt to use their ensemble skills and the end result will hopefully be far more natural.
Tags: Arranging for strings, Click Track, composing for strings, Live strings, Orchestrating for strings, Robbed time, Rubato, session musicians, session string players, string arranger, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio musicians, studio strings, Writing for stringed instruments
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
On Sunday, we recorded a wonderful suite of pieces by the talented composer Philip Henderson. Assembled in MBJ studios were myself on violin, one violist, a cellist and double bassist to record (with the use of accurate overdubbing), works written for the combination of 10 solo strings. One of the challenges of the day was to try and judge how much music we could record whilst maintaining the very highest level of playing which would do the pieces justice. On one hand, we needed to best utilise having four musicians together to cover the maximum amount of music (potentially 5 tracks, amounting to over 30 minutes of music), but it was vital to maintain an excellent quality of playing.
It was an enormous help to have the composer present as he could give us a very clear idea of how he wanted certain passages to sound and bring out the qualities he was looking for. With quite a lot of subtle shifts in tempo and phrasing and some quite tricky passages, we had all anticipated that the whole suite might even take a further day to complete - however it soon became clear that with the super efficient recording work by engineer Ben Jones, our motivation to get as much recorded as possible and crucially the input from Philip, all five tracks were able to be recorded.
We began by recording violin 5 with viola 2, cello 2 and double bass - and found that it took around 3 hours of recording before the double bass parts were complete. A further three hours and violin 4, viola 1 and cello 1 parts were complete. Then 3 more hours were needed to record the violins 3,2 and 1 parts for the first 3 movements of the work. The process consisted of building up from the bottom so that we could keep a tight rein on tuning as well as making the foundation for each track rhythmically perfect.
Any rhythmic untidiness will only become exaggerated with each overdub so there is a real skill in recording this way. We are all looking forward to hearing the end result as Philip Henderson has created some music of real scope which had quite a moving effect on all the musicians involved.
Tags: Ben Jones engineer, MBJ, new classical music for strings, overdubbing strings, Philip Henderson, recording chamber music, session double bass, session musicians, session string players, session violinist, String orchestra, string section, studio musicians, studio strings
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Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Pizzicato is simply a technique where the strings are plucked rather than bowed (arco). It is a great tool to add variety to a piece and can enhance the rhythmic vitality of a section. As the tension of violin strings is higher than that on guitars, plucked notes tend to give an immediate response with a slightly ‘tight’ sound and a rapid decay.
When used in a full string section, pizzicato can cut through other textures without sounding abrasive, but can also be used to add a touch of humour or quirkiness to a song. Often single notes can be picked out or plucked as part of a counter melody, or if a single chord needs to be struck, 2, 3 or even 4 notes can be simultaneously plucked. In this instance, a knowledge of the tuning of stringed instruments is needed as the spacing of the chord is unique to the string family (being tuned in fifths). A string arranger has to take into account that on a given chord, there is a big spread of notes and it’s important to know which finger takes each string so that the chord ends up being playable by your session musicians.
When writing for stringed instruments, it’s always important to keep in mind how the four strings are tuned unless the lines are very simple. If the parts have been written on a keyboard, they may not necessarily be playable on a violin, viola or cello so unless the composer is a professional string arranger, having a string player check them through is advisable before entering the studio.
Although usually used sparingly, adding some pizzicato effects can be a great way to bring some bounce and life to a string arrangement. Plucked strings can be soft and subtle or really dramatic.
Tags: Adding string parts, appropriate string parts, arranging for violin, composer, orchestrating, Orchestrating for strings, orchestrator, Pizzicato, plucked strings, session musicians, session string players, string arranger, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio musicians, studio strings, violinist, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Adding a mute to a stringed instrument has a very different effect from muting a brass instrument. Although by definition, a mute does take off a little of the volume, rather than just making the violin quieter, it can make the sound more mellow and add a subdued quality. Adding a mute is an excellent tool where the harmonies are complex and slow moving - or where the arranger would like a wash of strings to add a special ambiance.
A mute is a small piece of either plastic or wood which sits between the strings and the tailpiece of the instrument - it can be slid up on top of the bridge to restrict the vibration - thus creating a less piercing sound. The Italian musical term for adding a mute is ‘Con Sordino’ and the instruction ‘Senza Sordino’ means to take the mute off again.
When scoring for strings and using mutes, it’s important to allow a few seconds either side of adding or removing one so that the player has a chance to move the mute on or off.
Although it’s possible to just mute some of the instruments in the section, the effect is more striking if all the strings are muted simultaneously - this can really add interest, variety and a whole different sound to the strings.
Tags: Adding string parts, arranging for violin, cello mutes, con sordino, haunting strings, muted strings, mutes, Orchestrating for strings, orchestrator, senza sordino, session string players, soft string sound, string accompaniment, string arranger, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio strings, viola mutes, violin mutes, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
One of the most common ways in which strings are added to a track is through the provision of chords. There are in essence three basic ways of using a chord in music.
One is called a ‘root’ chord, the others are a ‘first’ or ’second’ inversion of a chord. If the chord in question is in C major and the note C is placed at the bottom, then this is a ‘root chord’ of C. If the next note in the chord (E) is placed at the bottom, this is a ‘first inversion’ and if the third note of the chord (G) is at the bottom, this is a ’second inversion’ of the chord.
When arranging for strings, inversions add variety to the harmony and give the opportunity for all the parts to move in a musical way. What this means is that you can have an inner part (viola or second violin) moving in step so that when the session musicians play just that part, it has a logical and satisfying musical line to it and doesn’t just jump around randomly.
This is crucial when writing a bass line as it underlines the entire harmony and has to flow as a line of music in it’s own right (as well as fitting with the individual chords).
Sometimes, chords may all be grouped quite close together with the parts low in their register - this is when the rest of the track may have a ‘hole’ in that register which needs filling by the strings. In other situations, the gaps between the individual notes of the chord might be very wide and spaced apart - when a more sparse texture is needed. It’s always possible to thicken or thin out the texture of the strings by doubling notes in different registers (a careful use of double stops), or by not using all the notes in the chord.
A double stop is where two notes are played simultaneously on any given instrument. As the celli, violas and violins are all tuned in fifths, the interval of a fourth, fifth, sixth and octave can all work well. When it comes to thirds, these work better in the violin and viola parts than they do with a cello, but your studio musicians won’t thank you if both the notes in the third are written on the same string!
Other chords which require more than three notes in them are seventh chords (again in the chord of C this would be C, E, G and a Bb on the top), or diminished chords - which are a succession of minor thirds spaced one on top of another.
Jazz chords are a whole area in themselves where the arranger needs to have a good knowledge of harmony and be able to hear the chords in order to arrange around them.
In the next blog entry, I’ll be writing about the effective use of pedal notes.
Tags: Adding string parts, appropriate string parts, arranging for violin, chords for strings, orchestrating, Orchestrating for strings, orchestrator, session musicians, session string players, string accompaniment, string arranger, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio musicians, studio strings, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Saturday, April 11th, 2009
It’s always nice to tackle more involved projects requiring strings and this week we certainly got the chance to do just that with an intricate, 8 minute long track that needed a really large string sound.
I’d been asked to arrange the strings with a particularly epic climactic section which had a 5/4 beat but also triplets running through it - this had the feeling of two different time signatures simultaneously and I was concerned it might sound chaotic, but we took great care when recording and actually it worked really well. The parts were scored for 3 violin sections, often with double stopped notes to thicken out the chords - with the violas & celli adding a rhythmic base for the violins to bounce off. Some of the passages required different techniques such as tremeloes and powerful spiccato strokes with accents and once recorded, gave the impression of a much bigger string orchestra.
We’re looking forward to hearing the final result once all the post production & mastering has been done.
Tags: Adding string parts, Large string sound, notation, orchestral instruments, orchestrating, Orchestrating for strings, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio strings, writing for string section
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