we are sooo ready

Date: 12/12/13
Orchestra CYO

So I love rehearsing. As a kid, I was one of those weird ones that actually enjoyed the actual rehearsal much more than the break time. And if I had one rehearsal a week, then whatever day that the rehearsal landed on, was always my favorite day of the week.

I like figuring out the little things we can do to change the effects, and tiny little things we can do to make us sound a tiny little bit better. In ensemble rehearsals, topics were almost always less technical, and almost always purely musical, and I love that. And when we do talk about technical things, it is ALWAYS in context with that specific music we are playing, unlike in private lessons, where some (not all) teachers often remove all technical exercises from any kind of context whatsoever, resulting in something like a race/competition of the physical aspect of the playing, not dissimilar to athletic competitions. While I adore watching Olympics and World Cups and such, in music performance, the physical aspect of it is less than a very small portion of the whole act, and to focus on something so small, without the discussion of "why", misses the entire point. Once we figure out the "why", that tend to also answer a lot of our questions as to "how", anyway.
In ensemble rehearsals, even people that tend to generally be much less artistically inclined, are forced to think of music more musically :)

But it looks like my obsession to rehearsing has not only run the rehearsal a lot longer than I originally intended to (it was gonna make this a short one...) but also cost you guys a break, and some time to hang out with your buddies on your last rehearsal before the winter break.... I apologize....

But on the bright side, the work that you unintentionally put in, is paying off. I think you guys sound REALLY REALLY good right now. I can't tell you how excited I am for this concert.


So I mentioned how I love the sound of the clarinets and the flutes playing in octaves. To my ear, that particular combination creates a lot of warmth, and drama, with hardly any intensity to the character. Rich. moving, but gentle.

Combining of different instruments in certain way to create an effect is called "orchestration". Other common orchestration techniques that I really love is:
 - flute and oboe in unison
 - french horn, viola, and cello in unison
 - cello and violin in octaves (very common, but definitely my favorite) also unison of the two instruments is very nice (quite intense)
 - harpsichord and strings
 - muted trumpet and english horn in octaves
and
 - staccato clarinet and pizzicato violin in unison

Do you have a favorite orchestration technique?

Looking forward to Sunday!