Orchestration Analysis with Texture, Balance, and Function

Footage from a speech I gave at the 2014 Composers Association of New Zealand (CANZ) Conference in April. This speech shows an example of how the fundamental elements of Texture, Balance, and Function can be used to quickly analyse the content of an orchestral score. Apologies for the low volume!

Stay posted for the Q & A session that followed my talk, which will be uploaded very soon.

Many thanks to conveners Samuel Holloway and Leonie Holmes - also to Anthony Ritchie for hi kind introduction, and to Chris Watson for videoing the event.

[farceofnature]

I'm very late to this party, but very thankful for these videos... what a great resource, and a tremendous help to a beginner orchestrator such as myself.. Thank you!!

[mariedouglas]

Great presentation. I am loving this channel!

[trickynekoman]

By the way, I would highly highly hiiighly recommend the course that's shown at 4:58. I attribute pretty much most of my experience as a composer to the 2 years that I consistently practiced and stayed true to the course, and I've composed every day without skipping a beat for all of that time. Before it I swear I had no talent, after it I could do pretty much everything that I wanted to do in music. I've been composing now digitally since I was 12, I'm 28 now. It takes time consistently every day, and it's very difficult since you can't miss a single day in the training, but you will be able to do most of what you want to do in music after you take it, and then orchestration and arrangement will make good additions to build on that solid foundation. Sorry if that's overly bold, but for me it's the absolute truth. Traditional music theory taught me NOTHING compared to aural training, but the aural training you undergo has to be as strict as that course, in where you are able to sing the notes and name them lightning fast. I'm not affiliated with David Lucas Burge in any way, it's just such a solid method of learning.

[jpstenino]

"sounds that are inferred by their overtones" ... important point at 3:03

[nikolajbentzon]

As intelligent, eloquent, knowledgable, and well-mening as you are, Thomas, I don´t understand why you let yourself read off your manuscript word for word...?? Even your last signing-off sentence almost gets lost for the listeners. Other than that, thanks so much for sharing all your good advice and insight with us out here 🙏🏽

[recordman]

If someone could reboot the audio, that'd be great.

[JAMStudiosIE]

Thanks for sharing this. Some very interesting points made in video

[BrianQuesta]

This gets me so excited about orchestration! I cant wait to dive into scores. Did you ever hand copy scores as a method for learning? would you recommend it?

[jaredhoeft]

Flute question: in a medium-small-sized orchestra (30-40 string players at most, probably), how well will a flute solo work in the range of F4 to F5 (so, within the five lines of the treble staff)? The solo is marked mezzo-forte and is accompanied by staggered chords in the strings (all 5 string sections are playing, all marked piano, all sul tasto) and a soft triangle on beat 3 of every measure. The notes in the strings' chords lie below the range of the flute melody, so they don't interfere in that way. I really like the sound of the flute in this range, and I don't want it to sound like everybody is trying to play as quietly as possible, but of course I need the flute solo to be heard prominently, as the melody! How well will this work? Thanks! (the instrumentation is 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, 2 percussion parts, and strings)

[beakf]

Im gonna watch this fully later. Just to let you know i watch your videos on my laptop, the rest are fine but the sound is quiet on this one. Well i just bunged on some headphones but if your doing more like it you can boost the sound if possible as long as it doent distort.

[SteveLocks]

What was the music at the start of this video?

[mhitos]

I am really dissapointed. Where is the iconic shirt?