5 Tips for Writing for Orchestra

The world of classical arranging has always felt very foreign and intimidating to me but after a lot of study, as well as a lot of trial and error, I managed to put together my first real orchestral arrangement. It ended up being much longer, more frustrating, and more rewarding than I had anticipated, and I wanted to share some things that I used to approach the project that I found helpful. Enjoy!

featuring:

0:00 Intro
3:23 My Arrangement
6:03 Tip 1: Create a Minimum Viable Product
8:48 Tip 2: Use a Reference Track
12:01 Tip 3: Think of a section as one chordal instrument
17:41 Tip 4: Think of a section as a collection of individuals
20:36 Tip 5: Separate your 'Writer Brain' and your 'Editor Brain'

#Orchestra #videogamemusic #musictheory

[brianbjur]

Today I learned the genre of my music is “minimal viable product”

[cheergiver]

Going to show this to my 11 year old. He’s been playing oboe for a year and dreams of being a composer. I personally am not musically inclined, but I enjoy your videos- theory has always interested me.

[sihplak]

12:18 Don't forget that instruments from different families can work REALLY well together. Oboe and Trumpet, for example, can blend super well together for fantastic effect. Being aware of the timbral qualities of instruments can help with figuring this out.

[danielbazin]

8bit said “3rds and sixths are your friends for functional chord voicing” and I thought “no s***.”

...then I realized that I was biased as a woodwind player

[r.mishra]

Honestly, it'd be great if you could cover how Shoji Meguro can write pieces for such diverse genres, because damn. You could shove him industrial neo post-prog djent and he'd probably make it work

[rougenaxela]

The violinist in me looking at those "Str." lines has an instinctive reaction like "Wtf is this, piano score for someone with three hands?". I know you've merged the parts for the different string instruments down to a single score for display there, but as a violinist used to reading solo scores, the merged score for the string section there is just kinda hilarious.

[militarykobold]

"write a bunch of complete segments and then put them together later" Notably how One-Winged Angel was constructed. Wait, is this the channel I learned that on??

[sandwell]

"Tip 1: Be a musical genius" - Papa 8-bit

[virtuousthing]

your arrangement definitely sounds like a mario galaxy song!

[spaghettisan]

8-bit Music Theory,

Not going to lie, your arrangement really made me feel nostalgic that I ended up tearing up. P4G has a very special place in my life and your arrangement really just brought me back to the past. Props to you and the instrumentalists.

[jbaer]

I really needed this atm, uploaded just in time!

[bld]

This is actually really well-timed for me, since I'm experimenting writing orchestral and instrumental scores - plus I've been playing Persona 4 Dancing lately, so the cover is very timely too.

[TheJohnStacy]

I really love how this turned out. Hearing it all come together is so satisfying!

Thanks for having me! :)

[ErebosGR]

"And the guitar player just strums some chords."
Woah, you just triggered every guitarist in the world.

[noahpettibon]

Truly amazing how you were able to get such a cohesive sound from everyone overdubbing from home!! That’s so incredibly difficult. A while video on how to do THAT would be much appreciated.

[MultiEpicepicepic]

I think the only thing stopping me from creating something like this is the sheer frustration of trying to get it perfect and fear of failure.

[cmv_]

I see Persona 4 on thumbnail, I click. Simple

[seduq]

Just an idea: It would be nice if everyone (the players) makes a "behind the scene" video, so every channel get a piece of the views too. It was a collab, so I really want to see all the different perspective and work too. Upload them at the same time and link to the videos.

[bartowo]

Tysm, i have been intrigued by composing music for so long and your videos have reallt been helpful for someone who has been watching them before knowing pretty much anything abt music theory, to someone who knows a little about kusic theory, so thanks

[Cysubtor_vb]

Love how your brass section is geared towards low brass. In my own writing, I've been going back and forth between how I want to group up the instruments I play, which are primarily low brass, into chords, but has been simplifying a lot more than I expected. Still playing around with various combinations to see what I like in the meantime, but gradually working towards the sound I want.