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Notation

Divide and Conquer

There are five sections in the string orchestra, playing five parts, but quite often we need more than five notes at once. There are two ways to get the extra notes: use double stops, or divide sections (divisi). In 90% of situations you should choose to divide. There are issues with double stops that I will explain in the next article. So how does the string section divide? The default behavior is to divide 'on the stand.' Players sit in pairs and share a music…
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Parlare del niente, a rant about nothing

Niente means nothing! As such, I like to think of it as an effect, not a dynamic. It seems that a lot of people think players are computers and can really play at no volume. A good use of niente What happens when a player sees a note with a swell that starts with niente? It is impossible for many instruments of the orchestra to start from absolutely nothing, so instead they try to come in as softly as possible. If…
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Dynamic Affairs

With a little understanding of dynamics and how they work, you can use their default to your advantage. Everyone knows that p means soft and f means loud, but there is a little more to it than that. Many people these days might relate dynamics to a MIDI controller value. pp is 10, p 30, mp 50, mf 75, f 100, ff 120 or something like that. But as we are writing for humans, dynamics are subjective and forte is not the same volume in…
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A Neglected Relationship

One thing I find neglected in the major orchestration texts is the discussion of notation. Grammar is just as important a concern in music as it is in literature, and it is very important that we understand how notation works when stripped back to its essence. While the orchestra can be very forgiving when it comes to making sense of your notation, you will get a better performance, make your point more clearly, and save lots of valuable time and toner if you think about…
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Over-Notation Nation

Many people these days over-notate their music. I propose three theories for this. The first is that most people do not spend a lot of time working with a live orchestra so they do not have a lot of 'match practice'. When they do get their time with the players, they want to make sure they have everything spelled out, and so they often overdo it. Thinking they are doing the right thing, they clarify things that do not need clarifying and state things that…
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The Orchestral Default

In order to notate in a clear and concise manner, one has to understand how an orchestra will interpret any particular dynamic, rhythm or articulation. For instance, what happens if you give the violins a naked whole note and a piano dynamic marking? Even with a minimum of information, the orchestra will impart some life to that note; there is an organic trajectory to all phrases. Now what if you add an articulation or hairpins? How about at shorter rhythms? What will a pattern of…
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Introduction

deBreved, the Tim Davies Orchestration Blog I have been thinking about writing a book about orchestration and notation for quite a while. The problem with this idea is time; it would be a long time before I got everything I wanted to say organized. Books are also an old medium, and do not allow multimedia and interaction. It then came to me that a blog format might be a better way to go, so here it is. The hardest part was coming up with a…
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