How To

Write
Music For
Orchestra
CONTENTS

3 Orchestral basics
4 Writing for Orchestra
4 Four basic musical functions
5 Range

5 Process
5 Sketch first then orchestrate
5 Decide which orchestral section is doing what function
5 Write down your chord progression

6 Common Approaches
6 Melody and accompaniment
6 Ostinato
6 Dynamic movement
6 Combinations

7 Structure and Template

7 Final Advice

2
ORCHESTRAL BASICS
The orchestra is made up of four sections:

• Woodwind
• Brass
• Percussion
• Strings

Woodwind is the most diverse section, with different instruments having very different timbres. Piccolo
and flutes contrast with oboe and bassoon which are different again to the clarinet family.

So, the woodwind section itself can be divided into flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. Typically in an
orchestra the woodwind consists of 1, 2 or 3 players in each sub-section referred to as single, double or
triple woodwind.

It’s common for woodwind players to be comfortable in more than one instrument - a flautist might swap
from a flute to a piccolo and a clarinetist from a Bb clarinet to a bass clarinet, for example.

Brass also covers a range of timbres from the soft warmth of the French horns to the brilliant bright
sound of the trumpet. The enormous power of the brass section means at fortissimo the brass section can
eclipse pretty much the rest of the orchestra. Soft brass has a haunting quality and sounds both warm
and emotive.

As the dynamic increases from piano to forte and beyond the timbre changes dramatically from warm and
soft to quite harsh and brilliant. A typical section might include 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, a
bass trombone and a tuba.

Percussion falls into two types; pitched and unpitched. Pitched instruments include glockenspiel and
xylophone, vibes and marimba - all instruments capable of playing melodic lines and harmony. Timpani
are also pitched and tuned to specific notes. The unpitched include things like bass drum (grand cassa)
cymbals, and gongs.

Strings are the largest section of the orchestra with up to 60 players divided into 5 sections:

• Violin 1
• Violin 2
• Viola
• Celli
• Basses

A string section is typically described in 5 numbers, indicating how many players there are in each section:

• Large orchestra: 14 - 12 - 10 - 10 - 5
• Chamber Orchestra: 8 - 6 - 4 - 4 - 2

Strings are the most homogeneous in terms of sound with the timbre very similar from the lowest basses to
the highest violins. There are very clear differences however with the woody warmth of the viola in contrast
to the brighter sound of the violin for example. Strings can play in a very wide range of articulations from
bowed (arco) to plucked (pizzicato) to struck with the back of the bow (col legno) and many more as well.

3
WRITING FOR ORCHESTRA
The choices you have available to you, the number of instruments, the articulations – its all frankly a bit overwhelming.
So I suggest we simplify things...

At any one time, each of the four sections can be performing one of four basic functions;

Four basic musical functions

• Melody
• Harmony
• Rhythm
• Texture

Now, they may be doing more than one at a time, or indeed all four, but looking at these choices and working out
what each section is contributing is a way of seeing how an orchestral composition is really working in overview.

Woodwind Texture Melody Harmony Texture

Brass Melody Harmony Melody

Percussion Rhythm Rhythm

Harmony &
Strings Texture Harmony Melody Harmony Texture
Rhythm

Above you’ll see an orchestral piece simplified down into the functions each section is player. We have a moody start
with woodwind and strings providing an orchestral texture before the melody comes in on the French horns. The
strings are largely providing a harmonic accompaniment, with gentle rhythmic figures from the percussion.

The next section passes the melody to the woodwind, with both harmony and rhythm being taken by the strings.
At the climax of the piece, the strings take the theme in octaves and the woodwind and brass are providing the
harmony with a stronger rhythmic accompaniment from the percussion.

Finally, the melody is passed back to a solo French horn with a shimmering harmonic accompaniment in tremolo
violins which transitions back to the textural elements of woodwind and strings where we started.

Breaking down your composition into these four categories is a good way to determine if there’s any common traits
to your writing style, or even missing elements to your arrangement.

4
Range
Understanding the range of individual instruments is a very important part of becoming a good orchestral composer.
Some instruments are capable of an enormous range of pitch and tone but understanding what each instrument
sounds like in each part of its register is also very important. For example a clarinet sounds very different in it’s low
register compared to the higher parts of its range.

Some parts of an instruments range can be extremely difficult to play. Some woodwinds find it very difficult to play
at the very bottom of the range whilst many other instruments struggle at the very top. Understanding the practical
limit of a musician’s ability when it comes to range is an important thing to ask when doing a live performance.
Always try to write music which plays to the strength of the instrument rather than challenging them with
unnecessary sections written in particularly uncomfortable parts of the range. A good orchestration book or online
resource is vital for getting your head around how all this works.

PROCESS
There are two main ways of writing for orchestra;

• A: Pencil/paper or score writing software

• B: A Digital Audio Workstation (either played in from a keyboard or entered with a mouse)

Option A requires a much higher level of music theory and is usually accomplished using a score writing piece of
software like Sibelius, Dorico or Finale. The majority of musicians, particularly those of you coming to this for the first
time, will be playing your music in using a DAW. Almost any DAW will do including Bitwig, FL Studio, Reaper, Logic,
GarageBand and Cubase.

Sketch first then orchestrate

Don’t try to do everything at once particularly when you first start. I find it really useful to sketch out my ideas using
ensemble patches first and then orchestrate when I’m really sure of what the chord progression is and the structure
of the piece I’m trying to write.

Also, don’t try to write something which is a five-minute epic when you are still getting to grips with the basics of
orchestral composition. Take a small bite-size chunk and get good at writing short pieces before you move onto
something longer or more complicated.

Even writing 30 seconds of music can be quite demanding!

Decide which orchestral section is doing what function

When you have a good idea of how your piece of music is going to evolve, try thinking about it in terms of those four
musical functions and the four main sections of the orchestra. See if you can map out how the piece will evolve using
a simple block chart as I did above.

This might well help when you’re first starting to write orchestral music.

Write down your chord progression

One of the most common problems, as pieces of orchestral music evolve, is that the underlying harmony becomes
blurred and less distinct.

Was that an a minor cord or an F major chord? It seems obvious in a simple song but when you have many different
voices or weaving around each other these things can get much more obscure. I would strongly recommend
(particularly when you first start) that you have a clear core progression in mind and even write it down either on a
piece of paper or insert markers into your project in your DAW.

5
COMMON APPROACHES
NOTE: There is an almost limitless variety of approaches to orchestral composition. In this introduction tutorial we’ve
looked at three main ways of approaching orchestral composition.

Melody and accompaniment

The majority of tonal music would probably fall into this category. It involves some form of melodic movement
accompanied by harmonic elements. This is a very broad definition of something that can take many forms. For
example, the melodic content itself can be as short as a tiny motif which is handed from one section to another, or
along arching lyrical themes that may take many bars to complete. The theme may be very prominent or may be
much less obvious as a melodic idea.

The accompaniment can also be in many different forms from the most simple chords to extremely complex
chromatic. As before, start with a simple idea but make sure you really understand what your thematic idea is before
you start trying to orchestrate it. Very often I hear students who have a good idea which is not fully formed and they
don’t really know what their musical idea is before they start trying to write a piece.

Ostinato
DEFINITION: “a musical figure repeated persistently at the same pitch throughout a composition.”

And ostinato is very commonly found in orchestral music, particularly in a film or games environment. The repeated
figure gives both rhythmic intensity to the music and also acts as a harmonic basis around which thematic ideas
can develop.

An ostinato is often closely related to a pedal. A pedal is a long held note or series of notes that do not change while
the theme (be it the melody, harmony or both) move around it. It’s a very common orchestral technique and one
which we use in the tutorial.

Dynamic movement
The third composition technique we use in the tutorial example is dynamic movement. To build emotional intensity
and keep the listeners interest, it is important that music grows and diminishes over time rather than staying one
level from beginning to end.

Throughout the tutorial example, the music grows in intensity and reaches a climax. The trick to this is not just to
make all the instruments louder but to grow from a simple orchestration to something more complicated, particularly
growing the range of pitches by adding octave above or below the main theme. Introducing new sections of the
orchestra at key moments can be very effective in intensifying the emotion.

Combinations
There is an almost limitless range of colours possible by combining different instruments of the orchestra. A flute
by itself sounds pure and lyrical but it can equally as well be combined with an oboe or the first violins to take on a
much more powerful thematic force.

Some instruments can blend very well with instruments of other sections. For example if you only have two trumpets
and need a third, try adding an oboe in the middle of the cord and your ear will tell you that you’re actually listening
to 3 trumpets. Likewise, a bassoon can often be added to a French horn section. Basoon and clarinet double many
instruments extremely well and add a certain warmth to the texture of celli, French horns, violas and many more.

It’s extremely common for the double basses to play an octave below the celli. While this is almost a default setting,
don’t let it go without thought.

Often, you want to bring in the basses at a certain point to add weight to a string arrangement. Don’t always just
leave them playing what the celli are playing, but an octave below. Likewise, having violins playing in octaves is very
effective for stating your big lyrical theme, but don’t overdo it as the emotional intensity brought in by that addition
will soon lose its effectiveness.

6
STRUCTURE AND TEMPLATE
Have a rough structure in mind when you start. Working from a template, however simple, does give you a much
better chance of actually finishing your music! Even if your piece of music is only going to last a minute, try to map
out a rough structure before you begin as that will give you clear sections to your music so that you can consider
more carefully how you are going to develop both your thematic elements and your harmony.

With greater experience you may be able to start with just a blank sheet of paper and write a beautifully structured
piece of music, but most people need to start somewhere slightly more predictable and straightforward.

Consider starting with something like this:

• Intro: 4-bars
• Theme A: 8-bars
• Theme A (variation): 8-bars
• Theme B: 8-bars
• Theme A (big finish!): 8-bars

FINAL ADVICE
• Listen to lots of live orchestral music and hear what it can do.
• Look at some orchestral scores if you can get hold of them. Even if you aren’t a fluent sight reader you will be
able to get a lot out of following a score while listening to a recording of the piece.
• Start with short, simple ideas that you can finish. 30 seconds to 1 minute is often all you need.
• Try re-arranging or re-orchestrating your ideas – how many different ways can you express the same idea?