To my family, whose unwavering love and support have been my greatest source of inspiration – thank you for always standing by me.
Thanks to Laura Moro at Edizioni Curci for her invaluable support in bringing this book to life, to Emi Neshida for her outstanding mockups, to Anna Cristofaro for her beautiful graphic work, and special thanks to Edoardo Simeone for the Italian translation, his insightful feedback, and his remarkable musical instincts.
I am deeply grateful for the guidance of my editor, Samuele Pellizzari, whose expertise, sense of humor, and patience was invaluable in shaping the direction of this book.
This volume comes with an online playlist accessible via the following QR Code:
Editorial coordination: Samuele Pellizzari
Assistant editor and music editor: Edoardo Simeone
Appendix: Edoardo Simeone
Layout design: Anna Cristofaro
Audio mockups: Emi Nishida
All musical examples are by Norman Ludwin, unless marked otherwise.
The best way to become a better musician is to practice with specific goals in mind. For example, when I was learning the double bass, it was not uncommon for me to practice three or four hours daily, which my teachers fully expected from me. We worked on scales, etudes, tone production, intonation, rhythm, musicality and so on. I had to concentrate on my weaknesses and work very hard to correct my shortcomings.
This same work ethic applies to learning composition: to become a better composer one must practice composition. This book is therefore meant to help musicians become better composers.
My goal is to transform the current composition teaching philosophy, from less of “show me what you wrote last week” to more of “develop these two motives, use this exact instrumentation, and modulate twice”. This structured approach has produced wonderful results for my students, whose writing has become more confident, creative, and most importantly, more original.
As you understand the composing process better you can make musical choices from a position of knowledge, as opposed to guess work, and will feel freer to express yourselves in creative directions. The ultimate goal of this book is to strengthen your original, creative expressions.
All examples have accompanying audio files. This symbol: 1 is the number of the audio file.
To access the accompanying audio files, please refer to page 2.
2024 by Edizioni Curci S.r.l. - Milano. Tutti i diritti sono riservati.
1 COMPOSITION
1.1 Work Flow and Process
An important part of all composer’s growth is establishing and refining one’s work flow. There is no single right way to structure your composing process. In today’s hectic world, we face many distractions that challenge our ability to focus and concentrate on our art; it is only by slowing down and letting our mind truly listen to the music we are creating that we can be successful artists and musicians.
This is my personal work flow. To start with, I highly encourage you to try this process, which has been very successful for me, so you can eventually develop your own.
I start by improvising on ideas that occur to me. If I’m working with video, I will watch the video and improvise.
When I have a motive, rhythmic pattern, or specific harmony that I like, I will notate it in a notation program. I notate my motives and ideas because I want the ability to vary and develop my material , which is far easier for me to do in a notation program, where I can clearly see the notes, than in a DAW.
My next step is an outline of the piece, helping me to organize my material.
Once my outline is complete, I sketch out my work in a two or three stave score. Often I’ll work with paper and pencil, as I love to get away from the computer and sit outside my house and write – a wonderful bonus of living in Los Angeles!
When my sketch is complete it is time to start to work in my notation program to fill out my sketch and complete the orchestration
When I am ready to make my mockup, I export the Midi file to my DAW of choice.
1.2 Writing an Outline
1.2.1 Why Write an Outline?
Outlining provides us a way to conveniently organize our thoughts and approaches along with a structure to expand upon. It allows us to think in a macro view, as opposed to the micro view of putting notes on the page. It is not meant to be a permanent document, but a scratch pad for your ideas.
Think of your outline in the same way as the author creates character or plot lines for a novel:
What is the stor y you are trying to tell the listener?
How do you think it should begin and end?
What is the highpoint of your piece?
What motives do you have and in what order do you want to present them?
Which instruments do you want to feature?
What harmonic language do you feel like using?
Is there material from another work you might want to modify and reuse?
Which textures seem interesting for this work?
What are the sections of contrast?
Any random thoughts that might help the writing?
What questions do you have about the direction of the work?
These pages are work of mine called Oliver’s Tale. This is a rough draft without much specificity, so I can modify or re-write it completely. Adding actual musical notes in the outline is an excellent idea, and at times one might want to add material from a previous work, as I did in the transition section.
1.2.2 Oliver’s Tale
What story do you want to tell? A young person’s odyssey from rough childhood to successful adulthood.
Opening1:30 Five note pentatonic scale figure
1st part2:00
Strings repeat opening idea but pizzicato z
2nd part2:30
Winds with new idea based on a three note diatonic scale pattern y
3rd part3:30
Sudden silence followed by full tutti z & y together
Ending Total 2:00 11:30
Transitions (optional)1:00
Gradual reduction of energy, ending on the opening motive but now modulated up to a fourth higher to F
Use the motive Dog Time from my work: “Chocolate Dreams”
3 ORCHESTRATION
3.1 Orchestration Insights
3.1.1 Insights I
When you orchestrate always have a chart of instrumental ranges available and refer to it often.
Keep the bass register free of unwanted rubs and dissonances; notes below C3 create many overtones that will cloud your textures.
Try to limit your instrumental doubling, as too much doubling reduces your texture to a bland color.
In order to retain a proper balance of chords, it is often necessary to change the spacing of chords from keyboard sketches to the orchestral works.
Notate your melody one dynamic higher than the accompaniment.
Don’t repeat exactly a melody from one instrument to another without variation; one can use modulation or embellishment, to name two techniques.
Writing the word “solo” before an exposed passage is useful to the players.
Cautionary naturals are extremely helpful.
When writing for the orchestra, think of it as a combined ensemble not as separate families.
Let all the players make musical gestures together-don’t limit it to just the players with the melody.
Give new ideas space for the listener to appreciate them.
Keep the focus on what’s most important at each turn of your music.
Fermatas help divide sections and let players take a collective breath-also helps separate one’s ideas.
Be cautious of marking slurs over articulations.
Build up to forte as a point of arrival, not a beginning.
When writing complex, rhythmically challenging material it’s a good idea to have more than one instrument play the rhythm, to allow the instruments to support one another.
For up-tempo works, establish a repeating rhythmic pulse
Be careful of too many conflicting rhythms
Prepare ideas with introductions.
Include crescendos and diminuendos (called hairpins or swells) regularly in your music to add breath and movement.
Nothing wastes more recording time than notation problems
When writing low tessitura solos, most of the instruments need more dynamic help.
The following work by Claude Debussy, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, originally composed for piano solo, is a beautiful melody that sounds wonderful when orchestrated. It has two textures, marked 1 2 with various contrasting sections.
In my orchestration, note the consistent use of dovetailing and how I vary the dynamics depending on the instrument’s role.
NOTES
1. Changed the original key to G major.
2. Opening section uses only the woodwinds.
a. Melody in the solo clarinet.
3. Melodic linking to the oboe mm. 4.
a. Accompaniment in bassoons and horns.
4. Strings enter mm. 7.
a. Violins in octaves with the melody.
b. Clarinets and low strings are the accompaniment .
5. The descending melody in mm. 10-11 goes from the viola to the bass.
6. Strings in two octaves mm. 12 to 13.
a. Accompaniment in horns, trumpets, and trombones; new color usage of the brass.
7. Mm. 14 melody in 1st violins alone.
8. Accompaniment a mix of bassoons and low strings.
a. Melodic linking from 1st violins to flutes mm.15.
b. Crescendo in the accompaniment comprised of the low brass, timpani, bassoons, cello, and bass.
9. Mm. 17 to 18 is the only instance of a doubled melody between strings and winds (violins and clarinets).
10. The end of mm. 18 has the flutes in octaves (15ma higher than the original), adding a graceful turn for the ending.
11. Full tutti for the final chord.
4 HOLLYWOOD SOUND SECRETS
Successful composers have specific techniques that they employ repeatedly, which become their musical signatures. The following section is a compilation of these various important techniques, with each composer followed by a film and cue reference.
ELMER BERNSTEIN TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD – Main Title
Use of a small chamber orchestra as contrast to a normal symphonic sound. Americana elements strongly influenced by the music of Aaron Copland. Simple piano solo to begin a cue capturing the movie’s storyline of the young girl and her experiences.
Orchestration featuring one instrument – the flute.
BRUCE BROUGHTON SILVERADO – Main Title
The oboes don’t play the fast sixteenth note runs unlike the flutes and clarinets – recognizing instruments liabilities.
Horns preview the second main theme – introduce abbreviated material in a solo instrument before the main introduction of the theme.
Transition passages between important sections – provides a sense of pacing and allows the listener to gradually accept new material.
Melodies are repeated with different instrumentations – by varying instruments we take advantage of the wide orchestral palette which creates color and contrast.
The melody is stated in quarter and half notes against an accompaniment of sixteenth notes – provides a feeling of expansion and nobility especially with the fast passages in the background.
Instead of doubling 1st and 2nd violins together, Brahms uses the 1st violins and violas in octaves for a deeper texture.
Example B has the violas written in treble clef for ease of reading.
For contrast, at this point Brahms uses the 2nd violins and violas in octaves.
4.3 Rapsodie Espagnole - Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer from the Impressionism era. He was a masterful orchestrator of his own work and as well as others, including his famous orchestration of M. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition
Rapsodie Espagnole (Spanish Rhapsody) is one of Ravel’s first major works for orchestra, and was composed between 1907 and 1908.
Prelude à la nuit (Prelude to the Night) is the first movement of this work.
4.3. 1 Motive z
To be the best composers we can be, the examination of orchestral scores must be an integral part of our study regime. Maurice Ravel offers us a fantastic example of colorful orchestration choices combined with a masterful use of thematic development.
Motive z
This four note descending scale is the basic theme (called motive z) of the movement:
One of the more remarkable features of this movement is the fact that this theme is played almost continuously. Of the 63 measures in the score, 43 measures contain this unaltered four note motive (68%), a remarkably high percentage.
These four notes imply the diminished, or octatonic scale of alternating half and whole steps.
When we analyze the instrumental combinations utilized for motive z, we find a remarkable variety:
Opening: First oboe in unison with the viola, first violins an octave above.
Number 1) English horn in unison with the viola, first violins an octave above.
Octaves between second violins and violas.
Number 2) Unison between English horn and cellos.
Unison between s econd flutes and violas.
Number 3) Unison between first clarinet and first violins.
Number 4) Unison between second flute and oboe (with the first flute an octave above), unison between English horn and first bassoon.
Tempo primo Unison between second flute, clarinets, and second violins: the first flute plays an octave above.
Number 7) Celesta
Number 9) Unison between second violins and viola, with the first violins an octave above.
2024 by Edizioni Curci S.r.l. - Milano. Tutti i diritti sono riservati.
The harps and flute in unison with the clarinets one octave lower; the harps add a percussive edge to the low flute; the combinations Ravel uses for this accompaniment figure is worth noticing.
Hemiola* rhythm (2 bars in triple time as if 3 bars in duple time); the beaming over the bar line also shows the composers intentions.
DOUBLING
This four note figure (called m otive z ) is omnipresent throughout the work: one of the remarkable elements of this work is the variety of instrumental groupings Ravel utilizes for this figure.
Motive z ’ s first appearance is with 1 st violins and violas 2 octaves apart; normally the 2nd violins would be the middle octave but Ravel opts for a more open sound. TEXTURE
EXPRESSION MARKINGS
Muted strings; muting softens the sound and reduces the overtones.
HARMONY
With the cello and bass pitches B 7 and then Bm7(5) are implied.
2024 by Edizioni Curci S.r.l. - Milano. Tutti i diritti sono riservati.
