From here, the preparation for my book 100 Last Orchestration Tips' release is going to ramp up a bit, with more preview tips coming soon for the community, and more focus on my side as my book nears completion. Stand by, lots of new content coming to the channel and website this month!
The band literature may provide even more compelling and varied combinations - but I'll leave it to our concert band arrangers and composers to explicate and explore. And with this, I feel like my orchestration tips have turned a bit of a corner.
Though I go into pretty thorough detail here in this video, with excerpts from Stravinsky, Respighi, and Shostakovich, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of potential combinations - and so to a degree have orchestral concert composers.
In other words, how do clarinet family members combine playing parallel tones and melodies two octaves apart? What are the best registers for dual instruments, and the timbral implications? And how does this apply to the clarinet combined with flute and bassoon?
2-OCTAVE WIND DUOS, PART 3: SINGLE-REED COMBINATIONS
Begun back in July of last year, then put on hold during the wrap-up of evaluations for the 2023 Orchestration Challenge, my series on 2-Octave Woodwind Unison Duos is now made complete with this third and last chapter.
youtu.be/I2R4EtygZ1Q
I also take a look at the context of this song's appearance in the original medieval codex, around which poems of being a lonely scribe, and asking one's superiors for warmer clothing inform this introspective dirge.
I explore both the vocal technique of the Orff-approved tenor Gerhard Stoltze, and the ethereal orchestration that flutters, throbs, and keens along to his performance.
...with a reduced orchestra distilled to the shallowest, most brittle timbres in accompaniment to a piercing countertenor line designed to start in head voice and slowly float down to a weepy, self-pitying lament.
CARMINA BURANA XII: OLIM LACUS COLUERAM
This intense kernel of dramatic agony comes right at the halfway point in Carl Orff's sprawling song cycle; with the tenor solo's only appearance. But what an appearance it is...
youtu.be/rjh6CF_QN84
Happy to get to the end of the month and be a little bit ahead instead of behind as happened so much over the past couple years. Great stuff is on the way, stand by...
Thanks to all my supporters for making this possible! I've been happily scripting, shooting, and editing videos for the past month, with a new momentum since the New Year started and the Orchestration Challenge evaluations are all complete.
...with score/audio excerpts by Bruch, Schumann, Mahler, and Bruckner - plus a look back to see how my Carmina Burana score analysis videos might be relevant.
...including strengthening and darkening harmonies, balanced integration of elements from the subtle to the massive, and all-out onslaughts of octaves and unisons. I previewed one of the images from this tip during the live Q&A earlier this month. Now here's the full tip...
ORCHESTRATION TIP: TROMBONE/HORN COMBINATIONS
A chapter-in-progress from 100 LAST Orchestration Tips, taking a deeper look into the possible teamups between trombones and horns...
youtu.be/yHeiL8Uq77s
2026 is starting on a strong footing, at least with this series of videos on Orff's masterpiece. Thanks so much everyone for standing by, now we're back on track with fresh content for training & study. Another tip to come for this month, then a whole variety of different video releases coming Feb.
There are some fantastic songs in this vein throughout the In Taberna section of Carmina Burana - and I'm really looking forward to sharing my analysis of them over the next few months, before we get into the final Cours d'amour run of songs.
After a long break tending to the 2023 Orchestration Challenge, it was great to jump back into some solid score analysis, & I feel this is some of my best work yet. I highly recommend this video in particular for developing orchestrators, as I scripted/produced it on a universal level of discourse.
The music is dark and forceful, pulsing to a driving beat that has a lot in common to today's hard rock - and stacked textures that seem quite simple in structure but are nonetheless carefully crafted and devastatingly effective.
CARMINA BURANA XI: ESTUANS INTERIUS
Orff at his most operatic, heroic, chivalric, and even metallic: a blasting, scorching ode to the Goliard lifestyle: gambling, drinking, partying, and companionship; with a dedication to Venus and a desire to float on the winds of fate. youtu.be/gkm0iajns6Q
COMPARISON OF TRUMPET VS. CORNET WAVEFORMS...
...which I'll be discussing at tomorrow's livestream Q&A (linked below), along with other excerpts from my upcoming book, previews of coming orchestration analysis videos, and answering as many of your questions as I can in 2+hrs. 10 Jan at 11:00am PST.
Hope to see you there. I haven't been able to do an event like this for a while, so I'm really looking forward to this.
PLEASE JOIN ME THIS SATURDAY 11am P.S.T FOR A SPECIAL LIVE STREAM!
Bookmark this link, save the date, then tune in for...
• Live Q&A!
• Chat about upcoming releases!
• Excerpts from upcoming videos!
• Previews from my next book, 100 LAST Orchestration Tips!
youtube.com/live/tG1iP7O...
...and strong enough to make an even better comeback in the coming year of 2026. I have a lot of very cool plans - but instead of announcing them, I'll just let them emerge over the next few months. I hope to celebrate the new year with a Q&A live video. More details very soon.
And thanks as well to all my subscribers, community members, and Patreon supporters for making all of this possible, and for being unfailingly awesome over the past two years while I faced a number of challenges. You helped keep the channel alive...
...and brings the year to an end in the best way, with a great exploration of how to make things with the potential for greatness reach ever higher. Thank you so much, Rafa, for the work you put into your entry, and all the support over the years!
But one thing for sure, Rafa makes it worth our while to look through the score, and to justify another couple hours of analysis and coaching. It's a fitting final video to this massive series of evaluations...
There's a powerful imagination at work here; all that's needed is a jolt of craft and some work on shaping and controlling the torrent of ideas. Were that to be applied, and the whole thing sped up to a true vivace, then this could be amongst the most compelling entries.
BEETHOVEN PATREON EVALUATION 82B. RAFA RODRIGUES (MOVT. 2)
The 2nd movement of Rafa's score shows signs of immense haste in its orchestration - but it's hard not to get swept up in the momentum, with one idea after the next spilling over.
youtu.be/GuU0o0LLUOo
Stay posted for tomorrow's 82B video featuring Movement 2 of Rafa's score - the very last video of this massive series of score evaluations. I can't wait to share it with you all!
