Textures and timbres : an orchestrator's handbook / Henry Brant.
| Author/creator | Brant, Henry |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York, NY : Carl Fischer, ©2009. |
| Description | xii, 257 pages : music ; 29 cm |
| Subjects |
| Portion of title | Orchestrator's handbook |
| Contents | Classification of instruments in groups according to tone-quality -- Groups of closely related instrumental timbres -- Harmonic balance -- Volume -- The arrangement of timbres in harmonic situations -- The arrangement of timbres in contrapuntal situations -- Dissonance -- Consonance -- Unisons -- Octaves and double octaves -- General types of musical material -- Uniformity in the number of notes in successive chords -- Uniformity in articulation -- Vibrato -- The termination of long notes -- Joints and separations -- Extreme registers -- Which comes first, composing the music or choosing the timbres? -- The piano as a pitch guide in preparing musical material for orchestration -- Equivalents of the piano's damper pedal -- Simulated bell timbres -- Wind timbres -- The four wind-timbre groups, studied separately -- The four wind-timbre groups in combinations -- Percussion timbres -- Classification of percussion instruments by dynamic range -- Definite-pitched percussion -- Indefinite-pitched percussion -- Definite- and indefinite-pitched percussion together-- The roll -- Composing for percussion -- Definite-pitched percussion with winds -- The piano as an orchestral instrument -- Pizzicato timbres -- Pizzicato group and piano staccato -- Pizzicato group and definite-pitched percussion with piano staccato -- Pizzicati in unison with winds (groups I, II, and III) -- The bowed strings -- Wind-groups I and II with bowed strings -- Bowed strings with horns and saxophones (wind-group III) -- Bowed strings with open trumpets and trombones (wind-group IV) -- Bowed strings with open tuba and euphonium (wind-group IV) -- Tutti formations -- Epilog. |
| Abstract | From his childhood on, the author had undertaken a study of the existing much-admired orchestration texts (some with wide circulation). In many of them, he discovered not only errors of fact, but also significant areas of omission. In consequence, many of the new works he heard at orchestral concerts were expressed in unbalanced sonorities and in timbral qualities of poor resonance. It seemed apparent to the author that, "a set of practical guides to the actual sound of the instruments (rather than to hoped-for evocations of mystic visions) would simplify the task of conductors, instrumentalists and audiences alike." This book is one such effort. At age twelve (1925), the author began keeping notebooks of orchestral combinations. Over the years, he continued this practice. In the 1940s, he decided to prepare a new orchestration textbook; its last page was not written until late 2005. Since the materials for this text is based on real-life experimentation, the writing necessarily occupied several decades. The process was closely interwoven with the author's entire career, running parallel to it. He adapted the book's materials from his extensive commercial work in radio, from interactions with his orchestration classes at The Juilliard School, Columbia University and Bennington College, from his numerous orchestrations of documentary and Hollywood films, as well as from his own experimental composing and his years spent in orchestrating Charles Ives's Concord Sonata (A Concord Symphony, which was completed in 1994). This book is the result of a single conception that began in boyhood and continued as a lifelong pursuit: an acute interest in experimentation with orchestral combinations. |
| General note | Publisher number: TXT6. |
| ISBN | 9780825868276 |
| ISBN | 0825868270 |
| UPC | 798408068271 |
| Publisher number | TXT6 Carl Fischer |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | MT70.B73 2009 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |