I misread the channel name and thought that it was David Bruce's channel. The comment mentioning that he had run out of time signatures made me check the channel name.
I played violin (and I was in the 1sts) in my junior high orchestra. After one of our concerts, my mother said to me "I can't believe that what I just heard was what I heard you practicing..."
Remember, the range he noted here is a general range. The lowest note is set as it's always our lowest string, but the upper one, that depends on your instrument... and your intonation! I play first violin in an orchestra and I sometimes wish we had another clef for notes in the nosebleed seats, 7+ leger lines and 8va (play the notes up an octave) are no joke! 😅
Be careful what you wish for. Cello player are exptected to read 3 clefs. And some old works even use a false treble clef that is meant to play an octave lower (what the guitar uses)
I played the Double Bass for about 6 years. I’m only 5 feet tall, but as a kid I just gravitated towards it. There’s nothing quite like playing this instrument with such low vibrations. Felt very therapeutic! There were a lot of times that a bass part was “double the cellos” or the teacher would write a part specifically for the bass section because one did not previously exist. I loved every second of being a part of the violin family.
Nitpick: Bass is from the viol, not violin family. Fourths vs fifths in tuning is one difference. They also have structural/design differences in that violin family instruments have body shapes that meet the neck at a perpendicular angle while viols like the bass have bodies that swoop up the neck, not to mention have canted backs.
@@GeckoBass or the fact that almost every professional orchestral double bassist plays a five-string bass (with a low B), at least that is my impression in Germany
That's pretty unique only to really Germany, most places only have four string basses most professionals have string extension on the low E string though@@mahlerbartok
My father was a bassist, and sold one of his double basses for AUD100, because we were enduring a very nasty recession. It had a very thick cotton cover, and a distinctive aroma - I suppose that he'd looked after the wood. One hundred bloody dollars. It sounded so cool. We've kept his Fender five string electric, and we'll never sell it.
Good summary! 7:02 - Some would argue that the double bass, and piccolo (the usual piccolo at least), for example, aren’t _truly_ “transposing” instruments, on the grounds that true-transposing instruments change not just pitch, but _pitch class_ , such a notated C sounding Bb or F. I personally am not sure I agree, but I do agree that that’s an important distinction, so I wish we had two different words for the two concepts.
This is amazing. I remember when Leonard Bernstein used to make educational TV like this about the classical orchestra. It's really nice to see you branch out into this topic. I'm definitely looking forward to the entire series.
Thanks for doing a video on the strings. I realize this is an introductory video, but there some more details that could be added. The ranges of the instruments can go much higher than stated at 1:18, especially the cello--see the short piece "Dance of the Elves" by Popper for an example. Also, some of the more interesting music is when the first violin DOESN'T have the melody all the time, but it is shared around by the other instruments (e.g., viola and cello) at times (see Brahms Sextet in B-flat or Schubert String Quintet in C for examples).
yeah I think it’s kindve a disservice to not elaborate on other sections getting the melody as to me it’s what makes playing string instruments in an orchestra so worthwhile
9:05 - 9:24 I've never been good at reading sheet music (probably since I stare at a piano roll all day thanks to working exclusively in a DAW), but this has FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED how I see sheet music. I'm still gonna be slow at reading it but at least I won't have to guess what note each line is supposed to represent for the different clefs. Thank you!
As a violin player myself, the video is well presented. Just 4 things to add: 1. The music for the bass is in the bass clef but an octave lower. A similar score for a piano player you'd see "8vb" under the staff to indicate play an octave lower. 2. Today the only instrument that uses the alto clef is the viola. In the past, singing parts for a choir also used the C-clef including tenor, alto & soprano. These are now written in either treble & bass clef. 3. Although music for a string instrument is generally written as single notes, you occasionally see double notes up to 4 notes for emphasis. For instance, at the end of a section in a movement of a symphony you see a stack of 3 notes. It's generally agreed that anything more than 2 notes would be played as broken chords since the bow can only play 2 strings at a time. Sometimes you see a stack of notes at the start of a section for emphasis. You may see several stack of 3 notes at the end with a loud dynamic marking such as f or ff for extra emphasis. 4. The 1 thing composers agree when composing for string instruments is that it's difficult to get good players to play the high melody notes. People who play violin would know you need to shift the left-hand forward to play very high notes and inexperience players often play out of tune. This is the reason why some composers would let a small group (violin 1) play the melody for the entire piece. Definitely the case with Haydn symphonies. Johann Strauss waltzes the same. Violin 2 would play the repeating notes for counting like viola & cello while violin 1 would do the melody of the waltz. Some composers like Mozart would let violin 1 & 2 to alternate the melody so violin 2 players need to be as highly skilled as violin 1.
I remember asking if it was possible for you to do orchestral related videos and it has finally happened! I love how you go into a lot more detail than you usually do! These subsequent orchestral videos will undoubtedly become my favourite on the channel! Excellent!!! 😀
There are a variety of Beatles songs with orchestral parts. If you’re talking specifically about strings, then Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby are both great examples.
McCartney's Rockestra from the late 1970s could be shoehorned in, as that was an attempt to have an "orchestra" of rock instruments, with several guitars, basses, pianos etc all playing the same line to create a rich sound like an orchestra does
Thank you for sharing these ❤when my depression gets worse I turn to classical music for relief and fortunately fall in love with these great works.Sometimes I cry for the magnificent emotions contained in the music
In the Barber piece you used as an example, the double bass would need to have a "C extension" in order to play the E flat at the beginning of the piece, since E is the lowest note possible on a normally tuned four string bass. I thought you would mention the "C Extension" since you accounted for it in the graph showing the ranges of the string instruments. Love your channel! Keep up the great work. I have learned many great things by watching your channel.
The video is great. Thanks for the effort and the clarity. The only slightly confusing part is the choice of Samuel barber pièce. This piece asks the double bass to play Eb which needs: a non standard tuning, a fifth string or a double bass extension.
While having many violinists playing the same line in unison would certainly give that melody a lush sound I believe the main reason was amplification. Orchestras had been around way before any substantial amplification was invented (i.e. microphones). The number of performers for each instrument was a direct way of achieving proper mixing and loudness level. Just imagine performing in an auditorium in a quartet at a time when the only amplification they could harness was the dome shape of the venue.
Actually the reason was the sound! The early ensembles that sort of started the predecessor of an orchestra was around 13 violins, because the person who organized it noticed the sound of multiple violins playing together, and decided to form a group, but the amplification would definitely begin to later on define it
Violas are the “meat” of the orchestral sandwich. The alto clef isn’t weird for us native violists. 😂 if you play the Adagio as a quartet (what it was originally written for), you end up playing a lot of double stops. If you are Beethoven, big jumps are the norm, especially in is later quartets (Grosse Fugue).
WOW!!! I just came across your page and I think you may be my Mr. Miyagi!!! You’ve unlocked so many questions I’ve had about writing for strings!!! I can’t wait to watch your other videos. Thank you so much!
Orchestra teacher and composer here, great video. I also use your pop song videos for my guitar class, my high school students really enjoy them. I started as a viola/violin double throughout high school, now I've morphed into viola/bass/piano.
This new course is just what I needed. I'm trying to get into orchestral composition myself, and I'm currently tinkering with Musescore 4. This really excites me. Thank you, David!
Please do more of this kind of classical music analysis! It's the kind of music theory video that I've been looking for. Thank you for the great and impressive explanation!
This is brilliant, thank you! I started playing instruments (woodwinds) as an amateur almost 50 years ago and have been listening to classical music almost as long, but I learned so much from this video! And to use Barber’s Adagio for Strings as the example (in my opinion the most exquisitely sorrowful and beautiful piece of music of all time) is a perfect touch.
David, hey. Listen, thank you so much for making these videos. I hope you're making a good living that is comfortable for you and your loved ones. I'm pretty broke working full time as a self employed music producer and mix engineer, making money and spending it again on studio maintenance, new gear, the occasional "vibe" piece like a lava lamp lol. Maintaining my car. Just wanted to say i will directly support your channel consistently when income becomes a bit more stable. You provide top notch stuff. The chord progression videos i love, despite already knowing a lot of this stuff (not at all blowing my own smoke, just saying), it helps to be reminded and for the material to be explained as wonderfully and visually as you do here. For instance, i have many notes written on the ranges of the members of the orchestra, common practice, tendencies in decorative techniques, and stuff like that, just to detail deeply how to recreate it best i can using midi, or how to write parts for them if i'm hiring musicians. The visual at 1:56 is brilliant and im grateful for it. Sorry for the long comment! just wanted to say you have a fan and consistent viewer here in Cairo, Egypt, and that i'm grateful for what you do. Cheers man
I think there are really two sort of parallel families of similar instruments, the viol family and the violin family, but I suppose these four are the only ones commonly found in an orchestra. One difference between the families is the shape of the body where it meets the neck: The bass (viol family) has its body tapering up to the neck, while the other three (violin family) have the outline of the body straight across at the neck.
Also something to note for those writing, a major difference between the cello and double bass is the low note. A cello bottoms out and C2, but the bass only goes down to E1, not C1. So the automatic octave drop doesn’t always work for the 2 parts. The only way the bass can go down to the C1 is with an extension that lengthens the E string through the peg box, or in my case, I was constantly tuning the E string down to whatever the lowest note was and then transposing everything on the string. That slightly affects the quality of those pitches though since the string works optimally when tuned to the E. So when you’re right for bass, try not to write below the E2 on the staff since that’s actually played as E1.
This is very interesting to me. I never wrote an orchestra piece, but I spent many years singing oratories in concert choirs, accompanied by orchestra. I often include strings in my compositions when I need flowing legato elements. I am still a beginner with this, and therefore any information that brings me forward is absolutely precious. Thank you so much!
For those with little formal music education Spitfire Lab’s free BBC symphony orchestra plug-in is a wonderful toy. UI is largely a graphic of the orchestra and that helped me get a feel for the overall instrument, and what it takes to compose music for it.
so stoked for this series. been interested in orchestral composition forever but never knew where to start outside of paying loads of money for college courses
More accurately, the contrabass (usually nowadays just called a bass) is a member of the viol family. Viola is pronounced vee-oh-la and celli chell-ee. May seem finicky, but you'll raise polite eyebrows if you get these wrong. Extremely important in writing for strings (as they're called even in traditional settings) is the balance of the relative strength and projection of each instrument within its range. You can't just take two handed piano voicings and transfer them. Recommended reading: Rimsky Korsakov and Adler, which cover the whole orchestra, but give good examples of typical usages for each family and explanations of why they're used.
Great video David, very informative and interesting. I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of this video-series, and as a French Horn player, I'm especially excited for the next episode covering the brass section.📯 Thank you for creating such high-quality music-videos and keep up the amazing work!😊
this is a great, concise, video on the topic! will love to see you cover the other section, as i had organology last year and it will be great to remember more about instrument families
Although I compose for years now, I am still a learner, trying to make the most out of orchestration. To be honest i'm learning orchestration right now. Your videos will be great help for me! Thank You David!
14:08 Interestingly enough, on the other known string instrument, guitar, also does this. Especially on the electric guitar where thanks to guitar effects, like compression or overdrive you can sustain a note much longer than on an acoustic guitar. If you want to hear more of that, I advise you to search for ambient guitar that is often done on electric guitar. Even electric baritone guitars, which are quite like the cello-version of a guitar.
... Also the description is the same, but whereas on the violin family the finger position changes tpwards amd backwards on the snare, instead on a fretted neck, such asa in guitar, the position in changes up and down the neck.
David, thank you for a superb exposition of the string section in an orchestra. Looking forward to the next episodes. I wish you were my music teacher when I was a kid, but I am delighted that you are teaching me this now much later in my life. I think you will inspire many people, new to classical music, to explore it further, as well as the excellent Apple Classical app.
Very well done!...you have a gift for getting to the essence of musical techniques and theory, then presenting it in a clear and accessible way. I might add that another difference a quartet has to a full ensemble, is that in a quartet, the melody is passed among all 4 players more freely, as if in a conversation
I don't know enough music to be composing anything beyond vocal lines, but I still found this really interesting, and look forward to the rest of the series! Thanks
Wow! Thank you so much for this video! Extremely interesting and useful -- and the way you deliver the concepts is very clear even for a non-professional liek myself. Really looking forward to more videos in this series! 🤩
1:28 that guitar reference is quite wrong ... Apart from the double bass all modern viola da braccio family instruments have a range of 4 octaves plus about a third. So on a violin I’m not limited to the shown A7, but can even go to the B7, the viola is not limited to the shown G5 but can reach about an E7, the cello is not limited to A4, but can reach an E6 (as written in Elgar’s cello concerto). The double bass will usually go a bit under 4 octaves to about 4 octaves. On the other hand a regular 6 string classical guitar will span about 3 and a half octaves, electric and acoustic with 24 span full 4 octaves. So considering apart from the double bass each violin family instrument has more range than a standard guitar just by itself, how is the guitar supposed to play "almost every note a cello, viola or violin can play"? The cello by itself goes both a bit lower and a bit higher than a standard guitar (24 frets → same top note). The guitar goes a 6th below the viola, but the viola goes an octave higher than even the 24-fret guitar can play. The violin will add another fifth on top. And no, this range is not usually used outside of soloistic stuff. But this is quite the same for high guitar range.
One thing I know about the Double Bass (I’m a Double Bass player in my school orchestra) is that the E-String is tuned normally to E-Natural. In order to play the Eb on the open E, you have to tune the E-String to Eb, not E-Natural. That’s why my notation software always marks it in a yellow shade rather than the standard black shade (Double Bass string layout is NOT the same as the Violin. Bass: E-A-D-G. Violin: G-D-A-E)
"Double" bass doesn't refer to its doubling the cello line an octave lower. Rather, "double" is an older English term for an instrument that plays an octave lower, e.g. "double bassoon," an older term for contrabassoon. This also appears in older British and American organ stop nomenclature, e.g. "Double Open Diapason."
I thought the same thing! I'm a little over half way through the video right now, in the section about clefs, and he also didn't mention the cello frequently using three different clefs. You know, for all those high notes he didn't illustrate 😅
You read my mind! I was just thinking I wanted to learn more about how orchestra works - and here you are with this great video! :-) Thank you, I'm waiting impatiently for brass and woodwinds sections!
INTRODUCTION The violin (violin) is a kind of super clean orchestra played to ring carry instruments. It is widely spread all over the world, is the modern orchestra string of the main instrument. In the music it plays very important position, is the pillar of the modern symphony orchestra, but also has the difficult playing skills solo instrument. The emergence of modern violin has been 300 years of history, is the western music since the 17th century in one of the most important instruments as the instrument queen, was also the production is itself a gate violin for fine art. The violin beautiful tone, close to a broad range, and the performance is strong, it was born from that day on, he's been in the instrument of significant position, for people loved. If the piano is "the king of musical Instruments, then the violin is" the queen of instruments ". For centuries, the world famous composer wrote a lot of violin classic works, violinist in this instrument into the soul, the development of the superb performance art. The violin can concerts and solo. The violin is a string of four bowed instrument, the family is the main members of the family system of other members are: (the viola, the cello and the bass). Modern violin originated from Italian Craig mona, in 1600-1750 years to become the largest violin production center. The famous master making guitars are: Nicola Amati (nicolas, Marty), Antonio Stradivari (Antonio Stella bottom tile), and Giuseppe Guarneri (ji plug pu - melon nai): They made instruments so far are priceless. The violin's fifth tune: g, d1, a1, e2, register more than three and a half group, is all orchestra indispensable instrument, also after instruments.
Try out Apple Music Classical with a free trial: apple.co/DavidBennettPiano 🎵(Free trial available for new users only)
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no link to two set violin's video?
@@doctorscoot well spotted. Added now!
And for those of us who don't have anything apple...?
@@r-bascus Just enjoy the actual content on how to compose for strings then, and ignore the advertisement if it not irrelevant for you.
Guys, it happened! He ran out of time signatures!
Lol
Came here for that comment
still waiting for pi/e signature
Don’t speak too soon 😉
I'm afraid we haven't even seen his final form...
As an amateur cellist, I'm honored to be a member of "violin family".
Bruh, celli are at least twice as cool a violin. Be proud of yourself!
It's the viola who should be honored...
As a cellist, I'm not!?
Cello is the best string instrument.
I misread the channel name and thought that it was David Bruce's channel. The comment mentioning that he had run out of time signatures made me check the channel name.
I played violin (and I was in the 1sts) in my junior high orchestra. After one of our concerts, my mother said to me "I can't believe that what I just heard was what I heard you practicing..."
😂😀
Remember, the range he noted here is a general range. The lowest note is set as it's always our lowest string, but the upper one, that depends on your instrument... and your intonation!
I play first violin in an orchestra and I sometimes wish we had another clef for notes in the nosebleed seats, 7+ leger lines and 8va (play the notes up an octave) are no joke! 😅
Our ancestors actually had clefs keyed to pitches above G4 (D5, F5) and below F3 (G2, notated as Γ).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clef
8va 👼
That's why you get paid more 😁
Be careful what you wish for. Cello player are exptected to read 3 clefs. And some old works even use a false treble clef that is meant to play an octave lower (what the guitar uses)
Been playing cello in an orchestra for 8 years now but still watching this just because I love your channel.
😊😊😊😊
Same
I played the Double Bass for about 6 years. I’m only 5 feet tall, but as a kid I just gravitated towards it. There’s nothing quite like playing this instrument with such low vibrations. Felt very therapeutic!
There were a lot of times that a bass part was “double the cellos” or the teacher would write a part specifically for the bass section because one did not previously exist. I loved every second of being a part of the violin family.
This is exactly the type of music videos I want to learn from thank you!
YES!! The orchestra tutorial. This is going to be a great series. I’m looking forward to a breakdown of the percussion section.
Thanks David.
Nitpick: Bass is from the viol, not violin family. Fourths vs fifths in tuning is one difference. They also have structural/design differences in that violin family instruments have body shapes that meet the neck at a perpendicular angle while viols like the bass have bodies that swoop up the neck, not to mention have canted backs.
Good point!
Exactly
I was about to comment that! Also he forgot to mention C extensions lol.
@@GeckoBass or the fact that almost every professional orchestral double bassist plays a five-string bass (with a low B), at least that is my impression in Germany
That's pretty unique only to really Germany, most places only have four string basses most professionals have string extension on the low E string though@@mahlerbartok
My father was a bassist, and sold one of his double basses for AUD100, because we were enduring a very nasty recession.
It had a very thick cotton cover, and a distinctive aroma - I suppose that he'd looked after the wood. One hundred bloody dollars. It sounded so cool.
We've kept his Fender five string electric, and we'll never sell it.
So happy to see TwoSet, Ray and Hilary in this video! You know your stuff! (But we knew that already, I'm just especially happy about it.) 😄
Good summary!
7:02 - Some would argue that the double bass, and piccolo (the usual piccolo at least), for example, aren’t _truly_ “transposing” instruments, on the grounds that true-transposing instruments change not just pitch, but _pitch class_ , such a notated C sounding Bb or F.
I personally am not sure I agree, but I do agree that that’s an important distinction, so I wish we had two different words for the two concepts.
This is amazing. I remember when Leonard Bernstein used to make educational TV like this about the classical orchestra. It's really nice to see you branch out into this topic. I'm definitely looking forward to the entire series.
Thanks for doing a video on the strings. I realize this is an introductory video, but there some more details that could be added. The ranges of the instruments can go much higher than stated at 1:18, especially the cello--see the short piece "Dance of the Elves" by Popper for an example. Also, some of the more interesting music is when the first violin DOESN'T have the melody all the time, but it is shared around by the other instruments (e.g., viola and cello) at times (see Brahms Sextet in B-flat or Schubert String Quintet in C for examples).
indeed, SO many asterisks should be added at just about every section of this video.
yeah I think it’s kindve a disservice to not elaborate on other sections getting the melody as to me it’s what makes playing string instruments in an orchestra so worthwhile
Excellent. As a non-muscian this answered many questions I've had for years - and a few I didn't even know I had! Thank you.
Ray and Hillary - I was thinking “where’s TwoSet?” - and boom…
I look forward to this series - should be fun and informative.
9:05 - 9:24 I've never been good at reading sheet music (probably since I stare at a piano roll all day thanks to working exclusively in a DAW), but this has FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED how I see sheet music. I'm still gonna be slow at reading it but at least I won't have to guess what note each line is supposed to represent for the different clefs. Thank you!
As a violin player myself, the video is well presented.
Just 4 things to add:
1. The music for the bass is in the bass clef but an octave lower. A similar score for a piano player you'd see "8vb" under the staff to indicate play an octave lower.
2. Today the only instrument that uses the alto clef is the viola. In the past, singing parts for a choir also used the C-clef including tenor, alto & soprano. These are now written in either treble & bass clef.
3. Although music for a string instrument is generally written as single notes, you occasionally see double notes up to 4 notes for emphasis. For instance, at the end of a section in a movement of a symphony you see a stack of 3 notes. It's generally agreed that anything more than 2 notes would be played as broken chords since the bow can only play 2 strings at a time. Sometimes you see a stack of notes at the start of a section for emphasis. You may see several stack of 3 notes at the end with a loud dynamic marking such as f or ff for extra emphasis.
4. The 1 thing composers agree when composing for string instruments is that it's difficult to get good players to play the high melody notes. People who play violin would know you need to shift the left-hand forward to play very high notes and inexperience players often play out of tune. This is the reason why some composers would let a small group (violin 1) play the melody for the entire piece. Definitely the case with Haydn symphonies. Johann Strauss waltzes the same. Violin 2 would play the repeating notes for counting like viola & cello while violin 1 would do the melody of the waltz. Some composers like Mozart would let violin 1 & 2 to alternate the melody so violin 2 players need to be as highly skilled as violin 1.
Thank you.
I remember asking if it was possible for you to do orchestral related videos and it has finally happened! I love how you go into a lot more detail than you usually do! These subsequent orchestral videos will undoubtedly become my favourite on the channel! Excellent!!! 😀
I'm not an English-speaking person, but this is the most understandable lesson I've seen on the Internet. Thank you
Can’t wait to see how we get Radiohead and The Beatles into this one!
The intro to Creep is a textbook example of the voice leading he just explained, so I'm sure he'll slide them in soon enough :P
George Martin’s orchestrations for the Beatles
There are a variety of Beatles songs with orchestral parts. If you’re talking specifically about strings, then Yesterday and Eleanor Rigby are both great examples.
McCartney's Rockestra from the late 1970s could be shoehorned in, as that was an attempt to have an "orchestra" of rock instruments, with several guitars, basses, pianos etc all playing the same line to create a rich sound like an orchestra does
Radiohead actually came in mind as Jonny Greenwood has used his Ondes Martonet to simulate an orchestra
How can we strive for peace with all this talk of violins!
Thank you for sharing these ❤when my depression gets worse I turn to classical music for relief and fortunately fall in love with these great works.Sometimes I cry for the magnificent emotions contained in the music
My highschools orchestra had won an national orchestra competition playing adagio. We did this way back in the 90's. So cool seeing a breakdown.
Outside of classical circles, it was pretty much unknown until it featured in the movie Platoon. Now it's one of the best known classical pieces.
I love the viola.
In the Barber piece you used as an example, the double bass would need to have a "C extension" in order to play the E flat at the beginning of the piece, since E is the lowest note possible on a normally tuned four string bass. I thought you would mention the "C Extension" since you accounted for it in the graph showing the ranges of the string instruments. Love your channel! Keep up the great work. I have learned many great things by watching your channel.
The video is great. Thanks for the effort and the clarity.
The only slightly confusing part is the choice of Samuel barber pièce. This piece asks the double bass to play Eb which needs: a non standard tuning, a fifth string or a double bass extension.
While having many violinists playing the same line in unison would certainly give that melody a lush sound I believe the main reason was amplification. Orchestras had been around way before any substantial amplification was invented (i.e. microphones). The number of performers for each instrument was a direct way of achieving proper mixing and loudness level. Just imagine performing in an auditorium in a quartet at a time when the only amplification they could harness was the dome shape of the venue.
Actually the reason was the sound! The early ensembles that sort of started the predecessor of an orchestra was around 13 violins, because the person who organized it noticed the sound of multiple violins playing together, and decided to form a group, but the amplification would definitely begin to later on define it
Violas are the “meat” of the orchestral sandwich. The alto clef isn’t weird for us native violists. 😂 if you play the Adagio as a quartet (what it was originally written for), you end up playing a lot of double stops. If you are Beethoven, big jumps are the norm, especially in is later quartets (Grosse Fugue).
WOW!!! I just came across your page and I think you may be my Mr. Miyagi!!! You’ve unlocked so many questions I’ve had about writing for strings!!! I can’t wait to watch your other videos. Thank you so much!
Orchestra teacher and composer here, great video. I also use your pop song videos for my guitar class, my high school students really enjoy them. I started as a viola/violin double throughout high school, now I've morphed into viola/bass/piano.
This new course is just what I needed. I'm trying to get into orchestral composition myself, and I'm currently tinkering with Musescore 4. This really excites me. Thank you, David!
Please do more of this kind of classical music analysis! It's the kind of music theory video that I've been looking for. Thank you for the great and impressive explanation!
This is brilliant, thank you! I started playing instruments (woodwinds) as an amateur almost 50 years ago and have been listening to classical music almost as long, but I learned so much from this video! And to use Barber’s Adagio for Strings as the example (in my opinion the most exquisitely sorrowful and beautiful piece of music of all time) is a perfect touch.
I mean the bass is really a part of the gamba family but for the rest great tutorial :)
David, hey.
Listen, thank you so much for making these videos. I hope you're making a good living that is comfortable for you and your loved ones.
I'm pretty broke working full time as a self employed music producer and mix engineer, making money and spending it again on studio maintenance, new gear, the occasional "vibe" piece like a lava lamp lol. Maintaining my car.
Just wanted to say i will directly support your channel consistently when income becomes a bit more stable. You provide top notch stuff. The chord progression videos i love, despite already knowing a lot of this stuff (not at all blowing my own smoke, just saying), it helps to be reminded and for the material to be explained as wonderfully and visually as you do here. For instance, i have many notes written on the ranges of the members of the orchestra, common practice, tendencies in decorative techniques, and stuff like that, just to detail deeply how to recreate it best i can using midi, or how to write parts for them if i'm hiring musicians. The visual at 1:56 is brilliant and im grateful for it.
Sorry for the long comment! just wanted to say you have a fan and consistent viewer here in Cairo, Egypt, and that i'm grateful for what you do. Cheers man
1:48 The violin/mandolin tuning (these are tuned identically) is a basically inverted tuning of the double bass, in fact!
PLEASE CONTINUE THIS SERIES PLEASE!
Wonderfully simple.... many thanks!
😊😊😊
As an arranger/orchestrator, I find your explanations excellent! Very well thought out and presented with clarity, as always.
I think there are really two sort of parallel families of similar instruments, the viol family and the violin family, but I suppose these four are the only ones commonly found in an orchestra. One difference between the families is the shape of the body where it meets the neck: The bass (viol family) has its body tapering up to the neck, while the other three (violin family) have the outline of the body straight across at the neck.
David, thank you for such an informative and helpful video.
Thank you 😊
Thank you so much for this video, as a producer that uses strings, I desperately needed this.
Also something to note for those writing, a major difference between the cello and double bass is the low note. A cello bottoms out and C2, but the bass only goes down to E1, not C1. So the automatic octave drop doesn’t always work for the 2 parts. The only way the bass can go down to the C1 is with an extension that lengthens the E string through the peg box, or in my case, I was constantly tuning the E string down to whatever the lowest note was and then transposing everything on the string. That slightly affects the quality of those pitches though since the string works optimally when tuned to the E. So when you’re right for bass, try not to write below the E2 on the staff since that’s actually played as E1.
Typically most professionals have an extension or a 5 string. If you don’t have one then no need to tune down. Just play an octave up.
This is a great starting point for amateurs(or not classically trained musicians). Thank you!
Finally someone who explains things. Thank you so so much!
Holy shit I cannot believe I lived to see the day david got a major company sponsor, so proud
Very interesting. I played a bit of violin and cello at school, but had never really considered how they fit together in an orchestral arrangement
This is very interesting to me. I never wrote an orchestra piece, but I spent many years singing oratories in concert choirs, accompanied by orchestra. I often include strings in my compositions when I need flowing legato elements. I am still a beginner with this, and therefore any information that brings me forward is absolutely precious. Thank you so much!
For those with little formal music education Spitfire Lab’s free BBC symphony orchestra plug-in is a wonderful toy. UI is largely a graphic of the orchestra and that helped me get a feel for the overall instrument, and what it takes to compose music for it.
Can’t wait for the brass video
so stoked for this series. been interested in orchestral composition forever but never knew where to start outside of paying loads of money for college courses
This has all the features you are looking for in a TH-cam video. Great job
When you defined homophony, it brang back memories of hearing the new world symphony live, specifically towards the end of the second movement.
❤❤❤❤
More accurately, the contrabass (usually nowadays just called a bass) is a member of the viol family. Viola is pronounced vee-oh-la and celli chell-ee. May seem finicky, but you'll raise polite eyebrows if you get these wrong. Extremely important in writing for strings (as they're called even in traditional settings) is the balance of the relative strength and projection of each instrument within its range. You can't just take two handed piano voicings and transfer them. Recommended reading: Rimsky Korsakov and Adler, which cover the whole orchestra, but give good examples of typical usages for each family and explanations of why they're used.
Very excited for this series!
Great video David, very informative and interesting. I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of this video-series, and as a French Horn player, I'm especially excited for the next episode covering the brass section.📯
Thank you for creating such high-quality music-videos and keep up the amazing work!😊
After surviving so much clickbait, TH-cam is finally suggesting me the good stuff.
Great introductory video, subscribed!
Thanks! That was so well presented and informative. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
this is a great, concise, video on the topic! will love to see you cover the other section, as i had organology last year and it will be great to remember more about instrument families
Although I compose for years now, I am still a learner, trying to make the most out of orchestration. To be honest i'm learning orchestration right now. Your videos will be great help for me! Thank You David!
YESSS was waiting for this. 🔥
I could spend days and days watching your videos. Always such a treat!
When you played that F across the strings, I naturally excepted the rest of ELO’s Sweet Talkin’ Woman to continue.
14:08 Interestingly enough, on the other known string instrument, guitar, also does this.
Especially on the electric guitar where thanks to guitar effects, like compression or overdrive you can sustain a note much longer than on an acoustic guitar.
If you want to hear more of that, I advise you to search for ambient guitar that is often done on electric guitar.
Even electric baritone guitars, which are quite like the cello-version of a guitar.
... Also the description is the same, but whereas on the violin family the finger position changes tpwards amd backwards on the snare, instead on a fretted neck, such asa in guitar, the position in changes up and down the neck.
More of this please! This is so helpful and presented wonderfully! Thanks so much!
David! Everything I wanted to know about Violins and never realized I wanted to know. Wow! Keep the seriese going. i am eager to learn.
David, thank you for a superb exposition of the string section in an orchestra. Looking forward to the next episodes. I wish you were my music teacher when I was a kid, but I am delighted that you are teaching me this now much later in my life. I think you will inspire many people, new to classical music, to explore it further, as well as the excellent Apple Classical app.
I am beyond excited for this new series!!!! Thank you
Very well done!...you have a gift for getting to the essence of musical techniques and theory, then presenting it in a clear and accessible way. I might add that another difference a quartet has to a full ensemble, is that in a quartet, the melody is passed among all 4 players more freely, as if in a conversation
Thank you for the explanation, and I am looking forward to watching how to compose for woodwinds! I play the oboe and love orchestras.
David, that was in incredible amount of information packed into just over quarter of an hour!
With my last name being Guarnieri, I’d love to own a part of my family history someday with owning one of the Guarnieri violin.
Good way to get the young 'uns interested in classical
I don't know enough music to be composing anything beyond vocal lines, but I still found this really interesting, and look forward to the rest of the series! Thanks
Exellent explanation,very very pro and easy to understand. Compliments, your channel is one the most interesting and helpful in YT. 👏👏👏👏
Looking forward to the Brass section!
ah yes, quite a useful guide I shall use for my composing journey. thank you for making this and I'm so excited to see the brass section video!!
I bet these guys are popular with the ladies.
Superb finger technique ! ! ! 13:23
Fascinating... I did not know any of this...
Merci beaucoup, very well done.
Thanks!
David you put that film in a perfect time because I want to learn about all this things. Can’t wait for the next parts!
Thank You Sirjee
Awesome Information
This has helped a lot, Thanks David! I will watch your other parts for different instrumental families too!
Wow! Thank you so much for this video! Extremely interesting and useful -- and the way you deliver the concepts is very clear even for a non-professional liek myself. Really looking forward to more videos in this series! 🤩
1:28 that guitar reference is quite wrong ... Apart from the double bass all modern viola da braccio family instruments have a range of 4 octaves plus about a third. So on a violin I’m not limited to the shown A7, but can even go to the B7, the viola is not limited to the shown G5 but can reach about an E7, the cello is not limited to A4, but can reach an E6 (as written in Elgar’s cello concerto). The double bass will usually go a bit under 4 octaves to about 4 octaves. On the other hand a regular 6 string classical guitar will span about 3 and a half octaves, electric and acoustic with 24 span full 4 octaves. So considering apart from the double bass each violin family instrument has more range than a standard guitar just by itself, how is the guitar supposed to play "almost every note a cello, viola or violin can play"? The cello by itself goes both a bit lower and a bit higher than a standard guitar (24 frets → same top note). The guitar goes a 6th below the viola, but the viola goes an octave higher than even the 24-fret guitar can play. The violin will add another fifth on top. And no, this range is not usually used outside of soloistic stuff. But this is quite the same for high guitar range.
One thing I know about the Double Bass (I’m a Double Bass player in my school orchestra) is that the E-String is tuned normally to E-Natural. In order to play the Eb on the open E, you have to tune the E-String to Eb, not E-Natural. That’s why my notation software always marks it in a yellow shade rather than the standard black shade (Double Bass string layout is NOT the same as the Violin. Bass: E-A-D-G. Violin: G-D-A-E)
If you’re playing an Eb you’re most likely going to have a C extension or a 5 string bass
"Double" bass doesn't refer to its doubling the cello line an octave lower. Rather, "double" is an older English term for an instrument that plays an octave lower, e.g. "double bassoon," an older term for contrabassoon. This also appears in older British and American organ stop nomenclature, e.g. "Double Open Diapason."
I thought about that too. Double bass is a contra bass instrument.
@@bucko5427 exactly!
Excellent video mate. And you used my favourite classical piece ever to illustrate. Bravo!
i CAN'T wait to see the brass video! pls do woodwinds too, would love to see that - it was genuinely helpful. been into orchestra writing these days
Thanks you David, this helped me a lot with my piano concertos!
Thx didnt kow that the notes are seperated that way, still learning.. very helpful stuff dude
Okay, so those range illustrations are NOWHERE NEAR accurate, all the instruments in the violin family can go much higher. Especially the cello! 😅
I thought the same thing! I'm a little over half way through the video right now, in the section about clefs, and he also didn't mention the cello frequently using three different clefs. You know, for all those high notes he didn't illustrate 😅
Amazing, it is quite hard to find info about this in such an accessible way. You are awesome!
Glad it was helpful!
Can't wait for the other parts, this video helped me a lot because I had some misunderstandings
You read my mind! I was just thinking I wanted to learn more about how orchestra works - and here you are with this great video! :-) Thank you, I'm waiting impatiently for brass and woodwinds sections!
Great video, would love to see more in this series (especially if you ever plan of doing arranging for a jazz ensemble)
INTRODUCTION
The violin (violin) is a kind of super clean orchestra
played to ring carry instruments. It is widely spread all
over the world, is the modern orchestra string of the main
instrument. In the music it plays very important position,
is the pillar of the modern symphony orchestra, but also
has the difficult playing skills solo instrument.
The emergence of modern violin has been 300 years of
history, is the western music since the 17th century in
one of the most important instruments as the instrument
queen, was also the production is itself a gate violin for
fine art. The violin beautiful tone, close to a broad range,
and the performance is strong, it was born from that day
on, he's been in the instrument of significant position, for
people loved. If the piano is "the king of musical
Instruments, then the violin is" the queen of instruments
".
For centuries, the world famous composer wrote a lot
of violin classic works, violinist in this instrument into the
soul, the development of the superb performance art.
The violin can concerts and solo.
The violin is a string of four bowed instrument, the
family is the main members of the family system of other
members are: (the viola, the cello and the bass). Modern
violin originated from Italian Craig mona, in 1600-1750
years to become the largest violin production center. The
famous master making guitars are: Nicola Amati (nicolas,
Marty), Antonio Stradivari (Antonio Stella bottom tile),
and Giuseppe Guarneri (ji plug pu - melon nai): They
made instruments so far are priceless. The violin's fifth
tune: g, d1, a1, e2, register more than three and a half
group, is all orchestra indispensable instrument, also
after instruments.
This is pure gold. Thank you 👍