New answers tagged orchestra
1
If it's a pop video, the music keeps a steady tempo (probably), and the video is cut to fit it. But when it's the other way round - you scoring to existing video - it's quite likely you won't be able to find one tempo that puts a beat on each hit.
But musical hits don't have to be on the beat. If you feel the action needs a rock groove behind it for a bit,...
1
Well, it comes down to basic math.
If you have a gap between two events of T seconds, and you want to score so that there are B beats between those two events :
1 beat = T/B seconds
BPM = 60 / (T/B) = 60 B / T
for example : you have 6s between two events and you want 8 beats between them, then
BPM = 60 x 8 / 6 = 80bpm.
But when you have a bunch of ...
3
I'm not sure if there IS a definitive answer to this question, but here are some thoughts.
In the Baroque court, composers were under such time-constraints there would have been little time for soloists to memorize the music. While the orchestra was drawn from the court entourage, who were already on the payroll, professional musicians were hired to play ...
3
Musicians starting memorizing music during the Romantic Era. This practice was introduced by virtuosos such and Liszt and Paganini who may have wanted to show off.
0
As others have suggested, the best way is to learn the structure of the piece and learn how many measures you need to count from a given cue.
Alternatively (or additionally), you can also learn to count very large numbers on your fingers, for instance by using one of the methods described in this video:
2
Yes, the piece is scored for anvils. It's the Nibelungs forging their gold. In the Met's documentary, "Wagner's Dream" there is a shot of the orchestra playing the anvils. As part of their production of The Ring, the Met offered this section as a downloadable ringtone. Hummm. Perhaps it was the original Ring-tone?
Tom Hayes
6
One good substitute for an anvil that I have found is the "double-shoulder railroad tie plate":
(image source)
If you're a little resourceful, you can find these discarded by the hundreds near old rail lines. Clean up the rust and paint it if you like.
Put it on a firm support resting on the shoulders (i.e., upside-down). You can control the amount of "...
9
It sounds like a small hammer hammering on metal.
Good ear; while Wagner originally called for anvils, modern productions use metal hammers on heavy pieces of scrap metal to create this effect. Here's the Victoria Symphony, using I-beams and manhole covers, and the Halle Symphony using steel plates and I-beams. I once played with a group that used brake ...
13
Wagner actually specified in the score for 18 anvils to perform this section. Since the scene is moving down to Nibelheim (and later back up from Nibelheim) where the Nibelungs are hard at work smithing the titular gold, Wagner wanted to represent this sound as accurately as possible.
If you're looking for the specific instruments used in this specific ...
2
Just about anything. Classical/Romantic composers didn't go in for 'quirky' combinations like piccolo/tuba much, there wasn't the modern obsession for novelty-above-all. But apart from that they tried out most possible combinations.
The 'rules' are not really about what instrument blends well with what other. They're about choosing instruments which suit ...
3
Unfortunately, in practice your objective works the other way round.
The following applies only to NotePerformer, because I don't have any experience with Sibelius Sounds. The individual instruments are certainly realistic enough to be easily identifiable by ear, but the software doesn't simulate the full range of timbre and dynamics that a professional ...
1
Some more examples of the piano in the orchestra, courtesy of Walter Piston, Orchestration, p.341--6:
Stravinsky: Petrushka (1911)
Bartók: Dance Suite (1923)
Aaron Copland: Symphony 1 (re-orchestrated without organ, 1928)
Prokofiev: Symphony 5 (1944)
Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony 4 (1945)
Aaron Copland: Symphony 3 (1946)
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