JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Music Theory and Education Does anyone write notation by hand anymore?

Joe,

It takes a combination of talent and learned skill.

Probably most who do it started out in grade school or high school band, where they learned the interaction of instruments. In college, they were taught the basics of orchestration: what is the range of different instruments; what instruments compliment each other; how do voices move. And, perhaps most importantly, they analyzed great works. From Gregorian Chant, to Respighi, through Bach to Beethoven, and on to Strauss, Stravinsky, Tchaikowski, and even Altschuler and Perez. A wealth of work by the Europeans. The Blues and Jazz developed by the African-American composers turned into Rock, which was affected by the Ragas of India and the Reels and Jigs of Ireland. All of these were being assimilated by orchestrators.

Greats, like Billy Strayhorn, who wrote arrangements for Duke Ellington, or Neal Hefti, Frank Foster and Billy Byers who arranged for Count Basie, all have been studied, copied and analyzed. Broadway brought in a whole crop of arrangers as well as an amazing work by a man who became the Nexus of serious symphonic music and the Broadway stage with his seminal work "West Side Story," Maestro Leonard Bernstein.

The modern composers and orchestrators include two of my favorites from the film world. Bernard Hermann, Hitchcock's "go to" composer of many of his greats including "Psycho" and my all time favorite film score, "The Birds," and of course John Williams, composer of the themes for "Jaws," "Star Wars," and "Indiana Jones."

Yes, it is the arranger or orchestrator, who may or may not be the composer, that is responsible for the magic. Knowing when too little is too little and too much is too much, knowing what will work and what won't all takes experience, heart, soul, and work.