# Composing with string ensambles: Chords vs single notes



## Unknown (Dec 6, 2020)

I'm new to composing so i'm still trying to figure out how everything works but when I watch tutorials on how to write string sections, I see people using chords. It sounds great and gives it a fuller sound but what I don't understand is how that is realistic when it comes to orchestration. In my understanding, when I watch symphonies, I see violinists playing one note at a time so when I think about it, how can writing chords be considered realistic? Am I missing something?


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## jbuhler (Dec 6, 2020)

I’m not quite certain what you are asking. There are five traditional sections to the string choir: violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello, and double bass. Traditional string writing is 4 or 5 parts depending on whether the cellos and double basses are doubled in octaves. Each of those sections will typically play one note but the String choir as a whole most commonly plays chords.

Many string VIs consist of ensemble patches or have ensemble patches along with the sections. This is convenient for writing with, much like you might use a piano. It’s not completely realistic (but truth be told neither is scoring with sections) but it’s convenient and generally good enough for writing and if desired one can break it out to proper sections later. 

String sections are often also treated divisi, which is dividing the section up and giving it two or three (and depending on the size of the section sometimes more) parts. Some libraries come with divisi (usually in half section sizes) but often it is approximated with VIs by simply writing chords for the sections and reducing the volume a bit. The result is a very lush sound to the strings but it can also make the strings sound like a string synth pad if you aren’t careful with your spacings and often even if you are since any dynamic shaping you do to the patch will apply equally across all the notes, whereas real players would shape each note subtly in its own way. 

In any case without knowing which videos you are watching it’s hard to say whether the person is writing for a string ensemble library or divisi for a part.


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## fleita (Dec 6, 2020)

You can start by writing you music with chords, and then split the chords into separate parts into 4 separate lines.


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## Fenicks (Dec 6, 2020)

I think I know what he means. When I first started using sample libraries, I had no idea how string sections worked and thought that if I loaded a Violins I patch without divisi, that I could make a chord out of it by pressing multiple keys simultaneously with that same patch. This is playing a patch as if it were a piano, which is not how a real section of string players would create a chord. It's an easy mistake to make if you're playing with sample libraries but are not familiar with how orchestras work. Learning that individual string sections are linear is key.


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## Unknown (Dec 6, 2020)

Fenicks said:


> I think I know what he means. When I first started using sample libraries, I had no idea how string sections worked and thought that if I loaded a Violins I patch without divisi, that I could make a chord out of it by pressing multiple keys simultaneously with that same patch. This is playing a patch as if it were a piano, which is not how a real section of string players would create a chord. It's an easy mistake to make if you're playing with sample libraries but are not familiar with how orchestras work. Learning that individual string sections are linear is key.


I need to do a bit more research into divisi. In the tutorials I watched, each instrument in the string section would play it's own chord which would be literally impossible to play with a real orchestra which is why I was confused. If a work isn't going to be played by a real orchestra then I understand why they used chords but i'm more into realism so I'm against it.


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## jbuhler (Dec 6, 2020)

Unknown said:


> I need to do a bit more research into divisi. In the tutorials I watched, each instrument in the string section would play it's own chord which would be literally impossible to play with a real orchestra which is why I was confused. If a work isn't going to be played by a real orchestra then I understand why they used chords but i'm more into realism so I'm against it.


Most characteristically each section plays one note. 

Most string sections are sufficiently large that they could each play a chord. But it’s not idiomatic to score the strings that way even writing divisi.


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## muk (Dec 6, 2020)

They can play double stops. So it's possible for string instruments to play certain chords. It's a special technique used in certain situations. Maybe that's what you saw? That being said, most of the time strings will be playing one note at a time in orchestral settings.


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## mcalis (Dec 7, 2020)

I don't think OP is referring to double stops, which is a specialized technique that isn't required for a full sounding string chord. In my experience, when people talk about a full sound, they mean a wide sound; meaning that the notes in the chord are spread fairly widely across the keyboard (usually in some kind of open voicing). Open voicings were kind of a revelation to me when I first discovered them, so I'll share the gist of it here: instead of playing a C chord as C3-E3-G3 on the keyboard, you can play it as C2-G2-E3 (note: I'm using the midi notation for convenience).

Without using divisi you have five voices to work with: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Basses. Just in case you were unware: in an orchestral setting the violins are already divided in Violins I and II with (usually) Violins I playing the more technically challenging parts and Violins II playing a supportive role. This is not divisi. Divisi would be letting half of the Violin I players play one note and having the other half of Violins I playing another note. It's perfectly acceptable to write divisi.

To get back to our five "voices", the way in which you voice the chord (the way in which you divide them across the instruments) can give a fuller or thinner sound. There are many considerations that go into how you voice a chord, but to give you some idea: the bass obviously can't play very high notes and the violins can't play very low notes, so this already gives you a framework to work within. Generally speaking, violins I and II play the highest notes, violas fill out the middle, cellos fill out the low-mid end, and basses play a bass note. None of this is set in stone of course, I'm just talking about the most common orchestration/voicing.

I've made a very short clip to demonstrate 3 different variations of how you could voice a C chord on strings. The last variation uses divisi, where the violas are split and one half plays one note and the other half plays another. What actually happens inside my DAW is that I just have two instances of the violas and use one for Divisi A, and another for Divisi B.

I've also included a very short snippet of a piece I'm working on where I'm using some "full" sounding chords. I figured it might help you to see some examples. The MIDI is a mess, so you can ignore the big red note at the bottom, that's just a keyswitch.


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## Rossy (Dec 7, 2020)

mcalis said:


> I don't think OP is referring to double stops, which is a specialized technique that isn't required for a full sounding string chord. In my experience, when people talk about a full sound, they mean a wide sound; meaning that the notes in the chord are spread fairly widely across the keyboard (usually in some kind of open voicing). Open voicings were kind of a revelation to me when I first discovered them, so I'll share the gist of it here: instead of playing a C chord as C3-E3-G3 on the keyboard, you can play it as C2-G2-E3 (note: I'm using the midi notation for convenience).
> 
> Without using divisi you have five voices to work with: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Basses. Just in case you were unware: in an orchestral setting the violins are already divided in Violins I and II with (usually) Violins I playing the more technically challenging parts and Violins II playing a supportive role. This is not divisi. Divisi would be letting half of the Violin I players play one note and having the other half of Violins I playing another note. It's perfectly acceptable to write divisi.
> 
> ...



Thats a great example and I too struggle getting that lush sound. If I may, the second piece, are the I & II violins playing the melody while the celli and bass playing the tonic of the chords?


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## GtrString (Dec 7, 2020)

Realistic to whom? The classical crowd, the trailer crowd, the scoring crowd or the rhythmic music crowd?

When you get a library, you dont have to adhere to any imagined criteria from any one crowd. You have the freedom to do what you like.

That is part of the attraction for home composers. There is no boss man to tell you what to do, or how to sound. Intimidation factor is zero!


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## mcalis (Dec 7, 2020)

@Rossy you're forgetting the violas! I think I read it on this forum some years ago, but the real warmth of a full string sound often comes from the violas, not the celli or the basses. Here's how that passage is arranged:



Few notes:
- I've only notated pitch and rhythm, didn't bother with slurs and such.
- Notice that violins I and II split on bar 144
- The cello are divisi until bar 145 beat 2 where they join on D2.
- The basses are notated an octave higher than they're sounding for readability.


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## Rossy (Dec 7, 2020)

mcalis said:


> @Rossy you're forgetting the violas! I think I read it on this forum some years ago, but the real warmth of a full string sound often comes from the violas, not the celli or the basses. Here's how that passage is arranged:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks, I cant read music so the notation wasn't much help to me (but thanks for sharing) do you have a chord progression, say c, g, f, play a melody within those chords and then use the viola to play the tonic of those chords?


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## mcalis (Dec 7, 2020)

Rossy said:


> Thanks, I cant read music so the notation wasn't much help to me (but thanks for sharing) do you have a chord progression, say c, g, f, play a melody within those chords and then use the viola to play the tonic of those chords?


It was the other way around, I came up with the melody first and then found chords around them by noodling on the piano. The melody helps dictate what the chords should be, but I'm also guided by what feels natural under my hands: _generally _trying to move as few fingers as possible to move to a new chord.

Here is the midi view:




The violas (underlined with red) do not play the tonic of the chords, they play the top notes of the chord since violins I & II are on the melody.


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## Ashermusic (Dec 7, 2020)

GtrString said:


> Realistic to whom? The classical crowd, the trailer crowd, the scoring crowd or the rhythmic music crowd?



That is the crux of it. It depends on what you are composing and who you are composing for. I will play the chords, but usually then print it out and play in the individual lines, but not always.


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## MusiquedeReve (Jul 18, 2022)

What I usually do, and please tell me if this is the wrong way to go about it, is as follows:

For example, a D Major chord (triad, no inversion):

V1: D
V2: F#
Va: A
Vc: D
Cb: D

Is this the proper way to play a chord using the string sections? Should I try divisi with V1 and have V2 do the same separated by an octave?


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