# So I found what i think will be a great composition and orchestration teacher



## CircuitalPlacidity (Aug 18, 2013)

Im a songwriter who dabbles in orchestration. I've been wanting to fully get into composition and orchestration for a while. I've been looking for someone to teach me for a very long time but it was either prohibitively expensive or the person had no credentials, or the music they turned out was less than inspiring. I have finally found someone affordable that has a very impressive resume including a bachelors in jazz comp and arranging from berklee and a masters in classical composition and composing from New England conservatory of music, several film scores, stints with Cirque, touring with YES, and working with Larry Groupe and John Ottman. 

I am very excited and will be starting in September. I have no idea what to expect but Im sure it will be a valuable experience.


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## bryla (Aug 18, 2013)

Congrats! I wish you a rewarding journey through the world of orchestration!


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## rgames (Aug 18, 2013)

I think the best way to learn orchestration is to spend a lot of time playing with an orchestra. I've seen many interviews with famous composers who say the same thing.

That's not to say don't dive into the books or study with a teacher. It's just saying that a huge portion of the education comes from experiencing it as a player, so make sure you have that as part of a plan of study.

The reason it works that way is that when you spend a lot of time sitting in rehearsals you see where the players and conductor adapt to (and complain about) what's written on the page. You also spend a lot of time hearing sections playing apart from the whole, so you develop an ear for how voices blend. Amassing a couple decades of that kind of experience will make you a much better orchestrator than mastery of any text.

rgames


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Aug 18, 2013)

Unfortunately I don't play any orchestral instruments. Just sax and guitar.


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## jaeroe (Aug 18, 2013)

in my experience, and the way i was brought up, the most important things are a) knowing the literature and b) getting to hear your own works live. a good teacher can help your learning process with both of those immensely. for instance - which pieces are really helpful to giving a good overview of the principles of the craft of orchestration(and explaining them in context). a good teacher can also point out why something doesn't work, and how you can fix a problem so it does work - especially after hearing a piece performed.

while there are plenty of legendary composers who did not come from a background of primary instruments of the orchestra (bartok, liszt), one thing they all did was spend time around orchestras. so, if it's not practical for you to learn say the violin, a wind instrument, or brass instrument - you can learn a lot from attending orchestral rehearsals, especially at the university level, as they spend more time breaking things down.

another thing i had one teacher tell me, which i've found extremely helpful, is that your understanding or orchestration can be helped a great deal by understanding the history (progression) or orchestration. how do scores by haydn and mozart differ from beethoven, then weber, berlioz, on up through time. knowing the customary sizes of orchestras a given composer had to work with (or at least for a particular piece) goes a long way to understanding balance. again, a good teacher can help with all of this.

and hopefully a good teacher will have good advice on how to hear your own orchestrations/compositions. this is of paramount importance.

if you don't play/own any 'orchestral' instruments, there are several books on orchestration that have a focus on the pitfalls that people coming from non string/wind/brass instrumental backgrounds tend to make. one such is joseph wagner's 'orchestration: a practical handbook'. the idea there is how to write for a particular instrument/section idiomatically.

as far as composition goes - nothing beats listening to a lot of music/reading through a lot of scores and just writing a lot. again, an experienced teacher can help you go over that stuff. but, hearing stuff in performance, even a sinlge piece, can teach you an amazing amount. even if it's string quartet (actually, smaller ensembles are a better place to start - string quartet, wind quintet, etc. learn to write for them well and moving up to a chamber orchestra and then normal sized orchestra becomes that much more fruitful).


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## nradisch (Aug 19, 2013)

If you're in the NYC area, the Julliard school has orchestration classes in their evening division that are worth looking into. They are taught by Julliard faculty and include a full Julliard student orchestra to play your final project. That last bit, IMHO, is worth the entire price of the course.

--Neil


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Aug 19, 2013)

Thanks for the info guys and Neil, that sounds amazing but Im in the Los Angeles area. If I could find something like that out here it would be amazing.


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## Peter Alexander (Aug 19, 2013)

I have a friend with an excellent from pop to TV shows he's scored named Ric Flauding. He's in Dallas but also teaches over Skype. www.ricflauding.com. [email protected].

Reasonable pricing.


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## bryla (Aug 19, 2013)

I think some people don't read the post. Any step you take whichever instrument you play will lead you to greater knowledge because you took that step.


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## CircuitalPlacidity (Aug 23, 2013)

_-) 

So I took the first lesson today. The guy was very knowledgeable and entertaining. He already cleared a bunch of stuff up for me that I had been confused about. He also showed me a method of coming up with sketches very quickly. Overall I am excited and I have realized I need to work on my theory a bit more. Maybe I'll start posting some mockups soon for you guys to hear.


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