Hello! Now that the counterpoint course is completed, I will be returning to the idea of monthly themes for the Musicianship Workshop and my various other resources and events. The theme for July will be orchestration - literally, the process of writing for an orchestra. But it's really a more general term having to do with arranging a composition for multiple instruments and all the decisions you have to make about which instruments play which notes at which time. Orchestration is a huge topic that one cannot master in a month, but we'll explore what we can together, and who knows, if we're on a roll, we might continue the theme into August as well.
While I don't have a formal course to offer for orchestration as I did for Basic Music Theory, Harmony and Chord Progressions, and Practical Counterpoint, I have a considerable amount of experience of my own to share, and we can study and grow together through our discussions and the projects we work on. It's this collaborative learning that is really the heart and soul of what we do in the Outside Shore Music community and what I am dedicated to facilitating. As one of the students in the counterpoint course put it,
"It was my lucky day to have found you, and to have been surrounded by such a fine and gifted group of fellow students, who likewise couldn’t have been more supportive and helpful. Although it may sound like hyperbole, it would be an understatement to say how greatly my life has been enriched".
So, if you'd like to join us in our exploration of orchestration (and other subjects going forward), I encourage you to become a Gold-level member of the Outside Shore Music community today! If you do so right away, feel free to join us in today's session of Office Hours for face-to-face meeting with me and other members where everyone gets individual attention.
Mastering MuseScore
If you are interested in getting the most out of the world's most popular music notation software, join our community with a Mastering MuseScore membership for the most comprehensive training & expert support available!
MuseScore Café
This week in the MuseScore Café with Marc Sabatella, we continue our first-Wednesday "ask me anything" series. Come with your questions, and I'll do my best to answer!
Tip of the Week
If you have a score with a given part being played by one instrument, and you wish to change it to a different instrument, MuseScore Studio provides a couple of different ways of accomplishing this. Most of the time, you will want to use the "replace instrument' feature rather than merely changing the playback sound. In this video post, I show how these commands work and why "replace instrument" is usually the right choice.
Musicianship
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Music Master Class
This week in the Music Master Class with Marc Sabatella, we will be discussing orchestration and checking out music from members. Note: this is the Independence Day holiday in the US, so I may deviate from our usual routine, but I do plan to still host the session at the scheduled time.
In Theory
The word "transcription" has at least three different meanings in the music world. One has to do with copying existing written music, a second has to do with learning music by ear, and a third - the one I will be focusing more in coming videos - has to do with orchestration. In this video post, I explain these three different meanings of "transcription" and give examples, and I talk a bit more about the term as it relates to orchestration (and contrast it with "arranging").