Orchestral instrumentation and articulation - brass

Horn/French Horn

Articulation:
Normal
Major Trill
Minor Trill
Glissando
Mute
Legato
Non legato
Staccato
Staccatissimo

Trumpet

Articulation:
Normal
Glissando
Staccato
Staccatissimo
Tremolo
Tongued Slur
Double Tonguing
Minor Trill
Flutter Tonguing
Tenuto
Triple Tonguing
non legato

Trombone

Articulation:
Normal
Glissando
Tremolo
non legato
Legato
Tenuto
Staccatissimo
Tongued Slur
Staccato
Vibrato
Flutter Tonguing
Double Tonguing
Triple Tonguing

Tuba

Articulation:
Normal
Major Trill
Major Trill
Mute
Tongued Slur
Staccato
Staccatissimo
Tremolo
Tenuto
Vibrato
Glissando
non legato

Task 5 - Score for woodwinds (demo)

Score:


Video without score (start video from 1:54):


Video with audio and score:


Written report coming soon.

Orchestral instrumentation and articulation - Woodwinds

woodwind instruments (high-low):

Flutes
-Piccolo
-C Flute
-Alto flute (in G)
-Bass flute

Articulation:
double tonguing
triple tonguing
fluttertonguing
trill (major/minor)
tongued slur
tremolo
staccato
tenuto
legato
staccatissimo


Oboe (double reed)
-piccolo oboe
-Oboe D'amore (in A)
-bass oboe
-heckelphone
-contrabass oboe

Articulation:
trill (major/minor)
tongued slur
tenuto
tremolo
staccato
staccatissimo


English Horn/Cor Anglais (double reed) - the tenor (or alto) member of the oboe family

Articulation:
tongued slur
staccato
staccatissimo
legato
tenuto
glissando
fluttertonguing


Clarinet (single reed)
-Bb clarinet
-Eb clarinet
-clarinet (in A)
-basset horn
-bass clarinet
-contrabass clarinet

Articulation (for clarinet):
staccato
staccatissimo
tongued slur
fluttertonguing
trill (major/minor)

Articulation (for bass clarinet):
staccato
harmonic
trill (major/minor)
tremolo
legato
staccatissimo
tongued slur
fluttertonguing
subtone


Saxophone (single reed)
-soprano
-sopranino
-alto
-tenor
-bass
-baritone

Articulation:
staccatissimo
slap tongue
glissando
staccato
trill (major/minor)
fluttertonguing
tremolo
subtone
legato
tongued slur
tenuto
harmonic


Bassoon (double reed)
-bassoon
-contrabassoon

Articulation (for bassoon):
staccato
legato
fluttertonguing
trill (major/minor)
tenuto
tongued slur
tremolo
slap tongue
staccatissimo

Articulation (for contrabassoon):
trill (major/minor)
tongued slur
tremolo
staccato
tenuto
fluttertonguing
legato
staccatissimo

Task 4 - brass score to a clip from 'North by Northwest'

Score:


A demo of the ideas I have used to score a clip from 'North by Northwest'.
Using brass rhythmically has been my main focus, but also looking at articulation, suspense and fitting memorable brass motifs to the character's movement in the film clip. At the moment the score is sounding bare without the rest of the orchestral instruments (strings and woodwind), however, so far the score has been successful at creating a build up of pulse/rhythm, alternating between different members of the brass family, and creating atmosphere/suspense to the scene.

Techniques to use/used:
-theme and brass variations
-increase in tempo
-ostinato
-using brass as a rhythmic device
-call and response
-assigning specific timbres/instruments to different notes/layers within a chord/movement
Influences:
Hans Zimmer's score to Gladiator:

This score influenced my choosing of roles for each brass instrument and creating suspense using crescendos. The trumpets in my score are heavily influenced by their roles in Hans Zimmer's score: at 4:29 on the given video example, the trumpets carry a strong continuous pulse that creates suspense and build up for the rest of the instruments.

Bernard Herrmann’s original score to Alfred Hitchcock's 'North by Northwest':

I was most influenced by Herrmann's use of semi-tones, call and response and off-beat rhythms. His use of semi-tones create a suspense effect (similar to the score accompanying the film 'Jaws'), his call and response method allows the small responses at the beginning of the score to take flight into a melody carrying the score to a different key and mood. Herrmann also uses the trumpets to play one note rhythmically as a build up method (similar to the continuous pulse of trumpets created by Hans Zimmer).

Family Guy's episode 'And Then There Were Fewer' opening theme song, composed by Walter Murphy:

This music score influenced my use of brass as a rhythmic device, using the low instruments like basses with a steady pulse, alternating with trumpets carrying the theme/melody (although Walter Murphy's composition relies heavily on the strings to carry the main theme).

Video with score:

Orchestral instrumentation and articulation

String family
(In order of pitch: high - low, determined by size)

Violin


Viola
(Same shape and features as the Violin only the Viola has a bigger body)

Cello

Double Bass


Articulation:

Arco normal (using the bow normally on the string)
Arco spiccato (the bow lightly bounces on the string)
Arco staccato ('detatched')
Arco legato ('tied together', smooth/joined)
Arco glissando ('to glide')
Arco sul tasto (''on the touch', to bow on the fingerboard)
Arco au talon (using the frog/nut of the bow on the string)
Arco punta d'arco ('at the point', using the point/tip of the bow)
Arco tremolo (measured/unmeasured) (alternating up and down bow rapidly)
Arco col legno (battuto/tratto) ('hit with wood')
Arco detache ('separated')
Arco Martele ('hammered', bow stroke with a bite to begin with)
Arco trill (rapidly alternating between two notes)
Arco sul ponticello ('on the bridge')
Arco tenuto ('to hold', sustain)

Pizzicato normal (plucking the string)
Pizzicato glissando
Pizzicato quasi guitar (held like a guitar and strummed)
Pizzicato tremolo

Molto vibrato (Molto='much', vibrato is a technique used to alternate pitch whilst bowing on the string)
Non vibrato (no vibrato)
Con sordino ('with mute')
Natural harmonic (placing a finger lightly on certain areas of the string without adding pressure to create a soft high-pitched note, usually around 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 up a string, shortening the vibrational length of the string)
Artificial harmonic (the same effect as a natural harmonic, canceling out the fundamental tone, producing harmonic tones)
Harmonic glissando (gliding with harmonics)

Task 2 - score to The Dark Knight's chase scene

Video with audio and score:

The Dark Knight video (without score):


audio/score (piano skeleton):


Video with audio (draft):

Task 1 (build up) - Music for Digital Media

Music For Digital Media-Week 1

Cymatics:

The word ‘Cymatic’, invented by Swiss scientist: Hans Jenny, comes from the Greek word ‘Kyma’ meaning 'Wave'.
The interest in, or use of, Cymatics can be traced back thousands of years to tribes who would sprinkle grains onto the skin of their drums for divine purposes, however, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) created one of the earliest records (after Galileo) of Cymatics. Hooke devised an apparatus in 1680 consisting of a glass plate covered with flour that he ran a violin bow along, creating nodal patterns.
Cymatics are the earliest form of visualised sound and created a stepping stone to technology such as Optical Sound Recording.

The process of Optical Sound Recording:



This video extract (from the film: Sound Recording and Reproduction, produced by: Erpi Classroom Films Inc.) demonstrates the early technology of sound art on film. The different light variations on the Sound Track create different wave forms on the Sound Track area: Variable Density, Bilateral Variable Area, and Unilateral Area. This Sound Track is then placed on the photographic film, so, the final film tape not only contains the photograph of the action to be seen on the motion picture, but also the photographic record of the sound created through the Optical Sound Recording process. The sound 'Negative' (film/tape) is placed on the picture Negative to create a combined Positive film:



Case Study: Modern Times (1936), Charlie Chaplin

“Unemployment is the vital question … Machinery should benefit mankind. It should not spell tragedy and throw it out of work.”
-Charles Chaplin



Modern Times shows Charlie Chaplin’s character struggling to survive in a modern industrial society. Modern Times marked the last screen appearance of the Little Tramp: Chaplin’s loveable character which had brought Chaplin world fame. This satirical comedy addresses the aftermath of America’s Great Depression; when mass unemployment coincided with the rise of industrial automation.

By the time Modern Times was released, talking pictures (also known as ‘Talkies’) had been established for almost a decade. This ‘silent’ comedy marks the transition between the two film eras; containing a number of recorded sound effects, an orchestral soundtrack and Chaplin sings on screen for the first time.

David Raksin (1912-2004):

Well known for his theme to the film Laura (1944); one of David Raksin’s earliest film assignments was to assist Charles Chaplin in the composition of the score to Modern Times.

Phil Spector's 'Wall Of Sound" emulation

This composition is my own song, originally composed on acoustic guitar with the simple chord sequence. In the studio, similarly to Phil Spector, I got the musicians (electric guitarist, pianist, bass player, and drummer) to rehearse this chord sequence several times to a click. Once they knew this chord sequence confidently, I then told them to play around and experiment with this. The electric guitarist was told to start with the sustained notes of each chord, and to then build this up. The pianist was given a melodic line which he could then play around with using different octaves and passing notes. The pianist was also told to experiment with the chord rhythm. The bass player was told to begin with sustained notes and to then play the bass notes of each chord in a steady rhythm of his choice. And the drummer was told to keep to the tempo of 4/4, to start off with a simple beat with a few fills which builds up to a guitar solo which needs excessive drum fills, From these instructions, the musicians had time to practice and experiment to just a click (to create more of an impression of the instruments being played together, rather than being layered on top of one another). I then double-tracked the piano parts to create a fuller sound on the more clear and defined instrument sounds.
Once this was recorded and arranged, I played this through two speaker in a medium-sized hall. I placed a DPA microphone almost to the centre of these speakers, further towards the opposite side of the room, facing up. This microphone picked up the song coming through the speakers, and the natural reverberation created in the hall. This was then fed back to the overall mix to create a natural reverb effect. I then double-tracked the reverberation recording to create an even fuller sound.

The microphone set up for the drums in the same hall:


The DPA microphone set up in the hall, picking up the natural reverberation:

Recording the vocals, piano and guitar (again) for the first task

Note to self: ALWAYS check the audio files have been saved before leaving the recording studio.

Because three of my audio files for the first task (cover of Amy Winehouse, 'You Know I'm No good') had been lost from the recording studio's computer, i had to re-record the vocals, guitar and piano again in a ten hour session. I changed the recording technique/microphone set up for all three instruments.

For recording the acoustic guitar, this time I used two DPA microphones: one facing the fingerboard, and the other facing the sound hole. The microphones were placed closer to the guitar (compared to the first recording), creating a clear and open sound.


The piano was recorded using two AKG 414s placed in the MS microphone technique, however the top microphone is placed vertically due to experimenting with the sound it captured. This gave a nice sound quality for the high frequencies, however the lower frequencies didn't seem to be as full as in the first piano recording.


For the vocals, I used a Neumann (Cardioid) in its Shockmount. I chose a condenser microphone to produce a more clear and defined recording. I also used a pop shield to prevent clipping and unwanted noise.