# Minuet in G Major for Orchestra



## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

Hello everyone! I recently started studying orchestration and I just finished my first orchestral piece. I figured it would be a good idea to start by orchestrating piano music, so I just orchestrated a piano minuet I composed a few months back.

I had to limit myself to 16 staves since that is the number of staves that my version of Sibelius allows me to use (that is why the brass family is not present, except for the horns). All woodwinds (and the Horns) are in pairs, except for the English horn.

Any feedback, comment, or suggestion is more than welcome. Thank you for listening and hope you like it!


----------



## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

The two most egregious orchestration mistakes (1) no orchestra is going to have two English horn parts (2) notating pitches for the harp is very tricky. The place where the harp plays without a break "G - G#- A" is impossible. "G-Ab" is but not "G-G#" and as well "G#-A" is OK, but not "Ab-A". Why? Because without a second or two to change pitch with the pedal, a harp can only play one kind of "A", one kind of "B", one kind of "C" etc.

Less egregious is having the Violin 1 div. in octaves while the Violin 2 just rest. Give the lower 8va to the 2nds.


----------



## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

Vasks said:


> The two most egregious orchestration mistakes (1) no orchestra is going to have two English horn parts (2) notating pitches for the harp is very tricky. The place where the harp plays without a break "G - G#- A" is impossible. "G-Ab" is but not "G-G#" and as well "G#-A" is OK, but not "Ab-A". Why? Because without a second or two to change pitch with the pedal, a harp can only play one kind of "A", one kind of "B", one kind of "C" etc.
> 
> Less egregious is having the Violin 1 div. in octaves while the Violin 2 just rest. Give the lower 8va to the 2nds.


Thank you so much for the feedback and the info, Vasks! The explanation about how the harp works was really nice and understandable. I solved all the mistakes, changed the orchestration so only one English horn is used, and edited the post and video. Now I think all the parts for the harp are playable. My only doubt is on measures 6-7. Not sure whether that chromatic change from C# to C could be made fast enough. The string is stopped as soon as it is played so there is around a second to change the C# to C, I guess it would be enough?

Thank you so much for the help and the comment!


----------



## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

JorgeDav said:


> My only doubt is on measures 6-7. Not sure whether that chromatic change from C# to C could be made fast enough. The string is stopped as soon as it is played so there is around a second to change the C# to C, I guess it would be enough?


Most likely it is enough. Good harpists can change very quickly. They just need enough to stop the vibration and move the pedal.


----------

