# Writing for insturments you can't play.



## Guest

I was wondering how difficult this is and if you at least have to have a basic knowlage of the insturment you writing for. I think i might be a little better off becuase my main insturment of piano but i am not sure how i would go about writing for somthing such as strings or percussion.


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## zlya

I had to write for violin once (I'm a clarinetist). My supervisor took one look at it and said, "You're not a violinist, are you?" I think a basic knowledge of the instrument, or at least the instrument family, is pretty important.


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## Frasier

Notserp89m said:


> I was wondering how difficult this is and if you at least have to have a basic knowlage of the insturment you writing for. I think i might be a little better off becuase my main insturment of piano but i am not sure how i would go about writing for somthing such as strings or percussion.


Basic information like compass and regular articulations are available on-line but you need to study scores to see how they balance with other instruments. If you're writing for strings, go for string scores. If orchestra, go for orchestra. A good one, backed up by an excellent book on orchestration free online, is Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade. You gradually build up a mental repertoire of sounds for each instrument.

No use relying on computer notation programs with orchestra embedded. They sound rough unless you have a few $1000 to part with AND unless you're prepared to give the same effort to learn articulations and balance. Notation programs allow you to orchestrate extremely badly unless you know what you're doing.


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## Oneiros

All we do at uni is read through an instrumentation book and study some scores which use the same selection of instruments (and listen to the recordings). It's no big deal, unless you're planning writing a full scale symphony - If this is the case, it would be better to gradually build up to that.

I think the best way to learn is to jump in and have a go. So what if you make mistakes? Everyone has to start somewhere.

Good luck.


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## Guest

a friend let me borrow "calkwalk" and i am fooling around with music for a string quartet. The only problem is that i have no way to put expression or really place the notes exactly where i want them. It has a preset place you can't put notes that are not perfectly in time, which makes everything sound Bachish with its percision in timing. But its good practice i guess. Thanks for the suggestions, i think i am going to see if i can sit in on my local symphony practicing and bring along the score so i can follow it and study it all and try to get a feel for it all.


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## Guest

Telemann would only compose for instruments that he could play, I don't know to what standard he considered good enough, but I can see his point. How many times have you heard, or said your self about a composer or a piece of music. "obviously he couldn't play a .........." or "this could not have been written for a......." etc. 
The point being you do need to know the basics of the instrument that you are writing for or you may ask too much of the performer or may not realise the full potential of the instrument


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## Sam

Really, I think it depends on the importance of the instrument in the piece.

I would happily write an orchestral violin part, but never a solo part. I would only write solo parts for an instrument that I can play. I think this is because a solo part is obviously going to be more intricate, so a greater understanding is needed.

Good discussion.

Sam


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