How do I orchestrate?

[Darryn]

I would like to get opinions and ideas for how to best orchestrate the band. I am the fill in worship leader at the church I serve in.

My question is this... What have you all found to be the best way to notate instrumental parts, dynamics, and so on?

I have this sort of overview sheet that has things on it like "Lead guitar come in on third verse" or "whole band in on chorus" but I am sure there are more standard ways to do this, or more organized ways.

Let me know...

[El Ben]

If you're a very visual kind of person who NEEDS to see things written down, I'd reccomend getting a big white board and sitting down with the band, explaining just how you want to the song to sound and asking for their input on what they think might sound good, too.

I'm more of an audible person, so I hear the song in my head and just explain it out. I'll usually get on the keyboard and show them exactly what I want, but ultimately, it's up to you as the leader to decide which method would be best for them.

[fmckinnon]

Darryn,
If I actually am forced to "notate" something, I use Finale. Just last week, I did a special of David Crowder's "Come and Listen" and I notated the cello and violin part.

Otherwise, I typically just hash that out in rehearsal, and then make arrangement notes on our music. That will be ending soon, as we're on a journey where as of Jan 1, we hope to not use our music on stage anymore. I suppose I could still notate out arrangement ideas on the music for rehearsal purposes, but we're ditching music stands in our new facility.

Fred

[russhutto]

It would be helpful to know exactly what instrumentation your team is composed of to give a helpful answer.

If you're just working with mainly "rhythm section" instruments: guitars, bass, keys, drums...all you really need is a good chord/lyric sheet or even a lead sheet (with melody line).

If you have other melodic instruments that might add counter melodies such as "horn, woodwind, strings" you'll definitely need a more intensive system. Each instrument will need their own parts scored out.

If you're talking about just building and hashing out the structure and flow of a song (and not necessarily talking about orchestration in the sense of writing parts of each instrument) then El Ben's idea about the white board is a great one!!

I also find it helpful to have a structure pre-planned (but flexible) when you come in as a leader.

Most standard: Intro VCVCBCC Tag and then go from there...You can visualize (or hear in your head) which parts you might want to enter and exit throughout the song, and make PENCILED notations of those (they may change!!) ...

Then when you come into rehearsal, dish out everyone's tentative road maps and go from there.

Personally, I'm very curious about experimenting with a big white board to move our team AWAY from lead sheets. We have several that spend hours practicing outside of rehearsals and gatherings that NEVER use music on stage, and then we have some that can't seem to function without it so I'm thinking that maybe some big, bold visual learning device (whiteboard) might improve the memories of the latter.

Anybody have any experience with that?

[AD(J)]

Darryn,
If I actually am forced to "notate" something, I use Finale. Just last week, I did a special of David Crowder's "Come and Listen" and I notated the cello and violin part.

Otherwise, I typically just hash that out in rehearsal, and then make arrangement notes on our music. That will be ending soon, as we're on a journey where as of Jan 1, we hope to not use our music on stage anymore. I suppose I could still notate out arrangement ideas on the music for rehearsal purposes, but we're ditching music stands in our new facility.

Fred

That would be a dream come true.

[chrismoncus]

Not much help here, but thank you for not just passing out chord sheets and saying "make something up".

[Darryn]

Finale - boo (I have nowhere near that amount of time or ability.
White Bord - I like it and I do need it

Fields to work with:
Drums/percussion
Bass
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
Piano
Viola
Lead vocal
Backup Vocal

Here is how it is happening now, I would love a better way to do this...

Blessed Be Your Name

Intro - V1: Whole band - Energetic, but minimal
Chorus: Whole band full
V2 - Energetic, but minimal
Chorus: Whole band full
Bridge: Whole band, but half time
Chorus X2: Whole band full

[worshiptrench]

Here is the white board post that some might be referring to:
http://www.worshiptrench.com/?p=94

[El Ben]

Fields to work with:
Drums/percussion
Bass
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
Piano
Viola
Lead vocal
Backup Vocal

Here is how it is happening now, I would love a better way to do this...

Blessed Be Your Name

Intro - V1: Whole band - Energetic, but minimal
Chorus: Whole band full
V2 - Energetic, but minimal
Chorus: Whole band full
Bridge: Whole band, but half time
Chorus X2: Whole band full


Well, it's all a matter of dynamics, isn't it? Let's take the song you're working with and break it down.

Blessed Be Your Name (in A)

The Intro/Verse 1: A E F#m D

-I wouldn't have the whole band play the intro. If you have a band your size, then you have a lot to play with in the arena of dynamics. In the beginning of a song like Blessed Be Your Name, less is more because you want to focus your dynamics and energy on swelling the pre-chorus (Every blessing...) and really emphasizing the chorus.

That's just what I'd do, but you can mostly "feel" the song out if you listen to it a couple of times and imagine your band playing it in your head.

When it comes to "orchestrating" or "arranging" or "producing" there are three main things I like to remember: DYNAMICS, DYNAMICS, DYNAMICS!!! You can have amazing musicians and you will sound bland without good dynamics. Be sure to communicate that not everyone has to play at the same time. In fact, one of my cardinal rules when it comes to worship music is: LESS IS MORE!!!

***And I get an amen from Billy Chia, the minimalist***

If you consistently use less, then you have the ability to add more to really emphasize the parts of your song that need emphasizing. Basically, you can use your dynamics to create or shift an atmosphere of worship. I know that might sound manipulative, but it is just is what it is. Listen to great worship bands like United, Desperation Band, and Hillsong. These guys are great, not because they have so many instruments, but because they know when to use them.

It's all about hearing what should go where and communicating it. If you want to develop this ability, I would suggest listening to a single worship song and picking apart every single instrument that you can hear and describe what they're playing. The more you can pick out individual parts, the more you can assign parts to your team.

[Darryn]

I am glad for all the thoughts! Less being more is a philosophy that I completely agree with. How to notate that without creating a score would be a great learning tool for me.

Putting in quite a bit of time seems to be part of any dynamic creation. If I lead worship more then three to four time a year, I might be faster (and better) at it.

Thank you again for the ideas!

[russhutto]

I am glad for all the thoughts! Less being more is a philosophy that I completely agree with. How to notate that without creating a score would be a great learning tool for me.

Putting in quite a bit of time seems to be part of any dynamic creation. If I lead worship more then three to four time a year, I might be faster (and better) at it.

Thank you again for the ideas!

I would suggest that it's actually easier to do it without notating it than it seems. UNTIL you get to the melodic wind/string instruments. Then, unless they are extremely talented, you almost always HAVE TO notate out their parts.

If you don't, you'll have either none of them playing, OR they'll all be making something up and you'll have a bunch of good stuff that is conflicting and making a mess of everything. There is such a thing as too much improv.