The Professional Orchestration.™ Everything-So-Far Home Study Bundle is a massive learning package that's the equivalent of taking three semesters of orchestration classes in your own home, at your own pace.
You get all the materials equivalent to a first semester of orchestration with the PDF eBook Professional Orchestration Vol. 1: Solo Instruments and Instrumentation Notes, the Vol 1 Audio Package, Professional Mentor PDF Workbook with Audio Lectures and Concert Audio Package, also the String Positions Booklet and Spectrotone Instrumental Tone-Color Chart™ PLUS two additional semesters-worth of content with Professional Orchestration Vol. 2A: Orchestrating the Melody Within the String Section and its supplemental audio package, and Professional Orchestration Vol. 2B: Orchestrating the Melody Within the Woodwinds and Brass. PHEW!
Building on the foundation learned in Volume 1, Volumes 2A and 2B move you beyond instrumentation into the full study of orchestration by learning specific time tested combinations for strings, winds and brass.
Do you read music or play by ear? To get the most out of Professional Orchestration, you need to read music. If you learn mostly by ear, please see the Visual Orchestration series of courses.
FIRST SEMESTER CONTENTS
The Book: Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 1
For your First Semester, you'll study out of the PDF eBook Professional Orchestration Volume 1: Solo Instruments and Instrumentation Notes. At almost 800-pages, this first volume covers all the main orchestral instruments, and percussion, with electronic scoring notes. Where available, nearly all the book’s examples, by instrument, are organized by demonstrating the instrument in its low, medium, high and very high ranges. Each book in the Professional Orchestration series is organized this way so that you’ll learn from common practice how and where specific devices and combinations work best. With its full page/full score examples on an oversized textbook page, you’re able to see and hear what the instrument sounds like in that range within the context of the full orchestral score. No other orchestration method teaches you this way.
Direct From the Scoring Stages of Los Angeles to YOU! Professional Orchestration Volume 1: Solo Instruments and Instrumentation Notes is the very first orchestration book to come out of the scoring stages of Los Angeles with instrumentation notes checked and edited by the elite film studio musician community. As Jerry Goldsmith's (Star Trek, The Mummy, Air Force One, Total Recall) orchestrator commented one day over at Warner Brothers, "You've got everything in here that we steal from!"
Click on the Contents tab above to see the Table of Contents for this book.
Audio Package for Professional Orchestration Volume 1
You get around 12 hours of music in Digital Rights Management (DRM) free MP3 Format licensed from eClassical.com! The Volume 1 Audio Package covers approx. 70% of the musical works used in the Volume 1 book (not all pieces are currently available from eClassical). To fulfill listening requirements that many schools have, you’re given the complete work or movement the majority of the book’s examples are found in. A PDF spreadsheet of timings for the examples is included. Since they’re MP3s, you can download them to your favorite MP3 player and listen wherever you want.
The Professional Mentor – much more than a workbook
The Professional Mentor Workbook is the heart of Professional Orchestration Volume 1 because it turns the book into a complete home study course that you can do on your own schedule at your own pace. It includes a Lesson Planner and seven (7) audio lectures explaining how to study on your own.
With the Professional Mentor, you'll learn how to study a score and create a condensed score of the excerpt being studied in the Volume 1 book. You’re then encouraged to sequence the excerpt to understand orchestration techniques and compositional insights learned from the example, along with basic MIDI mock-up and recording skills. Next, you'll write your own original composition using techniques learned from Professional Orchestration Vol. 1 for each of these solo instruments: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, and Harp. With this approach, you create 13 publishable works (the equal of roughly a semester’s worth of work at college) and you can also write an optional “final” project – a full orchestral arrangement.
Bonus Gift from the Vienna Symphonic Library
Also included in your Professional Mentor files, the good folks at the Vienna Symphonic Library, and composer Jay Bacal, have allowed us to give you, at no extra charge, 13 solo compositions with MP3 and MIDI files mocked-up by Jay for the Vienna Instruments sample library. Just load the MP3 and MIDI file into your sequencer and see how Jay created the composition by studying velocity, expression, mod wheel data, etc., as you listen to the MP3 file play. You can load your own instrument patch into the track, but you'll need to have the same VSL patches Jay used for the MIDI playback to match the MP3 audio. It will give you an idea of how to approach your own MIDI mock-ups and it's a professional education you can apply to any sample library you have.
Train Your Ears with The Professional Mentor Concert Audio Package
To enhance your studies as you work through the Professional Mentor assignments, we've put together this Concert Audio Pack, licensed from eClassical.com. You get 76 tracks of DRM-free MP3s giving an average 20-minute concert for these solo instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, violin, viola, cello, bass, harp and percussion. Use the Concert Pack to really get to know the instruments you’re writing for and to help train your ears in creating more realistic MIDI mock-ups.
Learn Orchestral Color and Balance With The Spectrotone Instrumental Tone-Color Chart™
Originally created by 4x Academy Award nominee for Best Film Score, Arthur Lange, this expanded and enhanced 70th Anniversary Editon of the Spectrotone Chart is unique to the study of orchestration. Using the Spectrotone Chart you'll learn how to create effective orchestral combinations by understanding which instruments will blend well together in which registers, or which instruments will provide a more contrasting tone-color when placed together. You'll also learn starting insights on orchestral balance within each section of strings, brass and winds.
The Spectrotone Chart has applications to any style of music that makes use of orchestral instruments. Visual colors are used to describe instrumental tone-colors, so you can quickly work out combinations by instrument, by range, and by specific notes. You'll also learn how different articulations can change an instrument's timbre. You'll know when an instrument in a certain register will be strong in intensity, or when it will be weak and possibly need reinforcing by another instrument.
For mixing purposes and applying EQ, Hz frequencies have been added for each pitch under the keyboard shown at the bottom of the chart.
Because the Spectrotone Chart is a must have for all arrangers, composers and recording engineers, it's now a part of the Professional Orchestration curriculum and incorporated into the Professional Mentor Workbook.
The String Positions Booklet
To round out your First Semester studies, the String Positions Booklet gives a 4-color view of which pitches are available for each string position for violin, viola, cello, and bass. Pitches are shown on the neck of each instrument and matched to a keyboard and music staff. Use this booklet to study how string parts are written and to check your own string parts to make sure they’re playable.
With Professional Orchestration you learn by doing. And you can learn at your own pace as your schedule allows.
Your First Semester studies will give you a great foundational knowledge of orchestration. But why stop there?! Give yourself a break to refresh your brain cells, then settle down to your Second and Third Semester studies with Volumes 2A and 2B.
SECOND SEMESTER CONTENTS
The Book: Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 2A
The only book of its type, Professional Orchestration Volume 2A: Orchestrating the Melody Within the String Section, is the next step in learning the vocabulary and language of scoring for the string section.
With Volume 1: Solo Instruments and Instrumentation Notes, the focus was on instrumentation, registration of instruments and how they sound in four specific registers, and learning how to do score reductions. With Volume 2A, we move from instrumentation into the full study of orchestration by learning specific time-tested string section combinations. Volume 2A documents 65 different string combinations illustrated often with multiple examples in the low, medium, high, and very high string registers, showing how scoring changes depending on the combination and the register it’s written in.
The techniques are organized into eight categories: Unisons, Two-Parts, Three-Parts, Four-Parts, Five-Parts, Divisi in Octaves, Divisi in Intervals, and Special Combinations. Each technique has a brief commentary starting you off on identifying the technique and what else is happening within the score. There are also MIDI mock-up insights.
As with Volume 1, the suggested study procedure is to take the full-page score excerpt, condense it, and ideally do a MIDI mock-up of it. Doing this will help you understand orchestration techniques and compositional insights learned from the example.
As an optional extra, the Writing For Strings Course: Lite Edition can be ordered separately and studied ahead of Professional Orchestration Vol. 2A. Writing For Strings is an entry level course in string writing that makes use of Professional Orchestration Vol. 1 and the Spectrotone Instrumental Tone-Color Chart (both included in this Everything-So-Far Home Study Bundle).
Professional Orchestration, Volume 2A is just under 600-pages. A PDF Syllabus for Volume 2A is included as a guide to studying the book. Click on the Contents tab above to see the Table of Contents for this book.
The Vol. 2A MP3 Audio Supplement Package
Licensed from eClassical.com, this audio pack contains the complete work or movement of many pieces used in the Vol. 2A book that were not already in the Vol. 1 Audio Package. The Vol. 2A Audio Supplement Package should be combined with the Vol. 1 Audio Package (both are included in this Home Study Bundle) to cover approximately 60% of the musical works found in Professional Orchestration Volume 2A and about 48% from Volume 2B. Not all pieces are currently available from eClassical, but as more works become available an additional supplement pack will be produced to cover additional pieces.
THIRD SEMESTER CONTENTS
The Book: Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 2B
Also the only book of its type, Professional Orchestration Volume 2B: Orchestrating the Melody Within the Woodwinds and Brass, is the next step in learning the vocabulary and language of time-tested techniques for scoring for woodwinds and brass.
For fast referencing, the techniques are grouped into these categories: Woodwind Unisons, Woodwind Octaves, Woodwind Combinations in Two- to Five-Parts, Light Vertical Harmony in the Woodwinds, then combinations for the French horns, Trumpets and Trombones.
Each technique has a brief commentary starting you off on identifying the technique and what else is happening within the score. There are also MIDI mock-up insights. As with the previous Volumes, the suggested study procedure is to take the full-page score excerpt, condense it, and ideally do a MIDI mock-up of it. Doing this will help you understand orchestration techniques and compositional insights learned from the example.
Professional Orchestration, Volume 2B is approximately 700-pages. A PDF Syllabus for Volume 2B is included as a guide to studying the book. Click on the Contents tab above to see the Table of Contents for this book.
LOOKING FOR A PRINTED BOOK EDITION?
Paperback editions of Professional Orchestration, Vols. 1, 2A and 2B are available to order from Amazon or through most major bookstores using the information below:
Title 01: Professional Orchestration Vol 1: Solo Instruments & Instrumentation Notes
Author: Peter Lawrence Alexander / ISBN: 978-0-939067-70-1
Title 02: Professional Orchestration Vol 2A: Orchestrating the Melody Within the String Section
Author: Peter Lawrence Alexander / ISBN: 978-0-939067-06-0
Title 03: Professional Orchestration Vol 2B: Orchestrating the Melody Within the Woodwinds & Brass
Author: Peter Lawrence Alexander / ISBN: 978-0-939067-93-0
Professional Orchestration Vols 1, 2A and 2B: Everything-So-Far Home Study Bundle Contents
- Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 1 PDF - $54.95 Retail Value
- Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 2A PDF - $47.95 Retail Value
- Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 2B PDF - $49.95 Retail Value
- Professional Orchestration.™ Volume 1 and 2A MP3 Audio Package (125 tracks / over 17 hours of Digital Rights Management Free MP3s covering many of the examples - $99.90 Retail Value
- Spectrotone Instrumental Tone-Color Chart™ PDF - $19.95 Retail Value
- Professional Mentor PDF Workbook for Volume 1 - $24.95 Retail Value
- Professional Mentor MP3 Concert Audio Package - An extra 76 tracks of DRM-free MP3s giving an average 20-minute concert for these solo instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, violin, viola, cello, bass, harp and percussion. $59.95 Retail Value
- String Positions Booklet PDF - $14.95 Retail Value
- Professional Mentor Audio Lecture Overview Talks - BONUS!
- Orchestral Samples Evaluation Spreadsheets for Woodwinds/Brass, Strings and Harp - BONUS!
- Plus! Included with the Professional Mentor is your FREE gift from the Vienna Symphonic Library of 13 MP3/MIDI files by Jay Bacal.
Total Value: $372.55
Total Download Size: approx. 3.3GB (split into x12 .zip files / x2 .pdf files)
Below, you'll find the Table of Contents for each Professional Orchestration PDF eBook, the Professional Mentor PDF Workbook, and the MP3 Audio Packages included in this Bundle. In the chapter headings below, you'll see + and - signs in between instruments. + indicates instruments in Unison, and - indicates instruments in Octaves.
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Professional Orchestration Volume 1
The First Key: Solo Instruments and Instrumentation Notes
Chapter 1: String Section Overview | Chapter 2: The Violin: Basic Information | Chapter 3: The Viola: Basic Information | Chapter 4: The Cello: Basic Information | Chapter 5: The String Bass: Basic Information | Chapter 6: Bowings, Effects, and Bowing Effects | Chapter 7: String Stops | Chapter 8: Divisi | Chapter 9: Muted Strings | Chapter 10: Pizzicato | Chapter 11: Natural and Artificial Harmonics | Chapter 12: Woodwind Basics | Chapter 13: The Flute | Chapter 14: The Piccolo | Chapter 15: The Oboe | Chapter 16: The English Horn | Chapter 17: The Clarinet | Chapter 18: The Bass Clarinet | Chapter 19: The Bassoon | Chapter 20: The Contrabassoon | Chapter 21: Brass Basics | Chapter 22: The Bb Trumpet | Chapter 23: The Tenor and Bass Trombones | Chapter 24: The Tubas | Chapter 25: The French Horn | Chapter 26: The Harp | Chapter 27: Piano, Organ, Celeste, and Virtual Orchestra | Chapter 28: The Percussion Section | Bibliography
772 pgs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Professional Orchestration Volume 2A
The Second Key: Orchestrating the Melody Within the String Section
UNISON - Chapter 1: Violins 1 + Violins 2 | Chapter 2: Violins + Violas | Chapter 3: Violins + Cellos | Chapter 4: Violas + Cellos | Chapter 5: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas | Chapter 6: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Cellos | Chapter 7: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas + Cellos
TWO-PARTS - Chapter 8: Violins 1 - Violins 2 | Chapter 9: Violins 1 (or 2) - Violas | Chapter 10: Violins - Cellos | Chapter 11: Violas - Cellos | Chapter 12: Cellos - Basses | Chapter 13: Violins 1 + Violins 2 -Violas | Chapter 14: Violins 1 + ½ Violins 2 - ½ Violins 2 + Violas | Chapter 15: Violins 1 - Violins 2 + Violas | Chapter 16: Violas + Cellos - Basses | Chapter 17: Violas - Cellos + Basses | Chapter 18: Violins - Violas + Cellos | Chapter 19: Violins - Violins 2 + Cellos | Chapter 20: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos | Chapter 21: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos + Basses | Chapter 22: Violins 1 + Violins 2 - Violas + Cellos | Chapter 23: Violins 1 + ½ Violins 2 - ½ Violins 2 + Cellos | Chapter 24: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas + Cellos - Basses | Chapter 25: - Violins 1 + Violins 2 - Cellos
THREE-PARTS - Chapter 26: Violins 1 + Violins 2 - Violas - Cellos | Chapter 27: Violins 1 + Violas - Cellos - Basses | Chapter 28: Violins 1 + Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos - Basses | Chapter 29: Violins 1 - Violins 2 - Violas | Chapter 30: Violins - Violas - Cellos | Chapter 31: Violins 1 - Violins 2 - Violas + Cellos | Chapter 32: Violins 1 - Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos | Chapter 33: Violas - Cellos - Basses | Chapter 34: Violins 1 + Violins 2 - Violas + Cellos - Basses | Chapter 35: Violins 1 + ½ Violins 2 - ½ Violins 2 + ½ Violas - ½ Violas + Cellos | Chapter 36: Violins 1 - Violins 2 - Violas + ½ Cellos | Chapter 37: Violins 1 + Violins 2 - Cellos - Basses
FOUR-PARTS - Chapter 38: Violins 1 - Violins 2 - Violas - Cellos | Chapter 39: Violins 1 - Violins 2 + Violas - Cellos - Basses
FIVE-PARTS - Chapter 40: Violins 1 - Violins 2 - Violas - Cellos - Basses
DIVISI IN OCTAVES - Chapter 41: About Divisi | Chapter 42: Violins 1 - Violins 1 | Chapter 43: Violas - Violas | Chapter 44: Cellos - Cellos | Chapter 45: Basses - Basses
DIVISI IN INTERVALS - Chapter 46: Violins 1 - Violins 2 playing 3rds | Chapter 47: Violins Divisi in 3rds | Chapter 48: Violas Divisi in 3rds | Chapter 49: Violins Divisi in 6ths | Chapter 50: Violas Divisi in 6ths
SPECIAL COMBINATIONS - Chapter 51: Special Combinations of Octaves, Thirds, Sixths and Tenths | Chapter 52: Violas Divisi + Cellos Divisi in 6ths | Chapter 53: Violins in 3rds - Violas/Cellos (3rds) | Chapter 54: Violins 1 in 3rds - Violins 2 in 3rds | Chapter 55: Violins 1 and Violas in Octaves with Violins 2 Playing Inner harmony part in 3rds | Chapter 56: Violas and Cellos Doubling on 3rds | Chapter 57: Multiple 3rds and Sixths | Chapter 58: More Multiple 3rds and Sixths | Chapter 59: Vlns 1 + Vlns 2 (3rds) - Violas A + Violas B (3rds) | Chapter 60: Thirds in Three Octaves | Chapter 61: Violins and Violas in Sixths | Chapter 62: Vlns 1 div in 3rds - Violins 2 (top line) + Violas (bottom line) | Chapter 63: Tenths | Chapter 64: Violins 2 and Violas in 3rds - Cellos div | Chapter 65: Violins 2 in 3rds - Cellos in 3rds
567 pgs.
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Professional Orchestration Volume 2B
The Second Key: Orchestrating the Melody Within the Woodwinds & Brass
Chapter 1: The Woodwind Family | Chapter 2: Woodwind Section Sizes
SECTION 1 - WOODWIND UNISONS - Chapter 3: Flute Unisons | Chapter 4: Flute + Oboe | Chapter 5: Flute + English Horn | Chapter 6: Flute + Clarinet | Chapter 7: Oboe Unisons | Chapter 8: Oboe + Clarinet | Chapter 9: English Horn + Clarinet | Chapter 10: English Horn + Bassoon | Chapter 11: Clarinet + Clarinet | Chapter 12: Clarinet + Bassoon | Chapter 13: Bassoon + Bassoon | Chapter 14: Bassoon + Sarrusaphone | Chapter 15: Bassoon + Contrabassoon | Chapter 16: Flute + Oboe + Clarinet | Chapter 17: Flute + English Horn + Oboe + Clarinet | Chapter 18: Flute + Oboe + Clarinet + Eb Clarinet | Chapter 19: Oboe + Clarinet + English Horn | Chapter 20: English Horn + Clarinet + Bassoon
SECTION 2 - WOODWIND OCTAVES - Chapter 21: Piccolo - Flute | Chapter 22: Piccolo - Oboe | Chapter 23: Piccolo - Clarinet | Chapter 24: Flute - Flute | Chapter 25: Flute - Oboe | Chapter 26: Flute - Clarinet | Chapter 27: Flute - Bassoon | Chapter 28: Oboe - Oboe | Chapter 29: Oboe - Clarinet | Chapter 30: Oboe - English Horn | Chapter 31: Oboe - Bassoon | Chapter 32: English Horn - Bassoon | Chapter 33: Clarinet - Clarinet | Chapter 34: Clarinet - Bass Clarinet | Chapter 35: Clarinet - Bassoon | Chapter 36: Bassoon - Bassoon | Chapter 37: Bassoon - Contrabassoon
SECTION 3 - WOODWIND COMBINATIONS IN TWO- TO FIVE-PARTS - Chapter 38: Two Parts: Low to Medium Registers | Chapter 39: Two Parts: Medium Register | Chapter 40: Two Parts: Medium to High Register | Chapter 41: Two Parts: High Register | Chapter 42: Two Parts: Very High Register | Chapter 43: Three Parts: High Register | Chapter 44: Three Parts: Very High Register | Chapter 45: Four to Five-Parts
SECTION 4 - LIGHT VERTICAL HARMONY IN THE WOODWINDS - Chapter 46: Light Harmony in the Flutes | Chapter 47: Light Harmony in the Oboes | Chapter 48: Light Harmony in the Clarinets | Chapter 49: Light Harmony in the Bassoons | Chapter 50: Two-Part Light Harmony: Thirds in Unison | Chapter 51: Two-Part Light Harmony: Thirds in Octave | Chapter 52: Three-Part Light Harmony: Thirds in Multiple Octaves
BRASS - Introduction | Chapter 53: French Horns in Unison | Chapter 54: French Horns in Octaves (Two Parts) | Chapter 55: French Horns in 3rds and 6ths | Chapter 56: Trumpets in Unison | Chapter 57: Trumpets in Octaves (Two Parts) | Chapter 58: Trumpets in Thirds | Chapter 59: Trombones in Unison | Chapter 60: Trombones in Octaves (Two Parts) | Chapter 61: Trombones in Thirds | Conclusion
693 pgs.
CONTENTS - Professional Mentor PDF Workbook for Professional Orchestration Vol. 1
Professional Mentor Workbook
1. Lesson Planner | 2. Score Analysis Guide | 3. Orchestral Sketchpad PDF | 4. Spectrotone Analysis Guide | 5. Spectrotone Range Sheets | 6. Recording Spectrotone Combinations | 7. VSL Self-Study MIDI Mockup | 8. Professional Mentor Writing Assignments | 9. Orchestral Sample Library Evaluation Spreadsheets
Professional Mentor Audio Lectures
1. Professional Mentor Overview | 2. Score Analysis Overview | 3. Spectrotone Analysis Overview | 4. Spectrotone Range Sheet Assignments | 5. Recording Spectrotone Combinations | 6. VSL Self-Study Overview | 7. Professional Mentor Writing Assignments Overview
CONTENTS - Professional Orchestration Volumes 1 and 2A MP3 Audio Package
Includes over 17 hours of DRM-free MP3s, licensed from eClassical.com. These are the full works or full movements of each piece. When combined, the two audio packs cover approx. 70% of the musical works used in Professional Orchestration Volume 1, 60% from Professional Orchestration Volume 2A, and about 48% from Volume 2B. Not all pieces are currently available from eClassical. Timings for the examples used in Vol. 1 are included on a PDF spreadsheet.
BEETHOVEN: Symphony 5: 1. Allegro con brio, 2. Andante, 3-4. Allegro | Symphony 6 (Pastoral): 1. Allegro ma non troppo, 2. Andante molto mosso, 3. Allegro | Symphony 7: 2. Allegretto | Symphony 9: 4. Finale - Presto
BERLIOZ: Symphony Fantastique: 1. Reveries (Passions), 2. Un bal, 3. Scene aux champs, 4. Marche au supplice, 5. Songe d'une nuit de Sabbat
BIZET: Carmen Suites Complete: Suite #1: 1. Prelude - Aragonaise, Suite #1: 2. Intermezzo, Suite #1: 3. Seguidilla, Suite #1: 4. Les dragons de Alcala, Suite #1: 5. Marche du toreador, Suite #2: 1. Marche des contrabandiers, Suite #2: 2. Habanera, Suite #2: 3. Nocturne, Suite #2: 4. Chanson du toreador, Suite #2: 5. Garde montant, Suite #2: 6. Danse bohemienne | L'Arlesienne Suites: Suite #1: 1. Prelude, Suite #1: 2. Minuet, Suite #1: 3. Allegro, Suite #1: 4. Carillon, Suite #2: 1. Pastorale, Suite #2: 2. Intermezzo, Suite #2: 3. Minuet, Suite #2: 4. Farandole
BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances | In the Steppes of Central Asia | Symphony #2: 1. Allegro, 2. Scherzo, 3. Andante, 4. Finale (Allegro)
CHABRIER: Espana
DEBUSSY: Images: Images 1: Gigues, Images 2: Iberia - Par les rues et par les chemins, Images 2: Iberia - Les parfums de la nuit, Images 2: Iberia - Le matin d'un jour de fete, Images 3: Rondes de printemps | Danse Sacree | Danse Profane | La Mer: 1. De l'aube a midi sur la mer, 2. Jeux de vagues, 3. Dialogue du vent et de la mer
DUKAS: Sorcerer's Apprentice
DVORAK: Symphony #9 (New World): 2. Largo, 4. Allegro con fuoco
HOLST: The Planets: 1. Mars, 2. Venus, 3. Mercury, 4. Jupiter, 5. Saturn, 6. Uranus, 7. Neptune
MAHLER: Symphony #1 (Titan): 1. Langsam Schleppend, 2. Scherzo kraftig bewegt, 3. Feierlich und gemessen ohne zu schleppen, 4. Sturmisch bewegt | Symphony #9: 1. Andante comodo, 2. Im Tempo Eines, 3. Rondo, 4. Adagio
MENDELSSOHN: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Scherzo, Intermezzo, Notturno, Wedding March | Symphony #4 (Italian): 1. Allegro vivace, 2. Andante con moto, 3. Con moto moderato, 4. Saltarello
MOUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain
MOZART: Symphony #36: 1. Adagio Allegro spiritoso, 2. Andante, 3. Menuetto, 4. Presto | Symphony #41: 1. Allegro vivace, 2. Andante cantabile, 3. Menuetto, 4. Molto allegro
PROKOFIEV: Lt. Kije: 3. Kije's wedding, 4. Troika
RAVEL: Daphnis and Chloe Suite #2 | La Valse | Mother Goose Suite: 1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant, 2. Petit Poucet, 3. Laideronnette imperatrice des Pagodes, 4. Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete, 5. Le jardin feerique
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Cappricio Espagnole: 1. Alborda, 2. Variazioni, 3. Alborada, 4. Scena e canto gitano, 5. Fandango asturiano Coda | Scheherazade: 1. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship, 2. The Kalender Prince, 3. The Young Prince and the Young Princess, 4. Festival at Baghdad - The Sea
SAINT-SAENS: Danse Macabre
SCHOENBERG: Chamber Symphony #1 for 15 Solo Instruments
SCHUMANN: Symphony #1 (Spring): 1. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
SIBELIUS: Swan of Tuonela
STRAUSS: Don Juan | Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring: 1. L'adoration de la terre, 2. Le Sacrifice
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony #4: 3. Scherzo Pizzicato ostinato allegro | Symphony #6 (Pathetique): 1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo | The Nutcracker: 2. March, 3. Danse de la fee, 4. Danse Russe (Trepak), 6. Danse chinoise, 7. Danse des mirlitons, 8. Valse des fleurs
WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nuremberg Prelude | Parsifal Prelude | Tristan und Isolde Prelude | Lohengrin Prelude | Ride of the Valkyries | Der Fliegende Hollander Flying Dutchman Overture (Flying Dutchman)
WEBERN: Passacaglia for Orchestra Op. 1
CONTENTS - Professional Mentor Concert Audio Package for Professional Orchestration Volume 1
This DRM-free MP3 audio pack is specially curated by and licensed from eClassical.com to complement the Professional Mentor PDF Workbook. It contains an average 20-minunte concert for each orchestral instrument to really help train your ears.
FLUTE: Saint-Saens: Odelette in D | Faure: Fantasie #1, Andantino | Faure: Fantasie #2, Allegro | Bach: 6 Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord, No. 2 in E-flat, 1. Allegro moderato | Jolivet: Chant de Linos
OBOE: Handel: Concerto No. 3 for Oboe and Strings in G Minor, 1. Grave, 2. Allegro, 3. Sarabande - Largo, 4. Allegro | Handel: Concerto No. 1 for Oboe and Strings in B-flat, 1. Adagio, 2. Allegro, 3. Siciliana - Largo, 4. Vivace| Mozart: Adagio and Allegro in F Minor for Mechanical Organ transcribed for Oboe and Strings| Vanhal: Quartet Concertante No. 6 in C, 1. Allegro
CLARINET: Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, 2. Adagio | Copland: Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano, 1. Slowly and expressivley | Hindemith: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, 1. Rather fast | Brahms: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 2 in E-flat, 2. Allegro appassionato | Koechlin: Les Confidences d'un joueur de clarinette, Romance de Kasper | Koechlin: Clarinet Sonata No. 2, 1. Allegro ben moderato
BASSOON: Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, 1. Allegro | Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, 2. Andante ma adagio | Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, 3. Rondo (Tempo di menuetto) | Britten: Serenade, Op. 31 for Tenor, Horn and Strings, 8. Epilogue | Britten: Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal for Tenor, Horn and Strings | Britten: Nocturne for Tenor, Obbilgato Instruments and Strings | Sofia Gubaidulina: Concerto for Bassoon and Strings, 1. First Movement
FRENCH HORN: Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat, 2. Andante | Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, 2. Romance - Andante cantabile | Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat, 1. Allegro | Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D, 1. Allegro
TRUMPET: Handel: Suite in D, 3. Aire | Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat, 3. Finale. Allegro | Telemann: Trumpet Concerto in D, 1. Adagio | Robert Henderson: Variation Movements for Trumpet Solo, 1. Moving in a singing style | Satie: La Statue Retrouvee | Naji Hakim: Sonata for Trumpet and Organ, 1. Allegro con spirito
TROMBONE: Rimsky-Korsakov: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, 3. Allegro - Allegretto | Nino Rota: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, 1. Allegro giusto | Fredrik Hogberg: Concerto No. 1 for Trombone and Orchestra, The Return of Kit Bones, 1. Part 1 | Gordon Jacob: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, 1. Andante maestoso - Allegro molto - Andante maestoso | Vagn Holmboe: Concerto No. 12 for Trombone and Orchestra, 1. Allegro moderato
TUBA: Hindemith: Sonata for Tuba and Piano, 3. Variations | Gordon Jacob: Tuba Suite, 1. Prelude | Leonard Bernstein: Waltz for Mippi III | Vagn Holmboe: Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra
VIOLIN: Albinoni: Adagio in G Minor | Bach: Concerto for Violin and Strings in A Minor, 1. Allegro moderato | Paganini: Concerto No. 1 in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, 2. Adagio | Yi Chen: Chinese Folk Dance Suite for Violin and Orchestra, 2. Adagio | Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor, 1. Allegro non troppo | Carl Nielsen: Sonata for Violin and Piano in G, 2. Andante grazioso - Minore - Majore
VIOLA: Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor | Max Reger: Romance for Viola and Piano | Hindemith: Sonata fur Bratsche Allein, Op. 11 No. 5, 1. Lebhaft, aber nicht geeilt | Anton Rubinstein: 3 Pieces, Nocturne | Glazunov: Elegie in G Minor | Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano, 2. Allegretto
CELLO: Elgar: Cello Concerto in E Minor, 2. Lento - Allegro molto | Bach: Suite No. 1 for Cello in D, 1. Prelude | Shostakovich: Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra, 1. Allegretto | Britten: First Suite for Cello, 1. Canto primo | Edouard Lalo: Concerto in D Minor for Cello and Orchestra, 2. Intermezzo | Zoltan Kodaly: Sonatino for Cello and Piano
BASS: Einojuhani Rautavaara: Angel of Dusk, Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra, 1. His First Appearance | Einojuhani Rautavaara: Angel of Dusk, Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra, 3. His Last Appearance | Haukur Tomasson: Skima (A faint gleam of light), 2. Animato
HARP: Debussy: Dances for Harp and Strings, 1. Danse sacree | Debussy: Dances for Harp and Strings, 2. Danse profane | Marcel Grandjany: Air in Classic Style
PERCUSSION: Elliot Carter: Pieces for Timpany, I. Saeta | Elliot Carter: Pieces for Timpany, VIII. March | John Cage: Second Construction for Four Players | Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 11 for Six Percussionists and Orchestra, 1. Untitled | Iannis Xenakis: Pleiades, 1: Metaux
Endorsements: Professional Orchestration Volume 1
Conrad Pope, Multi-Award Winning Orchestrator
Peter Alexander was the "real deal". Though I'm not a "fan" of most orchestration books, Peter's is one that I think many musicians will find to be not only informative but inspiring as well.
Jerry Goldsmith, Academy and Emmy Award Winning Composer
The best orchestration book since Forsyth.
Bruce Broughton, Emmy Award Winning Composer
Professional Orchestration offers more opportunities to see and hear the combinations which formerly could only be imagined.
Emanuele Ruffinengo, Three-time Grammy Award Winner
Peter Alexander has done a huge work in this book. I'm completely delighted with what I've received. Reading only a few pages was enough to realize the high significance of this text, so thanks again! I will definitely recommend it to my students and friends.
Paul Thomson, Spitfire Audio
Every time I open this book I learn something new.
Endorsements: Professional Orchestration Volume 2A
Garry Schyman, G.A.N.G. Award Winning Composer, BioShock
I would highly recommend this book to any student or working professional wishing to learn or expand their knowledge of orchestration. If you intend to work professionally the skills imparted by the studies presented here will be of enormous benefit and will give you a professional advantage for your entire career.
Daryl Griffith, Conductor / Composer / Orchestrator, Young Visiters (BAFTA winner), Prime Suspect (BAFTA winner), Harry Potter VI (Orchestrator)
With Professional Orchestration 2A, Peter Alexander has done a very good job of making the various doublings and unisons within the strings section clear, so that you can readily understand what’s going on, even in some of the more complex examples presented. I was particularly pleased to see a starting basic section on divisi with enough information to get the reader thinking and listening, without delving too much into the finer points.
I think that the choice of musical examples is excellent, and no composer who wishes to write orchestral music should neglect to know the scores for these pieces.
This book will be extremely useful, especially to sample based composers, either striving for improved realism with their orchestrations, or who wish to transfer their MIDI compositions to a live ensemble, so I have no hesitation in recommending it.
Peter Siedlaczek, Advanced Orchestra, Classical Choirs, String Essentials 2
A great publication! You perfectly met the needs of so many musicians - it’s an incredibly valuable source of knowledge! I like also very much its clear structure and the way you explain complex things. A “must” not only for students, but for every musician dealing with samples and “orchestral sound”.
Jeff Laity, Marketing Manager, TASCAM
The new book is amazing! It builds on the first book by adding more explanations, MIDI programming advice and film scoring concerns. I can’t imagine a more exhaustive study or more organized collection of string writing.
Jonathon Cox, Composer: Death4told, Broken Oath. Lecturer of Music at Ohio Northern University and Muskingum College
As a music educator and practicing composer, nothing is more important to the quality of a composition than the art of orchestration. The subtle combination of instrumental timbres has the ability to make or break a score. A properly orchestrated piece can evoke emotion and take the listener to another place. It has the ability to transcend to a new plain; where beauty, love, agony and joy all co-exist in perfect harmony.
For me, orchestration has always been one of my strong points, cultivated over many years of score study and professional application. There is nothing quite like the feeling one gets when standing in front of an orchestra, listening to a hundred musicians bring your hard work and labor to life. It truly is a life changing experience.
Peter Alexander’s book, Professional Orchestration 2A: Orchestrating the Melody within the String Section is a unique approach to the subject of orchestration. It focuses on groupings within the strings, instead of the traditional “This instrument sounds good with that one” approach. It gives the reader the ability to understand how to accomplish the big, lush sounds of master composers such as Strauss, Mahler and Moussorgsky, without the need to scour countless scores and recordings. The many full page orchestral excerpts and MP3 examples perfectly depict the technique that is being described by the text itself.
Another aspect of the book that I thought was unique and extremely useful was the incorporation of the “electronic orchestra”. The diminished availability of professional orchestras and the proliferation of affordable computers and software have lead to the rise of the MIDI orchestra. Software such as Garritan’s Personal Orchestra, Quantum Leap’s Symphonic Orchestra and Mark of the Unicorn’s Symphonic Instrument have opened up new and exciting possibilities for the professional and the hobbyist alike. The book’s included scores and MIDI mock-up techniques give the orchestrator a chance to obtain true orchestral sound and color through practical exercises and real world applications. This feature alone should make this book a must have for all musicians.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the text and attempting the MIDI mock-ups. This book mirrors my own approach to MIDI orchestration and I find it a very useful tool. I will recommend this book to anyone who is serious about their musical education and who wants to achieve the highest standards from their compositions and orchestrations as possible. I can’t wait to see the next volume.
Dr. Andrew Mark Sauerwein, Composer-in-residence and Assistant Professor of Theory/Composition, Belhaven College
From the outset, the art and practice of instrumentation and orchestration is best understood by hearing and studying the literature: It’s all there, in the music. Peter Alexander’s Professional Orchestration, Volume 2A, embodies this tradition beautifully, and serves as an indispensable reference tool for anyone wanting to better grasp the art of string-orchestra writing.
At first blush, a 600-page text focused exclusively on a catalog of techniques for string writing seems like overkill: one can imagine pages of descriptive prose, far more than students could work through in a typical college-level class on orchestration. But this text is primarily music, and (after a modest but effective sales-pitch to get students on board) every ounce of text is used to frame each example and lead students into its technical heart. The author’s observation about the use of MIDI mock-ups and the importance of live sound provide an excellent frame in which to develop technical facility with ears, sequencers, and sample libraries. Through the process of hearing the music, studying the score, making electronic mock-ups, and seeking out live performances, students are drawn into a well-organized and focused pursuit of the practical business of using orchestral strings effectively and expressively.
I can imagine some instructors wishing for more “lecture” in the text itself, but I will dare to say such an approach entirely misses the point: in Professional Orchestration, the student is invited directly and immediately into the process of exploring and absorbing the art of orchestration. The classroom “lecture,” or mentorship (as it ideally should be), can then build on students’ technical engagement with individually-tailored insights and reflections. And this is essential: the teacher, not the textbook, is the best mentor; and music, more than words, provides the best explanation. By putting musical experience front and center, Professional Orchestration provides an ideal platform for such teaching and learning.
Endorsements: Professional Orchestration Volume 2B
Michael Barry, Project Manager for the Cinesamples library Hollywood Winds
Since it can be easily argued that the winds are the hardest section to synthistrate, knowing how to effectively write for woodwinds gives a composer's work a definite sense of professionalism, an advantage over a colleague who isn't writing for them. However, balancing the unique tones from the main instruments found in the woodwind choir can become problematic at times without a proper understanding of how to write for them.
In Professional Orchestration Volume 2B, Orchestrating the Melody Within the Woodwind and Brass Sections, you'll find a unique departure from the generic descriptions provided in the classical orchestration textbooks. Peter has edited and streamlined this information so you can take it straight to your sequencer. You can learn the breakthroughs achieved by Ravel, Stravinsky, among others, which you can then apply to your own music.
For students coming out of a rock/jazz background, you'll find Peter's detailed descriptions of instrument combinations akin to "lead" signal chains: "Take a Les Paul Marshall stack, add a dark Strat up an octave and you get this, you can hear it on this track from this album" ...becomes... "Take a Flute, add Oboe, add Bb Clarinet, add Eb clarinet and you get this tone, you can hear it in Mahler Symphony #8.
All in all, Professional Orchestration 2B and the entire Professional Orchestration Series is a fantastic tool for those wishing to improve their own musicality.
Stephen Melillo, Winner of Telly and Ava Gold Awards, Nominated five times for a Grammy, Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
Leaving a major of Physics and beginning studies at the Boston Conservatory of Music, I had multiple reasons for going to a pawn shop and buying one of each instrument, then setting up private lessons with Boston Symphony Musicians. In addition to preparing myself as a teacher, I needed to know what books couldn’t tell me.
Orchestration, a one-semester course was often discussed in the factual terms of instrumental ranges, sometimes tessitura, and with minimal, often stylistically-confined examples. But was that really Orchestration?
My own sensibilities told me that becoming a beginner several times, then advancing while studying and playing each of the instruments myself, while discussing them with professional master-Musicians would provide a better window into the possible.
Enter Hugo Norden, a professor I was very fortunate to have, and interestingly enough, a teacher Peter and I have in common. “There are 6 ways to voice a triad,” said the 90-year-old genius.
You have to love it. Three factorial. Simple math, but wow, how liberating that is for someone who never studied theory. Suddenly the massiveness of Music was graspable. A great beginning!
Now enter Peter Alexander. Let’s recreate his logic in organizing this very powerful document. If you want to play a game, you want to understand not only the rules, but the possibilities. Yes, there are the parameters, the confinements... but what can you DO?
Although the permutations of Orchestration are greater than voicing a triad, the same logic nevertheless applies in utilizing an instrument or a group of instruments as they interact with another instrument or group of instruments. This is why I have come to deeply respect Peter Alexander. He has taken the time to provide an impressive compilation of possibilities. Why?
Peter is an autodidact. He is self-taught. In his impassioned quest to uncover the “mysteries” of Orchestration, and enhanced by a high order of personal expectation, Peter has forged ahead for his own acquisition of knowledge and in so doing provided for other self-starters a compendium of devices, combinations, interactions and a means of experimentation that to my mind represent one of the best ways possible to share the history, science, and art of Orchestration. He has provided the rules and the possibilities of the game.
I have learned that the most important aspect of Orchestration... regardless of style, or age, or ensemble... is working experience with the possible. In a word, Orchestration is the study of possibilities. With continued experience, the world of the possible grows and reflects other considerations like rehearsal time and personal knowledge of the Musicians... and much more.
Peter deserves our respect and gratitude. He has provided a well organized consolidation of possibilities. He has cast these possibilities / devices / combinations / interactions into a carefully laid out, well-articulated self-starter lesson plan. In lieu of having access to Musicians, he has made experimentation possible via the use of carefully plotted exercises with current technologies and virtual libraries. Therefore the book is simultaneously historic and state-of-the-art.
Many times across the many years I have been asked, “Where is your book on Orchestration?” Now, I am fully confident in responding, “Look up Peter Alexander. That’s the way to go.”
If you, the self-learner will approach this process with the rigor you have imagined in the great Composers of the Past and observe in the working Composers and Orchestrators of the present... if you put yourself through the experimentations and imagine you yourself having compiled such a wonderful, useful resource, then you will gain much from this well-crafted self-teaching tool.
Compare Bundles!
Use this handy table to quickly compare the contents of the Professional Orchestration Basic, Master and Everything-So-Far Home Study Bundles. The 2-Semester Home Study Bundle is an additional option that combines the Professional Orchestration Basic Home Study Bundle with the Writing for Strings Course.
All products found in these bundles are also available separately, but the best value is to start with one of these.
|
Basic |
Master |
Everything-So-Far |
2-Semester |
| Professional Orchestration Vol. 1 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Vol. 1 MP3 Audio Package |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Professional Mentor Workbook for Vol. 1 |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bonus! Professional Mentor Audio Lectures |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Bonus! Orchestral Samples Evaluation Spreadsheets |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Free Gift! 13 MP3/MIDI files by Jay Bacal and VSL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Professional Mentor Concert Audio Package |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
| Spectrotone Instrumental Tone-Color Chart |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| String Positions Booklet |
|
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Professional Orchestration Vol. 2A |
|
|
Yes |
|
| Vol. 2A MP3 Audio Supplement |
|
|
Yes |
|
| Professional Orchestration Vol. 2B |
|
|
Yes |
|
| Writing For Strings Course |
|
|
|
Yes |