Chrono Cross Another Voyage - Brass Quintet

[FunkyEntropy]

WIP: http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=832#

One of my favorite tracks from the Chrono Cross soundtrack. Transcribed for brass quintet, with the intention of it seeing live performance once I'm finished with editing.

The more I do this (I've been quite prolific of late) the more I discover how easily orchestration comes to me (at least for brass) while actually doing something new (arrangement) continues to elude me.

[edit: New Version is here! http://ocrwip.fireslash.net/?fid=833 ]

Newer Version - now with live musicians! Hopefully Joe will have his flugel fixed by next time so that we'll have 2x flugelhorns. Apologies in advance for the missed notes, this was the last thing we played at our rehearsal.

[PrototypeRaptor]

from one arranger to another, you seem to struggle with the same problem I do - we write too many notes.

it sounds great on finale/sibelius, but when you get live players, it's going to sound muddy, disoriented, and just plain "not" what you heard in your head.

you need to think of a brass quintet, or any group, really, as a ensemble of soloists who can play duets, trios, solos - not all of the instruments need to be playing during the entire piece.

in fact, they shouldn't. to keep something like this interesting you need to change not only the notes, but the textures.

you also have what sounds like some technical issues - I'm not sure how the trumpets/bone will pull off some of those licks, especially in the beginning.

also, breathing? what about the chops of the players? brass players need a break every now and then to get some blood back to their faces.

remember, as an arranger, it's your job to not only make something you like that sounds good, but to make it playable technically!

it's a good draft, though - best of luck to you on future edits

[FunkyEntropy]

Thanks for the feedback.

I hear you about writing too many notes. My orchestrating process essentially involves churning out a rough draft containing as many notes as possible, and then trimming it down in subsequent revisions.

Here's a .rar file with images of the current score:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/1ijqhemxodn/Chrono Cross Another Voyage.rar

It's not the trumpet licks that worry me so much as what the trombone has at m19-32 and again, with some minor differences, at m45-end.

That's going under the knife next.

Other things going forward: I was considering condensing the trumpet parts into a single line and then having them alternate, but that creates the situation that the trombone is stuck with - a technically tricky part that probably moves too quickly to sound clean. Thoughts?

[edit: trombone part should be much easier now. http://www.mediafire.com/file/mwmny3emznf/Chrono Cross Another Voyage v2.rar]

[PrototypeRaptor]

are you using midi conversion input?

just wondering because, well, nothing is transposed and some of the notation is just plain...funky... (and no dynamic markings?)

example: look at the trumpet parts, mm1.

-1st trumpet will hate you forever with that first entrance on the 4th sixteenth of the beat.

-2nd trumpet will not really ever be comfortable reading those dotted eighths the way you have them barred.

-later on, the trombone writing is extremely difficult position-wise, and you'll probably never hear it played cleanly as is.

-jumps, jumps, jumps. stepwise motion is your friend, especially with the french horn, trombone, and tuba.

try to avoid writing awkward leaps in succession.

you do this quite frequently - the low brass shouldn't really be your goto for arpeggios.

from what I see, you need to study some brass quintet scores and learn more technical details about each instrument - as well as just plain practicing! the more you write, the better you'll get.

here's a book that will definitely help you out, I highly recommend it - everything the author says is 100% accurate.

http://www.amazon.com/Instrumentation-Orchestration-Alfred-Blatter/dp/0534251870/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

it will tell you everything you need to know about score preparation, usual scoring techniques, even special properties of the instruments when used in ensembles.

you should also check out the ewald and bartok quintets for two very different examples of how to score for the medium.

if this seems like a lot of work...it is!

arranging for players is one of the most difficult things to do in the music world because of the human element - it's just as important that the score LOOKS right as well as SOUNDS good.

unfortunately, there's no way to get around the studying phase - you have to put in the time to learn the classical theory if you want to write for traditional ensembles.

good luck, I've been slaving away at this stuff for several years now and it's just starting to all come together...

maybe we should just hire an orchestrator, it's what all the film guys do...

[FunkyEntropy]

The barring is a symptom of me being lazy and choosing the quickest way of imputing notes w/ my keyboard. That will change (trust me, I know full well how confusing it would be to players right now) but that, like dynamics, is detail work that I put off until I get into the serious polishing.

Essentially, get the notes on the page first. Details come later.

I'll definitely check out the book once I get money.

And Ewald...Meh. I'm not a big fan of the romantic style. That, and I've played most of his stuff enough to be well and thoroughly sick of it.

I was not aware that Bartok had written anything for brass quintet, nor could I find anything with a basic google search. Link?

-1st trumpet will hate you forever with that first entrance on the 4th sixteenth of the beat.

He'll get over it.

[FunkyEntropy]

New versions up - live musicians make all the difference.

[Eino Keskitalo]

Very nice! I couldn't give feedback like PrototypeRaptor.. but I'll say I enjoyed this quite a bit. In the first part I lose track of the rhythm easily. Not sure if it's anything to worry about - as long as it's preformed tightly it shouldn't be a problem.

Overall this track sounds pretty mellow, slightly bitter-sweet.. good for the "voyaging" theme!

--Eino