Who solos? Solos in the correct style? Tenor sax player double on Bari? Are the tracks already recorded? You can double something or write to match something synth, guitar, keyboard, etc. Horn hits with snare drum hits. Rhythmic pattern the horn section plays together. Unison or harmonized. NOT good for high brass. Horn fills in between the vocal breaks or sustained notes. Hear the instruments in your head. It might sound great on the piano, not so much with real instruments.
Advance Music. Dick Grove Arranging Concepts Complete. Hopefully this will give you a great starting point. Write as much as you can, and hear it played back by real musicians, nothing teaches better than hearing what you wrote. If you're not a horn player, let the guys give you their 2 cents on your parts.
HaHa, I was kidding. Does anyone copy by hand anymore? I copied for years by hand, buying the paper and ink at Valle Music in North Hollywood. Even had an ammonia smelling Ozlid machine. Score Order Traditionally big band is alto, alto, tenor, tenor, bari. Trumpet 1, 2, 3, 4. Trombone 1, 2, 3, 4. Rhythm section. Many use that as a guide for smaller horn sections, just removing what isn't being used.
I personally like putting the horns in order for tutti voicings. I use measure numbers on the beginning of each staff unless it's a one time recording ie.
Rehearsal letters always on left side. I put lyric cues with the rehearsal letters for the band. Not a rule, but try to keep the music spaced evenly at 4 measures per bar. If a 7 measure phrase, 4 measures on one line and 3 measures on the next line. I indent the right side of the line so at a glance you know it's not a group of 4 measures. Note Values, Articulations - Use all the articulations you need to make it clear what you want.
Tenuto, staccato or sfz. You might have a great lick but it's just not working, try adding or changing the articulations. It's common in big bands for the lead instruments trumpet 1, alto 1, trombone 1 to play the same note in different octaves. Also, any solos or melodies on any of the other parts won't be covered.
Taping parts, how to - Accordion style, keeps the sticky side of the tape from sticking to anything. Valle Music, and I'm sure other Music Prep businesses had taping machines.
In my example I am taping pages 2 and 3 together. On the backside of pages 2 and Trim the edge of the tape on the even-odd pages as these ends will be seen. On the odd-even poages, the ends will be on the backside of the music. View of the trim on the music side of the paper. If you print to 8.
The same method is used except the tape is applied on the front music side of page 1 and 2. Transcribing - Transcribing is a great way to start learning how to write horn parts. Just like transcribing is one of the first steps to learning jazz improvisation, transcribing the horn parts gives you a vocabulary of licks and an idea of how they sound by their voicings.
Thanks to a post on Reddit I've been getting a lot of hits. I'll try and answer a few of the questions asked there. BTW, I'm not the one that posted the link. Flugelhorn mutes, yes there are such a thing. Don't write for them unless you know the player and have confirmed he has one.
How many alto players want to or unintentionally sound like Sanborn. I had always avoided 4th horn parts whenever possible, until being appointed to the 4th horn seat. My experience has been that the 4th horn parts are rarely very challenging, and they are almost never as challenging as the other parts. There is little pressure. I am almost never nervous either during concerts or rehearsals. In many respects, I often feel that my talents are under-utilized.
Nevertheless, playing 4th can be very rewarding. Providing a solid foundation to the section sound is a skill that requires musical sensitivity and an accute ear for intonation, and producing a clear, quality sound consistently in the fuzz register written f1 down to c , is a technique that must be cultivated.
My best rewards come because I can tell that the 3rd or 1st players are glad to see me sit down next to them. Then, I know I've done my job. I've found all this talk about 1st vs. I agree that all the parts are very important and that 4th can be fairly difficult.
In college, I took on the 4th position a couple of wind ensemble semesters to help out I was a lead trumpet player and to broaden my horizons. I liked the horn very much, and I found the 4th part to be extremely difficult! The smaller mouthpiece was a fairly easy adjustment, but the low, low notes on a piece that small were a formidable challenge! When I had the opportunity to read 1st or when the horns were soli in a mid- to high range, it was much, much easier. I assumed at the time and still do that the majority of my problems with playing 4th was because I was not originally a horn player and trumpet parts generally don't go very low.
But switching from 1st trumpet to 4th horn was a challenge- while I had a great time playing horn, it was in many ways much harder than being principal trumpet. I'm not sure where or if this fits into the debate, but it was an interesting discovery to me. I speak as an amature player who plays for pleasure to the highest standard that his lifestyle and ability allow. Some sections I have played in have turned in poor performances in musical terms because of a lack of co-operation within the team, and I see and hear this in professional orchs that I hear perform.
I beleive that for a horn section to acheive results they must work as a team, like any good team this means that strengths are recognised and used; and within the context of a horn section that a very close understanding of the group is developed. As individuals we did not aspire to be in the Berlin Phil but as a group with music that was within our technical grasp we played as a section, as a team, and made sheet music into a good quality living performance as good many a pro.
What I am saying is that a good section is greater than the sum of its parts, that every member of that section is crucial to this happening and that no member of the section, including the principal, can say that they are better or more important. This is music I am talking about here and not just note getting or doing gigs for money.
I find the sound of four horns playing together like no other and it surpasses solo playing in my opinion. They are not "stepping-stones" to Ego-fulfillment; and orchestras do NOT exist to showcase "Principal" players. This at least is the intention. Over the years as a Principal I learned to audition section players for two important qualities: 1 musical proficiency and 2 willingness and ability to cooperate.
It is a little like the Dutch soccer team, some years ago, which consistently won match after match. When asked how they were so proficient, they said they worked as a "team".
Unlike other more famous teams, the Dutch team didn't put much stock in hiring one or two "Prima Ballerinas" at high salaries. Instead, ALL the players were excellent, and none were "peerless". When I play first, I tend to work harder. I think this is due to the fact that I have to lead the section.
I believe it is more emotionally draining as I sometimes have to get the players to not talk during rehearsal. I love 4th part. I wouldn't give it up for all the glory of 1st. I love to play really low horn, as in Mahler 1. It's an experience. It is responsible for the foundation of the section. If the fourth horn is out of tune, the section sounds bad.
My Youth Symphony conductor has told me more than once that he put me at fourth not because I was the worst of the 4 horns, but because he knew I was the only one who could pick out the necessary low notes out of thin air. He believed 4th horn needed to carry the section, and if the section got off, he knew I could bring it back again. He said I was the only one he trusted to come in at the right time. Fourth horn players are not the worst! Sometimes they are the best. Granted, they never get enough credit for their work, the audience can tell the difference between a good horn section by the bottom players, not the top!
First players get a lot of credit, but need the others to make them sound good. PLaying first is not easy, but neither is playing fourth. I believe that every 1st player needs to have the opportunity to sit 4th sometimes and vice versa.
I am disturbed by something someone said recently. I hear this statement from horn players who should know better. I continue to believe that each chair is important in its own right. Unfortunately, it is rare to find a second or even rarer to find a 4th that really enjoys playing these positions.
This is not necessarily because they don't enjoy the parts given it is because to say one is less than numero uno in anything seems to mean one just hasn't achieved greatness. A three horn section can cover triad type voices very well, but can also sound very jazzy if the writer is skillful. Four Horns: This is rarer yet. The makeup of the section has much to do with what kind of music the group plays. A swing band will proabably be a trumpet, a trombone and two saxes.
Oliver Nelson showed some terrific possibilities for a four-horn section featuring trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax, and baritone sax on his legendary album, The Blues and the Abstract Truth.
Also check his work on More Blues and the Abstract Truth. A more rock-oriented band might go for a brassier sound. Blood Sweat and Tears , the grandaddies of jazz-rock, had a horn section with two trumpets, one sax and one trombone. This made for a very brassy sound with a lot of screaming high notes. A mellower sounding band with the same instrumentation was the group used by Ray Charles on his album The Great Ray Charles.
The arrangements were done by Quincy Jones. Writing for four horns is very scientific and fairly easy if you follow the rules. There are always enough horns to hit the essential chord tones, and always enough left over to play some color notes.
This is also a good sized section if you want to have more complex arrangements. Two horns can play a melody against two other horns playing rhythmic figures or a countermelody. Two trumpets, two tenor saxes and the very famous baritone sax of Stephen 'Doc' Kupka. The TOP horn sound is legendary in the recording industry and many famous artists have made use of them. The two trumpets provide unlimited screech power, and the tenor and bari saxes provide a warm, reedy middle and bottom.
The unique Tower of Power horn sound was arranged written for the most part by trumpeter Greg Adams. There have also been many fine five-horn jazz groups.
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