Lets discuss tessitura - Big Band Arranging SECRETS REVEALED
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- In this video I explain the role of instrument ranges in jazz ensemble orchestration and I explain why I rarely (never) use spread voicing in the trumpet section.
I'd like to thank the following musicians who advised me on their instrument's ranges to help me put together this video lesson:
Matt Ballad (saxophones)
Sean Shackelford (trombone)
Robert Todd, Jr. (bass trombone)
The saxophone ranges are on-screen during the video, but all of the instrument ranges are part of this lesson's study guide on Patreon.
Elliot Deutsch is a composer and arranged of big band music in Los Angeles, CA. His arrangements and orchestrations have been performed and recorded by Arturo Sandoval, Martina McBride, Big Phat Band, Take 6, and many others. Deutsch's collaborations with electro swing producer Atom Smith have been streamed over a million times on Spotify. As a freelance trumpeter, Deutsch has toured with Solomon Burke and The Mutaytor, and he performs regularly with the polka band Die Sauerkrauts and the party band That Vibe.
Support me in making lessons like this one by joining my Patreon: / pandemoniumbigband
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Watch all of the other lessons in the series: • Big Band Arranging SEC...
If you are interested in private arranging lessons over Zoom, send an email to: pandemoniumbigband@gmail.com
All of the background music was recorded by the Pandemonium Big Band.
You're videos have been SO helpful in my progression as a composer!
Except a Bass trombone is "Bass"..... and like the Bari Sax can Honk.
I'd like to hear you thoughts on Five part trumpet voicing.
Of course, it depends on the level of musician, but really....if it can be played by a pro trumpet section....it can be played by a pro trombone section down the octave. If you consider D above the staff as playable by trumpet....then you can write the same note an octave lower for trombone. Our instrument have exactly the same mechanics when it comes to range. And the Tessitura also works much the same.
I want to thank you for all of your amazing videos and for your amazing teaching style with such a vibe. I'm a 16 yo classical clarinetist from Russia, have been studying big band arranging for a month and jazz arranging in general for 2 years and already made 6 charts or so (not for a full big band but still). Thank you for being so inspiring.
Wow! Keep it up. I didn’t write my first piece for jazz band until I was 22!
Elliot. I love your videos. Informative. Educational. Your teaching is simple,very profound. You're making a difference! Thank you so much for posting these great videos. 😊
Thank you so much for the kind words
Great vid, Elliot. This one explained a lot.
Great video! I'd love to know your thoughts on notating plunger mute. I've seen many different arrangers do it different ways and I'd love to know how you do it and why you think it's best. Thanks!
Good idea. I'm not sure that it is a deep enough topic to merit an entire video, but maybe I can work up a video about proper mute notation.
My experience is as a trumpet performer. Don't know a whole lot about composing/arranging. But many jazz ensembles have five trumpets. Usually the fourth or fifth part is always an octave below the lead. Sometimes it's a seventh below and sometimes a ninth below. And the voicings in the middle will be very tight. Many charts I have played are very complex chords such as 13ths, so there is very close voicing with dissonance. I'm also thinking that they're usually is a greater distance between the first part and second part than there is between the second through fourth and 5th parts. Not sure why. I'm thinking first, to make the lead line stand out better. And second and possibly more importantly, having a gap between the first and second part helps to prevent the ensemble chord sound confused and jumbled. Not sure the right words to use to explain what I'm trying to say.
Thank you! Great stuff as always!
You are very welcome
I wonder if folks got this misconception cause bones, saxes, voices, strings and other woodwinds sound fine spread more than an octave. Trumpet is the exception here. But even though all us arranger/trumpet players know wider than an octave is 9/10 not a great choice, people will argue till they are blue in the face about this. I have no idea why :|. Great video Elliot!
Thanks Tyler. I think everyone (myself included) overthink orchestration. There just aren't very many ways to distribute notes to the trumpet section.
Very interesting video
Glad you think so!
“If it sounds good, then it's good music; nothing can sound worse than symphony in the wrong hands.” ~ Duke Ellington, 1958
That’s it!
You also don't want to start fights in competitive trumpet sections.
Very nice lesson though!
Glad you liked it!
A question: so if you're harmonizing a line with four trumpets, do you just accept that you're sometimes going to get an interval of a second between the top two voices when the melody is the root of the chord? In my very limited experience, I think it sounds OK like that on high trumpets, but I thought it was something that it was recommended to avoid, to maintain the clarity of the melody or whatever.
You should always keep at least a minor 3rd between the lead voice and the next voice. If the melody is on the root, I often voice the chord as a major 6 (if the actual chord is major or dominant). If the chord is minor, I’ll use minor 11 or minor 9, leaving out the 7th in both cases.
@@PandemoniumBigBand thanks for the response. I have another question, if that ok, it's about minor ninth intervals: I know they're frowned upon most of the time, but are they less noticeable/problematic if they occur between different sections of instruments. Say I have a major seventh or a minor second somewhere inside the voicing, I can imagine that a minor ninth might creep in when I couple sections together.
@@seamothboy you can generally avoid the issue entirely by voicing your extensions in the higher voices and the chord-tones below. That’s good practice anyway!
@@PandemoniumBigBand cheers. I suppose it's not an issue if you avoid semitones in the trumpets, for these mechanical voicings, or if you have a major 7 between the top trumpet and the bottom one then the top trombone needs to play a semitone below the lowest trumpet - you can't have the lead trombone playing an octave below one of the other trumpets. I suppose it's further complicated by saxophones joining in. Maybe major 7 are best avoided too in big band mechanical voicings?
"Self-proclaimed You Tube Celebrity"!!!!! 😂
You are the first person to point that out! I was getting a little bit silly in this video.
Have subbed!