ORCHESTRATION AS CRAFT

Course Description

Orchestration can be understood as an art form with no right or wrong decisions, merely artistic choices. However, it can also be understood as a craft, analogous to carpentry or welding. This course will study orchestration through the lens of craft, allowing us to define good orchestration, and refine our skills to meet these standards.

The goal of this course is to learn and improve our skills as orchestrators. This will include learning how to properly balance the orchestra, evoke character, and create effective textures, among many other skills.

As with any craft, practice is essential to improvement. There will be weekly assignments with the objective of allowing students to both apply newly learned skills and hone existing ones.

Class time will be split between presentations on topics in orchestration, score study, and in-class review of completed weekly assignments.

There are no prerequisites for this course. However, it will be necessary to be able to read and write music as well as having some knowledge of the instruments of the orchestra.

This is a student-led colloquium led by Kai Jenkin under the supervision of Leslie Hogan