Making an Arrangement

it is about communicating your ideas.
how do you do that with musicians?
write it down. whereas notation would be ideal, you don't have to,
but a lead sheet would suffice. it is simply an outline of what is played when and where.
it can be written out to show all the measures and instruments.
work things out in layers. and maybe record for reference.
I like your idea. build up feels cool.
but keep in mind, sometimes the simple things have the most impact.

looks complicated

Yep. It's complicated.

First I'm going to split some hairs... there's "arranging", where you take an existing tune and fit it to an ensemble, and there's "orchestration". Many schools teach "orchestration" as arranging for orchestra, but in my view it can also be composing for any specific ensemble. So if you hear something in your head and you can write all the parts down as you create, I consider that "orchestration" - and you can't get any advice on that... it's an element of your composition.

Since "arranging" means taking something pre-existing and distributing it across instruments, first you have to know the tune. And I mean KNOW the tune. The process of arranging leads to decisions that can change elements of the composition - if your composition isn't yet "fixed" in your mind, it's easy to paint yourself into a corner and not know what to do next. I'll leave it to you to decide when you've got it down to the point where you can start arranging; in a perfect world, I like to be able to write out the melody in standard notation, from memory, with basic chord notation, before I start an arrangement.

Once you know the tune, start looking at it critically. What should the audience response be? Where are the different instruments coming in? When is it getting louder or softer? Does it change dynamics suddenly, or gradually? What will you emphasize? How do you plan to draw the audience in emotionally?

Sketch out your general ideas. Then you want to see if it's possible... this is the point where I'll do a first check to make sure the melody I want a certain instrument to have is within its range. (Not just the technical range of the instrument either - you have to consider the performer's abilities; you have to arrange differently for 10 year old performers than you do for pros). Since you'll be keyboard based on the violins, that's not a big issue there - keyboards can "play" stuff violins can't actually do, and you don't need to worry about handing it off to the violas or cellos. But if you're including winds, be careful - many instruments have "breaks" where the tone changes dramatically over their range; a clarinet sounds very different in low, medium, and high registers. Pros can smooth out a lot of stuff; amateurs generally can't. The bottom line here is that you want to know what your instruments - and instrumentalists - are capable of, and knowing it very early on saves you a lot of work.

I write the melody out first, for all instruments (whoever has it at that point in time). Now you've got a picture of how it's handed around the ensemble. Play through it with a full score in front of you (the parts for the instruments that don't have the melody are still blank). You can play it in your head if you can hear it, or at the piano, or use VST instruments - but you need to hear the solo melody realized. While you listen, make notes on the rhythm of the accompaniment - where are the other instruments playing? When are they entering? accenting? supporting? Use a pencil; have a big eraser handy :)

Think about how the piece is structured in your mind. You'll be taking one of two tacks - constructing individual voices (counterpoint), or working from a chord progression. Since this is already going to be a long post, I'll just work with chords. You've penciled in where they start (and change) - give a chord tone to each instrument.

Now pick one instrument. I usually work from the bass first - you should know who's carrying the bass at any given time from your earlier notes. You want each part to have a melody, so pay attention to how they get from one chord tone to another. If you're using VST, it helps to mute the instruments that don't have the melody & bass, so you can see what needs work.

I tend to work the two inner voices (alto & tenor) at the same time, since those complete the chords. I'll do it one phrase at a time, then go back and check each instrument's line individually.

Work through the instruments until everything you imagine playing at any point in the piece is scored. Now listen to the whole thing in ensemble. Mark what you don't like, and re-work it.

Rinse and repeat.

Once you're "done" you're not. You're just ready to start rehearsal. You'll find that some instruments may not actually play what you thought they would. Mark the spots to change. You may find you've done things through inexperience that need work (in my very first arrangement, I forgot that flutes need to breathe).

Be prepared for lots of changes. The last arrangement I did was four a four-piece student ensemble (guitar, violin, clarinet, flute) - I went through two complete re-writes before rehearsals started, and four more before it was performed. Each change requires others... when the clarinet couldn't hit an E in one spot, I swapped chord tones with the flute... but that meant both melodies had to be re-worked to avoid awkward lines, and those changes led to still more changes.

Final piece of advice: find pieces that convey the feeling you want - you want "boomy" from two guitars and strings and drums - find a piece that sounds boomy with those instruments (or other instruments in the same range) and study the score! If you find a piece you think is really well done, get other scores by the same arranger and study those too.

It helps to have a decent grasp of theory, harmony, and instrumentation (what each one sounds like alone, and how they sound combined with others). But knowing all the technical stuff only gets you to the gate - learning to arrange is a process that never stops.

OK so first I am taking on the task of writing it. What I am doing is first writing out the basic basic basic melody, with just the bass and the note, well by I mean by note is that one note that is like accented, like the highest note ( most of the times ) and then adding the little 16th notes because its fingerpicked.

Im doing both, it is an existing tune, well not really written, I am writing it now which is the orchestration and then arranging, its not really a class, its more of an extracurricular activity with the teachers support.

Now I am writing it but there arent really any chords per se, just broken chords, arpeggios.

The part of different instruments we will deal with later depending exactly on how much time we have to drag out the building up, cause I want all the guitars to improvise atleast a few measures. Now should I write it 2/4 or 4/4 ? Every little part takes up 2 beats so I can write it 2/4, but IDK o.o pros and cons of this ?

Also there is a little part that in the bass its C#, C, B, is writing the same as scales, should I call it.. C#,B#, Axx ?

Now yes, its what you call counterpoint, no chords.

I really havent gotten down with the other instruments, other than the keyboard, Ill cross that bridge when I get to it next week, thanks ^^.

More tips and trick, suggestions please, thanks :D.

EDIT: Ok never mind that, I finished writting it some time ago, not the whole thing, just the basic ;progression;, and after dividing it into 2/4 I see 5 measures, I cant do that in 4/4, so there, its in 2/4 now :D, so I put the two dots that mean repeat, how do I specify how many times you are going to repeat it ?

how do I specify how many times you are going to repeat it ?

I just put an x3 at the end to let me know if I need to repeat it 3 times...I don't know if that's really correct though :lol: