reference.book Page 392 Monday, August 31, 2009 2:47 PM
5. Power tools The four methods of sorting the lines of notes – which are determined by the Which lines go into the first group option – give rise to very different distributions of the music. In general terms: If sorting by pitch (i.e. Highest), the groups should be disposed such that the instruments in
each group should be able to play in the correct register, e.g. the first group would be high instruments (such as violins and flutes), a second group medium instruments (e.g. violas, clarinets, horns), and a third group bass instruments (e.g. cellos, bassoons, trombones). Sorting by pitch allows conventional doublings in a “mixed” orchestration (e.g. violins doubled by flutes and clarinets, violas doubled by oboes, cellos doubled by bassoons, etc.) to be set up most easily. Typically this kind of Arrange style should contain three or four groups. The Mixed styles are defined like this. If sorting by speed (i.e. Fastest or Busiest), each group should contain a spread of instruments able to play across the entire range of pitches, such as instruments from the standard instrumental families (woodwind, brass and strings). This allows for a “block” orchestration, in which each family plays a particular kind of material (e.g. woodwinds play the fastest music, brass play the slowest music). Typically this kind of Arrange style should contain two or three groups. The Block styles are defined like this, sorting by Fastest, which is our recommended setting for block orchestration. If in doubt about which method of sorting to use, Highest (i.e. mixed orchestration) generally gives the best default results.
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