Judge this book by its cover. |
The Art of Orchestration, by Bernard
Rogers was surprisingly printed in 1951. In contrast to last week’s book, first
impressions would lead it to have been printed much earlier. I’d like to say it was the textured binding and the musty smell of a vintage tome but really it was
the fact that anything written in an Arabic-esque script automatically becomes
ancient and profound.
When I imagine “orchestration”, my
mind wanders to politicians and nobility of ill repute skulking in dark
confines laying the groundwork for grand plots of a Machiavellian nature. This
hope of instructional views to scheme like a mastermind was lost when I opened
the cover and saw musical notes. Right. That type of orchestration. While I
believe everything has an artistic component, the predominant memories of my
grade eight band teacher flailing his conductor wand wildly as thirty teenagers
butchered four-note arrangements did not conjure up enough artistic value to fill
a pamphlet, let alone a book. However, like a cultural sieve I approach all things
literary with an open mind.
The images looked not unlike that W5 battery book. |
The Art of Orchestration was
helpfully divided into two parts. The first, “The Tonal Elements”, introduced
the different components of an orchestra. With chapter titles like “The Sovereign
Strings” and “Heroic Expression: The Brass”, one cannot help but feel the
grandeur of mythic factions being assembled for an epic journey. It should be
noted, though, that I had recently watched The Hobbit so many things are being
reimagined like Middle-earthen quests in my mind. That being said, these
sections did indeed impart many understated aspects to a variety of instruments
that I was not aware of before. At one to two paragraphs for each entry, Rogers
presents clear concise descriptions of the utility of each orchestra instrument.
If, for reasons unknown, you need more than a paragraph understand what a
trombone is, I would suggest other sources. Like the internet.
The second part, title “From Line to
Color”, embraces the metaphor of arranging an orchestra being the same as painting
a masterpiece. The chapters “The Sketch” and “The Picture: One” hint at it subtly;
“The Orchestral Painter” not so much. The most interesting aspect of this book, though,
falls in these chapters. Rogers presents the idea that all the instruments covered
in the first part fall under specific colours and like in painting, you can mix
these colours in certain ways to get secondary sound/colours. Using warm
colours to invoke feelings of harmony and happiness, blues and greens to stir up fear and
isolation, it becomes a method of arranging by visuals. As a fan of paint by
numbers, I wholeheartedly embrace this theory.
It's why I'm so good at Electroplankton. |
The appendix itself was a whole
separate text. It contained nothing but eleven pages of sheet music going over
the music theories covered in the first two sections. However, with a staff of
half a centimeter, the twenty-four lines on each page resembled a four-lane
highway for ants.
That or a spit-take with a mouthful of Jäger. |
Luckily, with a background in playing the trumpet through my
junior years in high school, I was able to follow along fairly easily. Rebuffed
by the confidence of my past experience mixing in with the newfound knowledge
of this musical colour theory, I picked up my guitar wondering if this fresh
awareness has helped my playing. An hour later, the answer was no.
Book rating: 9/10 (useful, educational, and good-looking)
Random quote: “Another
rare device is the pizzicato tremolo, in Italian, bisbigliando.” (This sentence
sounds delicious.)
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