Bowed Strings | String Basics
Bowed Strings | String Basics
Extreme Orchestration
by Don Freund and David CutlerPublished: February 2024
The bowed string family of the modern symphony orchestra consists of only four instruments: violin, viola, cello, and bass. More music has been written to feature these instruments than any other family of the orchestra (woodwinds, brass, or percussion). A full string section forms the backbone of most orchestral literature. The most popular chamber ensemble since the mid-1700s, the string quartet continues to fuel a vast and diverse body of compositions. More solo pieces have been written for violin than for any other instrument, with the exception of piano. And string orchestras, completely omitting winds and percussion, have become popular ensembles in their own right. Why have so many composers continually been attracted to writing for string instruments?
Expression. Nuances in bow speed and vibrato allow for great variety of intensity and expression.
Versatility. String players can successfully execute rapid passages, lyrical melodies, long sustained gestures, short detached notes, glissandos, trills, tremolos, and chordal figures.
Homogeneity. The string family is more homogenous in tone colour than any other family of instruments. In a woodwind quartet, for example, flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon all possess distinct timbres. Despite registral differences, the four string instruments all sound relatively similar, allowing them to blend naturally.
Variety of timbres. String instruments can be bowed, plucked, or struck in a number of ways, allowing for a wide array of possible timbres.
Range. From the lowest pitch of the bass to the highest notes on the violin, an extremely wide range encompassing approximately seven octaves can be obtained from the strings.
Dynamic Spectrum. Strings can produce a wide spectrum of dynamics, ranging from almost inaudible to a powerful fortissimo.
Continuous Sound. Unlike wind players, string musicians do not rely on breath control, allowing them to perform with a continuous sound for extended periods of time.
Certainly, with all of the qualities listed above, writing for string instruments can be an exciting endeavor. With so many possibilities, however, learning to write effectively for these instruments can also be a challenging undertaking for the novice composer or orchestrator.
While strings have a wide dynamic range, a fortissimo on strings cannot compete with a similar dynamic on brass or percussion instruments. Because of this, and to add warmth to their sound, symphony orchestras usually feature multiple players on each part. A symphony orchestra might have 12 first violins, 10 second violins, 8 violas, 8 cellos, and 6 basses. The players of each string part share the same part, and usually perform the same notes and rhythms. If more than one note at a time is required, the word divisi (div.) written above the staff indicates that half of the players should play the top, while the other half plays the bottom. If the section should divide three ways, write div. a3. To cancel out divisi, the term unisono (unis.) must be written above the staff. If string multiple stops should not be divided, write non div (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso, m. 76.
Though the four bowed string instruments vary in size, they have much in common. All have the same basic construction, with a curved bridge and an unfretted fingerboard, and all can be bowed, plucked or struck.
The strings on instruments in the violin family can be referenced with Roman numerals, labeling them from highest to lowest: I, II, III, IV. An unstopped string is called an open string. The open strings of violins, violas, and cellos are tuned a perfect fifth apart, while the strings of the double bass are tuned in perfect fourths. The open strings, along with their corresponding Roman numerals, are notated below.
The only transposing instrument in the bowed string family is the double bass, which sounds one octave lower than notated.
Although for most instruments it is generally advisable to indicate most or all instructions in English, so they can be understood at a glance, many default terms for string writing should be written in Italian or French. Because strings have such a long and extensive tradition, all players should know the basic foreign terms in the languages listed in this chapter. Other indications, such as descriptive adjectives or unusual techniques, should be indicated in English. For a full list of terms in different languages, see IMSLP's list of abbreviations..
The bowed string family of the modern symphony orchestra consists of only four instruments: violin, viola, cello, and bass. More music has been written to feature these instruments than any other family of the orchestra (woodwinds, brass, or percussion). A full string section forms the backbone of most orchestral literature.
On string instruments, it is possible to change the pitch of a string by stopping the string with the left hand. In other words, the left hand applies pressure to a string against the fingerboard, in essence shortening its length. Shorter strings produce higher pitches, so as notes are stopped higher on the fingerboard, the pitch rises.
The most common way to produce a sound on orchestral string instruments is by drawing a bow across one or more of its strings. This technique is called arco. Because playing with a bow is the default method of playing these instruments, it is not necessary to write the term arco on the score unless canceling out an alternative way of playing, such as plucking or striking the strings.
It is possible to achieve a greater variety of timbres with the bowed strings than with any other orchestral instrument. Through the use of harmonics, mutes, varied bow placement, plucking or striking the strings, and other extended techniques, a large selection of sound possibilities becomes available.
The violin generally takes the soprano role of the strings, though it is possible to score violin below viola, or even upper register cello.
The viola is most often scored as the alto voice of the string ensemble. In fact, the word for viola in German is alto. For chordal figures, this instrument often fills out the inner voices. Viola can effectively double the violin in unison, or down an octave, and it is often written in unison or up an octave from the cello.
Although the cello often takes on the baritone or bass role of the string section, it can also function as the tenor, alto, or even soprano voice. In the lower register, it often doubles the bass or other bass instruments, such as bassoon and trombone. In the mid-range, cello can contribute inner notes of harmonic constructions.
The contrabass is the largest and the lowest of the bowed strings. Also known as double bass, bass viol, string bass, or simply bass it is positioned in front of the player, resting on an endpin, as the performer stands or sits on a high stool. Most of the techniques for violin, viola, and cello are possible on bass as well, and this instruments blends well with the other strings.
All Extreme Orchestration chapters
All composers deal with instrumentation and orchestration every time they write music. Even when composing for a solo player, it is imperative to know the potentials of the instrument at hand. Though some students of orchestration argue that they have no compositional ability, all orchestrators deal with composition.
Perhaps it seems odd for a book on orchestration to contain such a hefty chapter on music notation. Certainly learning the rules of notation will not teach the art of instrumentation or orchestration, as notation is a completely separate skill. Yet notation is the single item that orchestrators deliver to performers.
Woodwinds are not usually called upon to evoke the sensuous beauty of strings, the heroic grandeur of brass, or the visceral power and splashy color of percussion. Their role in the orchestra is possibly the most subtle and personal of all the instrumental choirs. Developing an appreciation for the special qualities they contribute and discovering techniques for making the most of the timbral resources they provide may be the most important lessons an orchestrator can learn.
Since the members of the woodwind section have such individually distinct timbres, the choices of chord voicings, doublings and octave placements in this section have a particularly notable impact.
The members of the flute family are the only wind instruments that do not use a reed or buzzing lips to initiate their sound. Air is directed from the lips free of a mouthpiece. The only resistance to the airflow is the player’s embouchure, allowing the tongue and mouth to be uniquely unencumbered.
The oboe’s double reed is the heart of its distinct character. Since no satisfactory way of mass-producing oboe reeds has been perfected, oboists spend a good part of their lives making and adjusting reeds. Intonation is largely a matter of fine-tuning the reed, and the quality of the reed can have a decisive impact on the color of the instrument.
Clarinets are the most prevalent of all woodwinds, despite the fact that they were the last to become standard members of the symphony orchestra, near the end of the Classical Period (saxophones are still waiting). There are many good reasons for this. Its broad range allows it to be a tenor, alto, or even coloratura soprano member of any ensemble.
The saxophone and clarinet families have many things in common. They are the only single reed families. Both have a relatively large number of instruments covering virtually the complete range of the orchestra, and these instruments are playable at the elementary level, while possessing the capacity for virtuosic technical agility and extraordinary dynamic breadth.
The bassoon family is limited to the bassoon and contrabassoon. Since these are double reed, conical bore instruments, basic acoustics might suggest that they should be included in the oboe family (or that oboes be included in the bassoon family since bassoons arguably arrived first). The sound quality of bassoons, however, differs significantly enough from the oboes to merit a family of their own.
Brass instruments are a far more homogeneous group than woodwinds. All brass instruments produce their sound when lips are vibrated into a mouthpiece. Beyond the mouthpiece, the most important element in the structure of all brass instruments is a flaring bell at the end of the tubing, which not only amplifies the sound but also helps the higher partials to speak clearly and evenly.
In the following excerpt, the brass section forms the core of the climax of Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel. Here the brass is organized in a variety of configurations, ranging from contrapuntal balancing to homophonic power chords.
The horn (rarely referred to as the “French horn” these days) is the most extensively used brass instrument in orchestral writing, whether measured by the number of scores which call for it, the number horns usually included in the instrumentation of a score compared to other brass instruments, or by the relative total duration of time that solo or section horns play in a score.
The trumpet is arguably the loudest and most powerful member of the orchestra, if one excludes the organ and certain deafening percussion. A single trumpet in its middle to high register at the ƒ dynamic level can always be heard, no matter how dense and loud the texture surrounding it.
The trombone is so similar in its acoustic structure to the trumpet (predominantly cylindrical) that it may be considered a bass trumpet with a slide replacing the valves.
The tuba functions as the bass of the brass section. Comparable to the way string basses commonly double the cellos an octave lower (like adding an organ “16-foot” stop), the tuba is acoustically designed to provide depth and strength to the bass voice. Its sound is open and relatively diffuse, a “sub-woofer” to the brass and the orchestra as a whole.
Though percussion instruments can be pitched (such as marimba, xylophone, and timpani1) or non-pitched (such as snare drum, triangle, and cymbals) there is often a fine line between these two categories.
Percussion notation has the same goals as all notation: it should be clear, specific, and easy to follow. Many attempts have been made to standardize percussion notation, yet none have proven definitive. However, following the guidelines set below will allow you to deliver comprehensible, easy to read percussion parts.
Most drums have a single head, made from a stretched membrane, affixed to a shell. Some have a second head on the opposing side (i.e. bass drum), adding resonance by creating a sound chamber between the heads.
Though the mallet percussion instruments range widely in material (some are wood instruments, while others are metals) and timbre, they share many common characteristics. All of these instruments are pitched and capable of playing chromatically throughout their given range. They are all set up similarly to a piano in that the pitches that correspond to white keys are pushed forward, with the black keys appropriately placed behind them.
Any kind of item, even those not normally found in the percussion section, may be struck (though you may want to take out some extra insurance on particularly fragile items!). The timbre is determined primarily by its material, shape, density, and the type of mallet used.
Objects can be shaken, scraped, pulled, cranked, blown, etc. Some of these instruments imitate nature sounds (composers seem to have a particular obsession with the weather) or everyday life, while others are used simply to create rhythms, texture, or noise. With few exceptions, these instruments are non-pitched.
Keyboard instruments are designed to be polyphonic, giving one performer the ability to play as many notes simultaneously as the fingers of two hands (and in some cases two hands and feet) can manage. The piano and organ have the ability to create a complete musical fabric, often suggesting the range, textural richness, and dynamic impact of a large orchestra.
The piano is a percussion mechanism masquerading as a sustaining, lyric instrument. Considering the tremendous amount of music written for it, thoroughly convincing in all manner of styles and characters, this masquerade is conspicuously successful.
Despite its extreme expressiveness, harmonic potential, wide array of techniques, and the fact that it is the one of the oldest living instruments, the harp seems to strike fear in the hearts of many composers and orchestrators.
Idiomatic Scoring for the Harp: Music for harp is usually written on a grand staff, similar to piano music. Most of the time, the top staff should be in treble clef, and the bottom staff in bass clef.
The bowed string family of the modern symphony orchestra consists of only four instruments: violin, viola, cello, and bass. More music has been written to feature these instruments than any other family of the orchestra (woodwinds, brass, or percussion). A full string section forms the backbone of most orchestral literature.
On string instruments, it is possible to change the pitch of a string by stopping the string with the left hand. In other words, the left hand applies pressure to a string against the fingerboard, in essence shortening its length. Shorter strings produce higher pitches, so as notes are stopped higher on the fingerboard, the pitch rises.
The most common way to produce a sound on orchestral string instruments is by drawing a bow across one or more of its strings. This technique is called arco. Because playing with a bow is the default method of playing these instruments, it is not necessary to write the term arco on the score unless canceling out an alternative way of playing, such as plucking or striking the strings.
It is possible to achieve a greater variety of timbres with the bowed strings than with any other orchestral instrument. Through the use of harmonics, mutes, varied bow placement, plucking or striking the strings, and other extended techniques, a large selection of sound possibilities becomes available.
The violin generally takes the soprano role of the strings, though it is possible to score violin below viola, or even upper register cello.
More strings-related resources
“The aim of The Orchestra: A User's Manual is to provide information about the orchestra, orchestration, composition and instruments, for the benefit of anybody with an interest in the subject.”
“The double-bass is the contrabass instrument of the string section and is not strictly speaking a member of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). The double-bass differs in several ways from the instruments of the violin family. In its modern form it is a hybrid, combining elements of both the viola da gamba and the violin families.”
"A site conceived as a research tool for the collection, dissemination and the advancement of the cumulative double bass knowledge. The goal of this portal is to provide the world’s most comprehensive double bass bibliography in a format that is always current, accessible and upgradeable."
“The purpose of this website is two-fold:
It is to serve as a compendium of contemporary double bass technique for the double bassist who wishes to pursue an interest in the performance of contemporary music and its associated techniques.
It is to provide a technical dictionary for composers wishing to compose for the instrument.”
“The viola is the alto instrument of the violin family (violin, viola, cello). It is constructed using the same components as the violin, the only difference being the larger size. Its stately and dark timbre contrasts sharply with that of the violin and makes the viola perfectly suited as the violin family’s middle voice.”
“The aim of The Orchestra: A User's Manual is to provide information about the orchestra, orchestration, composition and instruments, for the benefit of anybody with an interest in the subject.”
“A vibrating string can produce a motion that is rich in harmonics (different frequencies of vibration). Bowing the string not only allows a range of expressive techniques, but also supplies energy continuously and so maintains the harmonic richness”
“The aim of The Orchestra: A User's Manual is to provide information about the orchestra, orchestration, composition and instruments, for the benefit of anybody with an interest in the subject.”
