Project 2.1. Introduction to woodwind instruments
Research Point 2a: Secondary Woodwind instruments
I was asked to research some of the relative instruments of the “common” western woodwind instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone and bassoon.
1. The Family of the Flute
a) Piccolo
– Range: Written and sounding: D4 – C7
– Timbre: Notes in the low register sound breathy and cold, the sound can also easily dissapear in tutti passages. The sound of the middle register is brighter, stronger an less breathy. The piccolo creates a clean, crisp, sometimes shrill sound for the high register. 1
– Technique:
Single tonguing, vibrato, sforzarto, double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolo, legato, runs, modern techniques. 2
– Effective Usage:
The sound quality of the lower register can be used as an alternative to the flute. As the instrument becomes stronger in the middle register, it can be heard better in ensembles and is more suitable for solos. The high register can be used for clear solo- as well as shrill passages. It is almost impossible to hide the piccolo sound in in the higher register. Below f”, it gets difficult to balance the piccolo with other instruments. Notes above an a”’ are more difficult to produce
Overall, scales and arpeggios, as well as rapidly repeated notes are very effective. Some of the most common techniques (as written above), are double- triple and flutter tonguing. 1
b) Concert Flute
– Range: Written and sounding: C4 – B6
– Timbre: Similar to the piccolo, the low register has a breathy character, creating warm, dark tones. It gets difficult to balance it with an orchestra below d”. The middle range creates brighter notes, with a pure sound. Similar to the piccolo, the high register can sound piercing and shrill. 3
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzato, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolos, glissando, legato, runs, multiphonics, key slap, tonguing effects, pitch bending, whisper tones, modern techniques. 4
– Effective Usage: Within the lower range, the sound of the flute is often only used as a background texture. Within the middle range it can be heard more clearly.
Ofen used features of the flute are wide leaps, fast arpeggios and scales. 3
c) Alto flute in G
– Range: Written: C4 – G6, Sounding a perfect 4th lower: G3 to D6
– Timbre: The notes produced by the Alto flute are similar to the tone qualities of the concert flute. It is nonetheless slightly darker. In the low register, it sounds dark and full. It has overall a less breathy character.
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzato, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolos, glissando, legato, runs, multiphonics, key slap, tonguing effects, pitch bending, whisper tones, modern techniques.
– Effective Usage: Unlike the previous flutes, this one is more distinctive within the low register. It is nonetheless still difficult to balance the low register with other instruments. 5
d) Bass flute
– Range: Written: C4 to G6, Sounding an octave lower: C3 to G5
– Timbre: The bass flute provides a thick and rich tone quality.
– Technique: Due to the higher amount of breath needed, some more time between passages is necessary to let the instrumentalist breathe.
Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzato, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolos, glissando, legato, runs, multiphonics, key slap, tonguing effects, pitch bending, whisper tones, modern techniques
– Effective Usage: Even though it is the least agile sounding instrument of the flute family, it can hardly be heard over other instruments. 6
e) Recorders
– Range: Depending on the size of the recorder :
- Sopranino: Written: F4 – G6, Sounding an octave higher: F5 – G7
- Soprano: Written: C4 – D5, Sounding an Octave higher: C5 – D6
- Alto: Written and sounding: F4 – G6
- Tenor: Written and Sounding: C4 – D6
- Bass: Written: F2 – G4, Sounding an octave higher: F3 – G5
- Great bass: Written: C2 – D4, Sounding an octave higher: C3 – D5
- Contrabass: Written and Sounding: F2 – G4
– Timbre: Airy, Simple, softer than the concert flute. The higher pitched recorders have a natural sound, whilst the lower pitched ones have a darker more airy quality. 7
– Techniques: multiphonics by humming or special fingerings and playing at the same time, microtones, flageolet tones, slap tonguing, sputato, flutter tonguing, glissandi, breath noise, whistle tones, vibrato, pizzicato, legato, finger click 8, 9
– Effective Usage: Often used in Renaissance and Baroque ensembles with period instruments. 7
2. The Family of the oboe
a) Musette (Piccolo Oboe)
–Range: For the f- musette: Written: Bb3 – G6, Sounding: Eb4 – C7. For the Eb- musette: Written: B3 to G6, Sounding: D4 to Gb6
–Timbre: A more strighdent, clearer sound than the , especially in the high ramge 10
– Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto,Tooth Embouchure, Double Tonguing, Triple Tonguing, Flutter Tonguing, Trills, Tremolo, Glissando, Legato, Runs, Flageolet, Multiphonics, Key slap, Slap tongue, modern techniques. 11
– Effective Usage: Even though it’s not often used anymore, the distinctive sound of this instrument can be used to imitate bagpipes. 10
b) Oboe
– Range: Bb3 to G6
– Timbre: The oboe has a coarse and thick sound within the low register. The middle register is most characteristic for the oboe, creating a nasal sound. Similar to the previous woodwinds, the higher register becomes weaker and thinner.
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto,Tooth Embouchure, Double Tonguing, Triple Tonguing, Flutter Tonguing, Trills, Tremolo, Glissando, Legato, Runs, Flageolet, Multiphonics, Key slap, Slap tongue, modern techniques
– Effective Usage: Within the low register the sound is difficult to balance. Due to the unique tone quality, the oboe is often used as a solo instrument. 12
c) Oboe d’amore
– Range: Written: B3 to F6, Sounding a minor third lower: G#3 to D6
– Timbre: It creates a darker tone than the oboe, and more frisky sounding character than the English horn.
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto,Tooth Embouchure, Double Tonguing, Triple Tonguing, Flutter Tonguing, Trills, Tremolo, Glissando, Legato, Runs, Flageolet, Multiphonics, Key slap, Slap tongue, modern techniques
– Effective Usage: With a pitch lying between the oboe and the English horn the Oboe’amore creates a bridge between those two instruments. 13
d) Cor Anglais
– Range: Written: B3- F6, Sounding a perfect 5th lower: E3 – Bb5
– Timbre: The instrument has a delicate, sometimes whining sounding character. Even though they’re part of the same family, the English horn is not to be seen as a lower version of the oboe, as it has its own distinctive sound. Due to this, it can easily still be heard over other instruments without being too powerful.
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Staccato, double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolo, legato, runs, modern techniques
– Effective Usage: Even though it is not often used for fast passages, the English horn has the same technical abilities as the oboe. 14
e) Heckelphone
– Range: Written: A3 – F6, Sounding an octave lower: A2 – F5
– Timbre: The heckle phone has a reedy, full sound. With a dark timbre in the low register and a nasal timbre in the high register.
– Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Staccato, double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolo, legato, runs, modern techniques
– Effective Usage: Due to its flexibility, the Heckelphone can play clear well-defined articulations. It can be used as a bass or solo – voice. 15
3. The Family of the clarinet
a) Alto Clarinet in Eb
Range: Written: Eb2 – D6, Sounding a major 6th lower: G1 – F5
Timbre: Generally dark, somber sound. 16
Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques. 17
Effective Usage: The instrument is mostly used as tenor voice. It can also be used to double a clarinet in Bb or a bass clarinet in Bb 16
b) Bass Clarinet in Bb
Range: Written: Eb3 – D6, Sounding an octave and a major 2nd lower: Bb1 – B4
Timbre: The low register is rich, resonant and woody sounding. For the middle register, also called “throat tones”, the sound becomes clearer and brighter. The upper register sounds more airy and tense and looses its woody character.
Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques
Effective Usage: The low range can be used well for comic effects. As the whole instrument is less flexible, extended technical demands are difficult to perform. 18
c) Basset horn in F
Range: Written: C3 – G6, Sounding a Perfect 5th lower: F2 – C6
Timbre: The upper and middle registers sound similar to the Clarinet in Bb and A. The lower register shows a slightly lighter, subtler character. 19
Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques.
d) Clarinets in A and Bb
Range: Written: E3 – A6, Sounding for Clarinet in A a minor third lower: C#3 – F#6, for Clarinet in Bb a major 2nd lower: D3- G6
Timbre: The low register creates dark, rich tones, which can also sound hollow. The middle register sounds less strong. The upper register sounds much clearer again. Similar to the flute, the instrument loses its character within the higher register.
Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques
Effective Usage: Normally the Clarinet in Bb is used in orchestras. The Clarinet is the woodwind instruments with most dynamic capabilities. 20
e) Clarinets in D and Eb (Soprano)
Range: Written: E3 – G6, Sounding for Clarinet in D: A major second higher: F#3 – A6. For Clarinet in Eb: A minor third higher: G3 – Bb6
Timbre: Those two Clarinets have the same characteristics as Clarinets in A and Bb. The upper register is brighter but also shriller
Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques
Effective Usage: These Clarinets are often used when a higher register is required for Clarinets in Bb and A. 21
f) Contra Alto Clarinet in Eb
Range: Written: Eb3 – D6, Sounding an octave and a major 6th lower: Gb1 – F4
Timbre: The instruments sound is even darker that the sound creates by the bass clarinet.
Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques
Effective Usage: The instrument is most useful in its lower register. Nonetheless, above the middle register it loses his distinctive sound. 22
g) Contrabass clarinet in Bb
Range: Written: C3 – D6, Sounding 2 octaves and a major second lower: Bb – C4
Timbre: The dark register sounds dark and confident, but can play in pianissimo very successfully as well. Even though the lower register doesn’t have the usual characteristics of a clarinet, the higher register sounds disdintively colourfull.
Techniques: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double tonguing, triple tonguing, flutter tonguing, tremolo, glissando, arpeggio, legato, runs, multiphonics, pitch bending, modern techniques
Effective Usage: Even though it is slow and moody, it reminds of other bass instruments from strings and brass. It is often used for pedal notes or to support woodwind and trombone sections.23
5. The family of the saxophoe
a) Alto Saxophone in Eb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6, Sounding a major sixth lower: Db3 – Ab5
Timbre: Within the low register, the tone quality is full and rich. It becomes smoother within the middle register, the sound gets smoother, and sounds similar to a horn. The upper range sounds very bright, although it loses its rich, smooth quality from the lower ranges. 24
Techniques: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones. 25, 26
Effective Usage: Small dynamical changes are easier to perform within the middle and upper registers. Even though it is considered as a woodwind, it is often used alongside brass instruments, as the sound is easier to balance. Otherwise, the alto saxophone is also often used as a solo instrument. 24
b) Barione Saxophone in Eb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6 (also A3 – F6 with an added mechanism for this note), Sounding an octave and a major 6th lower: C2 – Ab4
Timbre: Whilst its sounds rather aggressive and harsh within the low register, the higher registers create a soft, slightly melancholic sound. The upper range is rather weak sounding.
Techniques: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones
Effective Usage: This instrument is mostly used playing within the low register, as it has the strongest effect. Thus, it is often used for the bass line or as a solo instrument. 27
c) Bass Saxophone in Bb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6, Sounding two octaves and a major second lower: Ab1 – Eb4.
Timbre: The texture of this instrument is similar to the Baritone Saxohpne, yet slightly heavier and articulations are more difficult to perform.
Technique: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones
Effective Usage: Unlike the previously introduced members of the saxophone family, the bass saxophone is not commonly used for jazz music, but sometimes functions as a bass instrument for a Dixieland combo. 28
d) Contrabass Saxophone in Eb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6, Sounding 2 octaves and a major 6th lower: Db1 – Ab3
Timbre: Produces an incredibly heavy sound, similar to the bass saxophone.
Techniques: (although the instrument is less agile than the others): Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones. 29
e) Sopranino Saxophone in Eb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6, Sounding a major 3rd higher: Db4 – Gb6
Timbre: Interestingly, the tone quality seems to be somewhere between a clarinet and an oboe.
Technique: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones
Effective Usage: Seeing that the range of the instrument can easily be covered by other saxophones, this one is rarely used. 30
f) Soprano Saxophone in Bb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6, Sounding a major 2nd lower: Ab3 – Eb6.
Timbre: The notes played within the low register are full, yet rough sounding. Dynamical changes are difficult to perform. The middle register creates smooth, clear tones, dynamics are easier to control. The high register can sound bright and clear as well as becoming shrill.
Technique: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones
Effective Usage: The balance with brass instrument is great, as the instrument is capable of solid dynamical and tonal balance. It is often used in jazz and commercials. 31
g) Tenor Saxophone in Bb
Range: Written: Bb3 – F6 (older models also Bb3 – F#6), Sounding a major 9th lower: Ab2 – Eb5
Timbre: Similar to the alto saxophone, but with a more aggressive character. The lower register has a dense and somewhat honky timbre, whilst the high register sounds thin.
Technique: Legato, Vibrato, Growling, Glissando, Multiphonics, Overtones, Slap tonguing, flutter tonguing, altissimo, overblow, breathy tone, double tonguing, tripple tonguing, sforzarto, runs, single tonguing, arpeggios, key clicks, mutes, air notes, microtones
Effective Usage: Often used in concert bands and jazz ensembles. 32
6. The family of the bassoons
a) Bassoon
Range: Written and Sounding: Bb1 – C5
Timbre: For the low register, the notes are dry and brittle, but also very robust. It is also difficult to play quiet passages within this range. The middle register has clearer, more transparent sounding notes. The upper register has a nasal character, similar to an English horn. 33
Technique: Single Tonguing, Vibrato, Sforzarto, Double Tonguing, Tripple Tonguing, Flutter Tonguing, Trills, Tremolo, Glissando, Mute, Legato, Runs, Multiphonics, Key Slap, Slap Tongue, Modern Techniques34
Effective Usage: The bassoon is used as the bass instrument of the woodwind section of an orchestra. It is often used for doubling higher pitched woodwinds. 33
b) Contrabassoon (also: Double Bassoon)
Range: Written: Bb1 – C5, Sounding an octave lower: Bb – C4
Timbre: The instruments creates a focussed thick, growly tone within the low register. Within the middle and upper ranges, the timbre becomes similar to the bassoon. Another similarity is to perform quiet passages within the lower register. 35
Technique: (although less flexible than the bassoon) Single tonguing, vibrato, sforzarto, multiple tonguing, flutter tonguing, trills, tremolos, legato, staccato. 36
Effective Usage: As it is pitched an octave lower than the bassoon, the contrabassoon has a similar effect as the contrabass clarinet in Bb, often used in large, professional orchestras. 35
Exercise 1: Listening to Wind Quintets
Six Bagatelles for wind quintet
- Composer: György Ligeti
- Year of composition: 1923
- Instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, cor anglais, bassoon
- Performed by: Jaques Zoon, Douglas Boyd, Richard Hosford, James Sommervillen Matthew Wilkie, Claudio Abbado
- Listened to: 08.01.20201
The first quintet has arapid movement and uses the higher pitched instruments to play a jumpy quick melody. Due to the fast tempo the piece sounds almost like a scherzo.
The second bagatelle is started by the lower pitched instruments and has a more serious character. Ligeti worked with long diharmonic chords, which gives the piece a misterious character. One simple theme consisting of four notes is played throughout the whole piece in varied ways, altered with slow unison parts. One can notice, that Ligeti worked with the contrast of the higher and lower pitched instruments.
The third movement has a faster tempo again. A nordic sounding melody played by the flute is accompanied by a rapid quaver note movement played by the clarinet and bassoon. As the flute starts with the quaver note movement as well, the slow melody is continued by the oboe and clarinet. This alteration of the theme between several oices is kept throughout the whole piece.
The fourth bagatelle starts with a long disharmonic shrill chord and is continued with a rhythmic, rapidly played theme. It only lasts for a few seconds and just evolves around this short rhythmic theme.
The fifth bagatelle intorduces with long sustained notes and quickly changes to a collection of dissonant chords played in different tempos. The mood is unsettling and misterious. Interestingly, the bassoon sounds like a driving car, with would fit to the mood of a city at night.
The last bagatelle starts with a melody in the bass line accompanied by short staccato chords played by the other instruments.
Wind Quintet Op. 43
- Composer: Carl Nielson
- Year of composition: 1922
- Instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon
- Performed by: Emmanuel Pahud
- Listened to: 08.01.2021
Over the whole piece, Nielson alternates with solo parts for each instruments and tutti passages. The first movement is is in sonata for and starts with the main theme, played as a solo played by the bassoon. An asnwer follows played by the higher pitched instruments, before the theme is repeated by the horn. A side theme, which is accompanied by triplets played by the flute. As the flute’s sound sticks out slightly more it was initially difficult to find the melody.
The second movement is more rusty than the first. It introduces a duet between the clarinet and bassoon. A second theme is introduced played by the flute and oboe. The last movement starts with a Praeludium, which is followed by variations of this theme. The cor anglais has a slightly more important role than in the previous movements, which adds a welcoming change to the texture of the piece.
Mladi
- Composer: Leos Janacek
- Year of composition: 1922
- Intruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, bass clarinet
- Performed by; Belfiato Quintet, Jindrich Pavlis
- Listened to: 08.01.2021
The first movement starts with a jumpy, cheeky sounding melody, which seems to jump from instrument to instrument. The accompaniment is a rhythmical octave pattern. The centre part of the first movement is much calmer, but still has a slighlty unsettling character. I personally had the impression, that the accompaniment worked best when it was played by the bass clarinet.
The second movement introduces a deep, hopeful theme, played by the bass clarinet. This theme is echoed by the higher pitched instruments shortly after. The introduced rhythmical pattern is kept throughout the whole piece for variations of the theme.
The third movement again uses an in octaves structured accompaniement, although with a slower pace than the first movement. This hectic sounding part is taken over by a melodic, songful passage lead by the oboe before moving back to the initial hectic motif.
The last movement uses a wavy pattern as accompaniement and some of the lower pitched instruments to play a partially calming and hopeful theme. A rapid switch leads into a heroic character where at least one instrument continuously plays one note whilst the other instruments try to create a melody around it.
Research point 2B: Woodwind through the Centuries
For this point, I was asked to do some research on the development of woodwind ensembles. Over this task, I will also try to answer the following given questions:
- What different instrumentations have been used?
- Do they correspond to eras and/or places?
- What sort of music suits each instrumentation?
- Do you notice any chronological changes in the way the instruments are used?
Today’s woodwind quintet developed over several centuries. The first known instrumentation, which is meant to have started the development in the late 1700s, were octets consisting of 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 2 horns. Apart from the flute all instruments which are used in a modern quintet were used already. This layout functioned mostly as court music. 37, 40
When chamber music started to develop, some compositions for large orchestras were starting to be transcribed for different kind of instrumental ensembles. Until the end of the 18th century, chamber music for woodwinds consisted of “Harmoniemusik”, a German term describing an added wind section to a small orchestra. With the aristocracy slowly moving in the background, the requirement for entertainment music descended as well. Due to the development of the civil musical culture, chamber music ensembles were used more frequently, which initially mainly consisted of string quartets. 38, 39, 40
At the peak point of the classical era, composers started to experiment with other kinds of ensembles, it was also discovered, that wind ensembles tended to be louder than string quartets. The first known work for a wind quintet is Quintetto in Eb for flute, hautbois, clarinette, dalie, et basson, written by Anton Rosetti around 1788. The modern wind quintet consists of a flute, clarinet, oboe, horn and bassoon. Rosetti used a taille (baroque oboe) instead of a horn. 37, 38
Today’s instrumentation of the quintet won its popularity with Anton Reicha, who moved to Paris in 1808, where he found musicians playing the instruments of today’s repertoire. For them, he composed 25 woodwind quintets. The success of these pieces helped the Reicha Quintet to popularity but also made the set of instrumentation well known. Shortly after, other ensembles were established in several countries. Even though Reicha made the genre quite popular, Guiseppe Cambini was the first composer to use the modern instrumentation in 1802 with his Wind Quintet no.1 in B – flat. 38, 39
Due to his compositions, Reicha became a role model for other composers. Some o the most well known ones were written by Geore Onslow, August Klughardt and Josef Doerster. Thus, in the first half of the 19th century, numerous other quintets were produced. Only at the beginning of the 20th century the genre seemed to have fully developed, caused by the again upcoming interest in chamber music. 38
Composers began to look at the wind quintet as a means
Moses, K. (2015)
of expression and recognized the opportunity for experimentation offered by the medium.
It was quite late that the music industry started to see the potential of wind quintets in general, especially as the string quintets took up most of the chamber music’s attention. 37,40
Initially, I wanted to use the “normal” instrumentation for this piece, featuring a flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, horn. In the end I used an English horn instead of the oboe, as its sound is more distinctive and thus, ideal to be used as the first voice. Furthermore, I used an alto flute instead of a normal one, as its sound is slightly warmer.
One huge difference between the string ensemble and the woodwind ensemble, was of course to consider some rests for the performers to breathe. Another hurdle, was to transcribe the pizzicato I partially used for the accompaniment within the first version for the woodwinds. As the staccato sounded to sharp for the bass voices, I decided to use a softer texture instead. With this procedure the piece unfortunately lost some of its jazzy character. It took a few attempts of rearranging the voicings before I managed to get an appropriate balance between the different instruments.
Project 2.2: Woodwind Instruments in Context
Exercise 3: Woodwind in the orchestra
I was asked to listen to the following examples of wind instruments with strings or an orchestra.
Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune
- Composer: Claude Debussy
- Instruments: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (A), 2 bassoons
4 horns (F), 2 harps, 2 crotales, strings - Date of composition: 1891-1894
- Date of first performance: 1894
- Performed by: Bernard Haitink, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
- Listened to: 10.01.2021
As already mentioned within a previous post, Debussy managed it really well to capture the impression of Mallarmé’s poem about an eventful day of a faune. The whole piece basically consists of one single theme, using a chromatic scale. After the entry of the flute solo, which already created a mysterious, somewhat quirky character, the other instruments start to join. Due to the breathy sounding flute, especially in combination with the oboe and a harp playing arpeggios, this character is kept throughout the whole piece. Trying to tell Mallarmé’s poem, Debussy moves through several different keys, but still manages to let the piece sound structured.
Symphony No. 3, second movement
- Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
- Year of composition: 1801
- Performed by: Berliner Philharmoniker
- Listened to: 10.01.2021
The movement starts with the strings playing a dramatic, lamenting theme. In bar 9 the theme is repeated by the oboe, which has a bright and clear sound over the rest of the orchestra. Over the second theme the key switches from c- minor to c – major, a second theme is introduced. Towards the end of this movement, the first movement comes back again. Even though, the oboe may not have the most important, carrying role, it seems to add a little extra effect on th dramatic nature of the piece.
The Swan of Tuonela
- Composer: Jean Sibelius
- Year of composition: 1895
- Performed by: Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic
- Listened to: 10.01.2021
This is probably one o Sibelius’ most well – known works. The movement from the “Lemminkainen – Suite, op. 22” is distincted by the long solo from the English – horn. The orchestra uses rather dark colours, which lets the bright, nasal sound of the solo – instrument stand out even more. I often had the impression, that the English – horn wasn’t only playing, but also seemed to sing. Similar to Debussy’s Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune, an harp playing arpeggios as accompaniment adds a mystical flair to the piece.
Symphony No. 2, third movement
- Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Year of composition: 1907
- Performed by: Valery Gergiev, London Symphony Orchestra
- Listened to: 10.01.2021
The movement has a stormy, heroic character, which is initially lead by quaver runs from the strings. When all instruments suddenly come to a halt, a short clarinet solo can be heard. This motif is shortly after echoed by the orchestra. The mood of the piece has changes to a more calming character. Interestingly, I didn’t have the impression that the sound of the clarinet could be heard as well as the previous solo instruments in combination with the orchestra, it blended in perfectly nonetheless.
The rite of spring
- Composer: Igor Stravinsky
- Year of composition: 1913
- Instruments: woodwinds: piccolo, 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo 2), alto flute, 4 oboes (4th doubling cor anglais 2), cor anglais, clarinet in E-flat and D, 3 clarinets in B-flat, A (3rd doubling bass clarinet 2), bass clarinet, 4 bassoons (4th doubling contrabassoon 2), contrabassoon.
- Performed by: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
- Listened to: 06.01.2020
This piece starts with the bassoon playing a solo. Even though I would have expected it to have a similar character to the English horn, it created its own tone colour. The other instruments from the rest of the orchestra were all added very slowly. From that point on, the bassoon seems to be moved in the background increasingly, but still has a supporting role for the piece. Interestingly, the piece also often changes its time signature. Stravinsky worked with repetitive motifs, where one motif is used by different instruments in a canonic form. Furthermore, all dynamical changes happen rapidly, with no transition and often unexpectedly. Overall Stravinsky seemed to have used several different themes within every movement, worked with them until a peak point is reached and then quickly moves onto the next theme. I rather enjoyed listening to this piece due to its huge diversity in character.
Research Point 2C: Woodwind Extended Techniques
For this research point, I was asked to listen to the techniques used in The Formula and find out some more about extended techniques for a woodwind instrument of my choice.
The Formula
- Composer: Bekah Sims
- Listened to: 11.01.2021
All starting notes of the 4 higher pitched instruments are Cs, although, due to the instruments, different in texture, creating a mysterious atmosphere. Passages of long sustained notes are often interrupted by sharp, staccato chords. In my opinion, the use of pitch bending and air tones, were a very effective technique, which blends in with the rest of the piece very well. Even though it was difficult to find a structure, the frequent use of the note C suggested a main key for the piece. I was surprised at the details within the score, which sometimes even indicated how much air the performers should use.
Within research point 2A, I already wrote down some of the “common” techniques a clarinet, or its family can produce, the table below shows some of the less common ones that I was able to find:
41, 42, 43
Exercise 4: Woodwind and Strings
For this exercise, I had to arrange a piece of my choice for string ensemble and a woodwind soloist. Seeing that I just did some more research about the clarinet, I used it as the solo instrument with a string quintet. It took me a few attempts to find out which structure I wanted to use for the accompaniment, but I eventually managed to work my way through the piece.
Exercise 5: Analysis and Orchestration
Part 1: Analysing the following three pieces
This piece is written in Eb major. Looking at the structure of the piece, one can part it into two halfs: Part one covers bars 1 – 3, and Part 2 bars 4 – 7. Whilst the melodic idea as well as the accompaniment is introduced in part 1, it is repeated in a slightly more virtuously way within part 2. The second part also has an additional ending bar.It has 4 voices, whist the second and third voice are rarely used. The melody line is always the first voice, played by the right hand. Apart from the bass voice, there are barely any jumps. Furthermore, the lowest voice works mainly with I and V chords, often laid out in arpeggios. In term of the dynamics, there are two peak points going from piano directly to forte.
I made the required arrangement for flute, clarinet, baritone oboe and bassoon. The four voices are each represented by one instrument. I furthermore especially tried to emphasize the first and fourth voice as well as the parts with strong dynamical changes.
This short piece is written in the style of Serialism, which allows all 12 notes just to be played once. Overall, it is kept really quiet with a pp apart from a short crescendo and decrescendo moving towards and away from the high C played in mf. Interestingly, none of these 12 notes sounds as the same time as the others, they are all played separately. After bar 1, the time signature changes fro 5/4 to 4/4.
I used an ocarina and a violin for the upper register and a bass saxophone and a double bass for the lower register. Due to the limited range of the violin, I had to put the C in bar 3 an octave lower, which gives it slightly more emphasism.
The last piece is in the key of C major and has rather unusual timed phrased, which don’t seem to be held by the bar lines. The first phrase starts with the right hand, jumping up from G to E and moving down in small steps afterwards. This phrase is repeated halfway through by the left hand two octaves lower. This repeating scheme is held until bar 5. At the second half of this bar, the left and right hand swap roles. Bar 8 leads to the second part of the piece, which, again starts with the same scheme, but uses inversed intervals. It moves back to the original theme once more at the end of bar 12, where the piece also reaches its peak point with a ff.
The arrangement of this piece was the most challenging one so far. I often had to rearrange the different phrases according to the range of the instruments. On the other hand, this also caused an equal layout of the phrases and allows the piece to show its character in different ways.
Exercise 6: Arrangements and Expansions
I decided to take a closer look at Bach’s Organ Sonata in d – minor, 2nd movement, BWV 527in comparison to the later developedtriple concerto for traverso, violin, harpsichord and string orchestra, 2nd movement. Within the following paragraphs I will refer to the earlier version for Organ as B527 and the one for traverso, violin and cembalo as B1044.
Apart from instrumental and medical choices, there are also several structural changes to consider: Within B527 Bach included a few repetitions: Bars 1 – 8 and 9 – 33 (apart from the last bar) are repeated. In B1044, he left the repetitions to add a few more alterations. Whilst the rhythmical and melodic features stay similar during the entries, as it can be seen in the picture below, in bar 1 and 9, the latter develops the theme much further and is therefore much longer.
Within the following table I want to demonstrate the reused thematic material for each voice in B1044:
Given, that bars 1 – 8 from B527 involve voices 1 and 2 and bars 9 – 33 have voices 3 and 4 and the third line continuously plays a “bass line”, one can find the following voice distribution for B1044:
| Bars: | 1- 8 | 9-16 | 17 – 41 | 42 – 66 |
| Traverso | 2 | Arpeggio | 4 | Arpeggio |
| Viola | Arpeggio | 1 | Arpeggio | 3 |
| Cembalo R | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Cembalo L | Bass line | Bass line | Bass line | Bass line |
The probably most noticeable feature within this table, is probably, that the bass line is directly transferred to the left hand of the cembalo voice, which is also the lowest voice of the ensemble. Within B1044 there are parts, which are slightly more ornamented for this voice (as shown below), but most of the melodic material stays the same.
B527 Bars 1 – 2
B1044 Bars 1 – 2
As this voice is the underlying foundation of B527, it seemed to me like a logical approach to use it for the lowest voice in B1044 as well.
I personally would have expected that each voice from B527 would be directly transferred to one instrument of B1044, but, as it can be seen in the table. Thus, I was surprised that Bach alternated those voices between traverso, viola and cembalo R.
A really interesting aspect about this piece, is that it originally had 3 voices and Bach rewrote it for an ensemble featuring 4, as the cembalo splits itself. The fourth voice here, which alternates between the traverso and viola, is mostly created from 16th note arpeggios. As arpeggios are often used as an accompanying pattern, this voice doesn’t function as a third melody, but more to underline the bass voice.
Nonetheless, as the sound of the traverso and viola instruments can get quite piercing in several parts, I personally sometimes had the impression, that this arpeggio movement was almost as dominant as the two main voices. Furthermore, I think that writing it for these two instruments instead of the right hand of the cembalo, was a rather unusual approach which also gives the piece more chances to vary with different strengths of musical colours.
The choice of instruments and the resulting colour of sound, that Bach made in B1044 is overall really contrary to the sound characteristics of B527. The soft, airy sound of the organ creates a calm, mournful atmosphere, which sounds majestic and emotional in the high register and has a strong, yet gentle underlying foundation in the lowest voice.
In comparison to the organ stands the sharp, metallic sound of the cembalo as well as the bright sound of the viola playing the first verse (bars 1 – 8) in pizzicato. The only voice, which adds some of the soft features from B527 is initially the traverso. The colour of sound softens even more when the viola starts playing legato notes. Nonetheless, as the cembalo isn’t able to create long lasting deep notes and has to stick to its bright and clear sounding character, even in the lower register, some of this underlying foundation I mentioned earlier seems to go missing.
On the other hand, through the alteration of the voices, and additional textural features, such as the viola playing pizzicato, B1044 has, in my opinion, a more interesting character and is more entertaining to listen to. The mentioned sharp sounding cembalo seems to create a lighter atmosphere, which is especially enhanced during a passage when the flute plays staccato notes.
As already mentioned earlier, the added fourth arpeggio voice seems to sometimes interfere with the two main voices. Over the progress of B527 it is always completely clear that the upper voices are meant to be more dominant, as the low register sounds much more muffled. During B1044, it becomes slightly irritating when he traverso has the arpeggio movement, as those notes seem to be slightly more distinctive than others.
Overall I wouldn’t consider B1044 as an attempt to renew B527, but more as a well-established reuse of thematic material, as the sounding result of both pieces are completely different to one another.
Project 2.4.Your critical review
Exercise 7: Thinking about topics
For this exercise, I was asked to think about possible topics for my critical review (Assignment 6.) Reflecting on the previous two course parts I came up with the following ideas:
– To look at the usage and effect of the different instruments as well as considering the historical background and future influences of Ravels Bolero
– To compare the most used ensembles of the Baroque and Romantic Era and consider their development. An additional point could be which music the composers of the Baroque Era would have written if they would have had access to a higher amount and more developed instruments.
– A comparison of the use of string quartets in the Classical Era and 20th century
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