of space for the strings, which came in with a A COUPLE THINGS TO NOTE HERE: 2. The other interesting thing to note is that
flurry at the end of the first chorus (1:14). (FIG. 1) 1. You might be looking at the viola stave and we write the music for a double bass player an
wondering what that weird squiggly thing is at octave higher than it sounds. So, in figure 1,
The first thing you’ll notice is that ripping the start of the line where a treble clef should although the cello and the bass have the same
ascending scale that happens all in the space be. It’s an Alto Clef, and it is used almost notes on the stave, they are going to play them
of an 8th note. While it might seem a bit exclusively by viola players. Part of it is that they an octave apart. Here in figure 2, the double
extreme, for an experienced violinist, this is their just want to feel special, and have their own clef bass looks like it finishes higher than the cello,
bread and butter, and a group of them doing to make up for not being violin players. But the but in actual fact it’s still a 5th below it. If you
a run like this will just sound magic. You want real reason is that the Alto clef tells the musician think that’s confusing, wait till we talk about the
your runs to be fast enough that the individual that on this stave, the middle line is middle C. fact that most of the horn section is actually
notes are indistinguishable, and if you stick to For an instrument like a viola whose range playing in a different key. Maybe I’ll leave that
a major scale, it will be an easy play for your straddles middle C, this saves their music from till next time…
players. You’ll see that I’ve restricted this run to having to switch between treble and bass clefs the violins (in unison) and the violas (an octave all the time (and makes it borderline illegible to You might be noticing a lot of slurs in this music.
below). Once you get to the bigger instruments the rest of us!). For a string player, a slur tells the player to bow
those notes together, which will sound much
like cellos and basses, the physical size of the
instrument restricts the player’s agility, and
you’re more likely to get a raised eyebrow than
(FIG. 1)
a raised bow if you give them a 32nd note run.
For the whole of the instrumental, I have the
high strings playing a melody in unison or
in octaves together, while the cello and bass
essentially follow the bass line of the chord
progression. Well, until we get to the last 2
bars. (FIG. 2) Here, we have broken out into
some nice warm harmonies while the string
arrangement descends in both volume and
pitch, to land on a tonic chord at the start of
verse 2.
November 2019
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