For me, the woodwind section is the most interesting part of the orchestra. When I was having an organ lesson in my youth, my teacher finished a piece on a loud sustained chord and said proudly 'Listen to that, Terry!' That chord has the same tone colour from top to bottom. You can't do that with an orchestra!' I was not experienced enough then to refute that claim as I would now: 'And a good thing too: the different ways an orchestra could score that same chord are far more interesting.'

Leaving aside percussion as being in a different category, we can see that both the strings and the brass sections are capable of producing chords which represent a similar blended sound throughout the section, in spite of minor differences. With the woodwind this is not so: the four main prototypes differ enough for it to become a problem making a chord sound blended. The other side of this coin is that we have a splendid variety of individual sounds, each able to impart a particular flavour to the music. Instead of being a family with common traits, the woodwind is more like a collection of friends with different talents and a common interest. Part of the orchestrator's art is to exploit those talents.

[The Nutcracker Suite (Casse-Noisette).] If you possess, or are willing to acquire, the score of Tchaikovsky's miniature masterpiece, you will find in it many illustrations of the points I will be making. References below will be headed NS, and the movement title and bar number given.]

All sorts of woodwind groupings are possible, and we will deal with some later; but it is wise to learn first to master the standard classical group of eight players: 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, as in the picture above. Once you are fluent working with this set-up, then further combinations should not be too difficult. Let's dive in.

1) Relative power

Firstly, we can observe that the general volume level/range possessed by each of the four instruments is about equal. In other words they all have a similar chance of being heard against each other. (Note the popularity of the 'wind quintet', where the four woodwind stand on equal terms, alongside the admittedly slightly more powerful horn, who must use discretion.)

Secondly, and most important, we must note that each of our Big Four does not have a uniform volume range throughout its compass, and this greatly affects scoring considerations. In more detail:

1) The flute is weak at the bottom of its compass, but gets more and more powerful as it rises to the top, where it is very penetrating.

2) The oboe is strong and difficult to keep down at the bottom of its range, and gets weaker as it rises to the top of its compass.

3) The clarinet is fairly even throughout, but lacks a little power in the middle. Alone of the four, it has an enormous range of controllable expression, from pppp to fff.

4) The bassoon is similar to the oboe, though not quite as markedly.

So, in a passage like the following, the flute would be covered at first, and the oboe would tend to disappear at the end:

This is true no matter what dynamic mark is applied to both players. The middle three beats could sound nicely balanced in practice, but for the first beat the oboe would predominate, and in the second bar the flute would predominate.

Example 1
Listen

NOTE: You will want to be looking at each music example as you listen to it. If your mp3 player blots out the screen when you press 'Listen', then try one of the following: a) if you have twin monitors, move the player to the other monitor; b) if not, then minimise the player as soon as it appears

Look at this chord : do you think it will sound blended?

Example 2
Listen

It could do, if the players make an effort to listen carefully, but it is courting trouble, especially with an amateur orchestra. Better to replace either the flutes or the oboes with clarinets, and the problem disappears.

This problem would not arise with the clarinets and bassoons because the bassoons can be controlled easily except right at the bottom of their register, where clarinets cannot reach.

However, never forget that even the best oboists and bassoonists cannot be relied on to produce pp on their bottom two or three notes. In the Pathetique Symphony, Tchaikovsky's pppppp for the bassoon on low D carries an invisible label 'I wish!!!' (And in practice this passage is often played by the bass clarinet.)

Likewise, the flute (and piccolo) cannot produce their very top notes very softly; indeed for many players the top notes B and C cannot be produced at all unless approached with an upward rushing scale, slurred. Best to treat A6 as the normal limit.

So much for volume-balancing problems. But what about blend of tone-colour? Alan Belkin has rightly suggested that because the tonal quality of each instrument varies as it rises, it is advantageous to think of each instrument as three subsidiary instruments according to register. It is always risky to suggest the 'meaning' or mood of a sound, but I am going to try, mostly to make you aware of the changes involved. You are at full liberty to disagree with my descriptions (but please don't post to the forum about it.)

Flute: Low: Seductive, rich. Medium: Calm, expressive. High: Brilliant, insistent, strong.
Oboe: Low: Rich, exotic (brash). Medium: Plaintive, pastoral. High: Thin, pinched, worried.
Clarinet: Low: Hollow, sinister, oily. Medium: Smooth, urbane. High: Clear, strident.
Bassoon: Low: Reedy, fat. Medium: Pleasantly warm. High: Plaintive, resembles saxophone.

I have deliberately not defined the boundaries of the three areas; the changes are gradual anyway. But I can add a few comments about where each instrument is happiest:

Flute: Much of its music tends to be above the stave. Of course it can play lower, but the lower it plays, the lighter must be the surrounding music (NS Mirlitons).
Oboe: Happiest playing on the stave and a bit above it, like a high soprano.
Clarinet: Happy everywhere, but happier not far from the top of the stave, and ecstatic below it.
Bassoon: Happy everywhere except the extreme top of its range.

This reinforces the reason for the score order of these instruments: Fl Ob Cl Bn roughly corresponding to SATB. Of course our instruments have a much wider range than voices. But I hope you can see that it will be a risky business to score a passage in four-part harmony with S = flute, A = oboe, T = clarinet, B = bassoon. Having two of each instrument means that we either a) select one instrument per part, in which case it is best to have say 2 flutes and 2 clarinets, or 2 clarinets and 2 bassoons, or b) have more than one instrument per part, in which case there are many ways to do it, not all good. Read on.

Blending within the woodwind group

The real problem instrument is the oboe when it comes to blending tone colours with the other woodwinds. The other three will happily rub along with each other in most circumstances, but whatever you do with the oboes their penetrating quality will tend to make them stand out. Why else was the oboe chosen to give out the tuning A through the mass of preliminary orchestral sound? So scoring chords for woodwind should take account of this; either omit the oboes or put them on notes which can stand being prominent, e.g. root of the chord, or whatever might be the melody note at that time. One good idea is to let the oboes have important notes, and have the flutes double these notes an octave higher. Many a melody has been scored for one or two oboes in middle range, with flute(s) an octave higher.

Blending with other instruments of the orchestra

Of course one does not always want to blend, but when it is desired, for say thickening a melody, these pointers should be useful:

Flute: goes well doubling the violins, either at the unison or an octave higher. This is a very common orchestral function.
Oboe: blends well at the unison with trumpets, especially in tuttis, to give trumpets a sharper definition. Can strengthen violins but tends to over-colour them (this doesn't matter in tuttis).
Clarinet: this marvellous workhorse blends with virtually anything. Doubling trumpets at the unison gives the latter a rounder, steadier tone. (NS March, throughout)
Bassoon: blends with all low instruments, from violas downwards. Blends so well with horns that two horns and two bassoons can often pass as four horns.

How to double

All this talk of blend and balance problems, plus the question of how to pack eight instruments into four-part harmony, leads us to an important consideration: what principles should guide us when doubling a note or passage.

Well, you perhaps already know that two instruments playing the same note are not twice as loud as one; and a better idea is to double at the octave; basically this reinforces the second harmonic of the lower note, like 8 ft + 4 ft on an organ. (It is not quite so straightforward as that because, unlike organ stops, the wind are of equal power to each other so when a melody is doubled in say three octaves, it is difficult to pin down the perceived pitch area to any particular octave.)

Anyway, octave doubling is good for another reason. When two instruments play at the same pitch, there will always be slight differences of intonation, vibrato, etc. which counteracts blend and produces a sort of wavering effect. It really blurs clarity a bit. Although this can be occasionally exploited, it is better to avoid two woodwind in unison, if they are exposed. (It does not matter so much if there's plenty going on around them.) So we don't normally give a melody to flute and oboe in unison, we have them an octave apart. We don't have a prominent clarinet/bassoon unison, and so on, nor a unison of any two instruments of the same type. However, once you add a third or fourth instrument to the unison, the objection disappears because we now get an ensemble effect and the blending is much better. So a unison of two clarinets and two bassoons is fine. And so on.

Ah Doo-ay

What? 'Ah doo-ay' is more or less the pronunciation of 'a 2' which is seen in orchestral scores, the abbreviation of the Italian 'a due', not 'A two'!So we have just seen that if you are writing out a score and want to put 'a 2' to indicate that both players are in unison, be sure that you have made sure the wavering effect will not matter. If you want only one player, you put '1.' (= primo) or '2.' (= secondo). Of course when the two players share a stave with different notes, we use tails up and tails down, or two notes on the same stem if they share the same rhythm.

Seating

It?s as well to know exactly where woodwind players sit on the platform. They are in the heart of the orchestra! Here's a diagram of the usual arrangement, as seen from the audience:

You will observe that the smoother-sounding instruments are on the left side, and the sharper (double-reed) instruments are on the right. But more important is the placing of the four principals in the middle, so that when they are paired off for important passages (in octaves, usually!) they are close enough to co-operate for timing and balance.

The extra woodwind are on the outside: we will deal with them a bit later.

Clarinet in A

Clarinettists possess two instruments each, in Bb and A, having closely similar sounds. The idea is that composers specify the Bb instrument for music in flat keys, and the A instrument for sharp keys. If the music changes key during its course, the composer can indicate a change of clarinet: the players can change instruments provided they are given sufficient time (10-30 seconds) to do so. If you are writing for a real orchestra you will want to avail yourself of this feature. In your sequencer you can set up parallel tracks for Bb and A clarinets, using downward transpositions of two and three semitones respectively, allowing you to play your keyboard at the written pitch seen by the players.

It seems to me that the functions of the woodwind fall into these categories:

Let's go into a little detail.

1. Solos

The differing characters of the four main woodwind means that composers have a wonderful palette of varied sounds available for solos, and this will always be a major function of the woodwind. In fact, for some purposes it is possible to forget the woodwind as a group, with all its blending problems, and use a reduced orchestra where solos abound. Here are two familiar examples: Wagner's Siegfried Idyll which uses one flute, one oboe, two clarinets, and one bassoon; and Delius' On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring which uses the same combination plus another bassoon. The woodwind are not primarily used as an ensemble in these pieces. Even in more fully scored music you will find the first flute, first oboe and first clarinet queuing up for a turn at a solo. The accompaniment is often just strings but there are other possibilities, such as the opening of the slow movement of Brahms' Violin Concerto, where a long oboe solo is accompanied only by woodwind and horns. The bassoon also can play solo, but somewhat less frequently, if only because it is not a soprano instrument like the others.

2. Principal Group

The woodwind can play as a dominant group, either on their own or accompanied by other groups. If on their own, we are trying to find a proper function for each instrument. If all eight of our main group are playing, then care is needed in the doubling, as indicated above. Some pointers:

Bassoons obviously cope with the bass. Unison of the two bassoons is common (wavering won't matter because of the higher stuff covering them), and so is octaves which is probably best. In small combos the first bassoon might have the tenor part.
Inner parts can be taken by clarinets (each doing a different part).
Top part by all oboes and flutes (8ve higher), or by one oboe and one flute, with the other two doubling the clarinets in unison.

All sorts of arrangements are possible, and in order not to make this tutorial too long I must refer you to standard textbooks, or better still, the study of scores by great composers. One thing you will soon find is that the woodwind often team up with the horns (probably only two of them). This is a long tradition, and explains why the horns are placed above the trumpets in the score.

(NS Flower Waltz, 1).

But coping with complete chords isn't the only possibility: very often there's a tutti in which the woodwind play the principal melody and the harmony comes from the other departments. Some possibilities for this are:

a) All woodwind in unison. Hardly possible except in a limited range. More likely, have it high and omit the bassoons from the melody. Shostakovich uses this six-instrument unison now and then, fortissimo. It gives a wild, screaming effect! (Piccolo can also be added.)

b) All woodwind in octaves . This is much more normal. You can put each pair either in unison or an octave apart; just ensure that each instrument is in an effective part of its range. You might think that including bassoons in the alto/tenor range would not add much, but it is surprising what a valid contribution they can make. Try it with and without to see:

Example 3.

Listen without bassoons

Listen with bassoons

c) Very often the melody can go in 3rds or 6ths. In relatively quiet music, then just one pair of fl, ob, cl or bn will sound great in parallel thirds. For a fuller effect it is very effective to double the pairs at unison or octave, e.g. clarinets or bassoons in 3rds round about Middle C, oboes same an octave higher, flutes same another octave higher. Brahms was fond of this.

Example 4
Listen

d) Breaking back. When the doubled passage in question covers a wide range, it is common for a single instrument to break back an octave so as to stay effective. Example:

Example 5
Listen

All instruments except the flutes break back to avoid too low a finish. The breaks should be staggered, to maintain a continuous effect. Notice the first bassoon breaking one note before the second. Can you suggest an improvement for this example?

3. Background Group

When strings or brass predominate, maybe the woodwind will supply the backing. Possibilities are:

Example 6

Listen

This is just a simple example; when the full section is employed you will have to make several decisions, based on balance and blend. Interlocking gives the best blend, though not necessarily the strongest power. Rules are few; careful listening is all! With your virtual orchestra you can hear the effect before you commit yourself, unlike the composers of the past who had to imagine it all in their heads. (Aren't we lucky?)

4. Doubling Group

Woodwind often double the material of the other groups, in tuttis. Generally, flutes and oboes will double the violins, perhaps some of them an octave higher, clarinets could double the horns or violas, bassoons will double the cellos and basses. (NS Russian Dance, 1-16). This is only one way; a lot depends on what the brass are doing. In a fortissimo tutti, the brass will dominate, and one function of the woodwind is to reinforce them, either at pitch or preferably in higher octaves. If the full force of each woodwind is needed, then flutes must be quite high, in their top octave, oboes and clarinets above the stave, if not too high, (actually clarinets can be higher than oboes) and bassoons low, with at least one of them in the lowest octave. Alternatively the oboes could be on the stave, medium or low, where they are strongest. (NS Flower Waltz, 266-273)

5. Mixed functions

Of course there is nothing to stop the woodwind sharing all or some of the above functions between them.

Example 7

Listen

Here the violins have the principal melody, the flutes and oboes have a countermelody; clarinet 1 doubles a third melody in the cellos, clarinet 2 doubles the viola part, and the bassoons double the horn and double basses. The 'a 2' bug will cause no trouble in the flutes and oboes, what with the octave doubling and all else that is going on.

(Also NS Flower Waltz, 133: Ob/Fl 8ve melody, Cl/Bsn interlocking harmony)

6. Resting function!

When writing for woodwind, remember you don't have to use all of them: anything from one to eight may occur according to circumstances. The fewer woodwind play, the more focussed their contribution. It is interesting that in The Marriage of Figaro Mozart uses the full eight woodwind in only 3 out of 30 vocal numbers, restricting the woodwind to various combinations from piece to piece. He reserves full orchestra for the overture and big finales.

Refer to the seating chart above, and you will see that the usual additions to the woodwind section are piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet and contrabassoon. If all these are added to the standard eight, the group is known as triple woodwind. Larger orchestras may have quadruple woodwind, i.e. three of each standard plus the four extras. These set-ups can be found in many standard scores, wholly or partly. Twentieth-century scores will probably use all four extras, nineteenth-century mostly make do with one or two. It's handy to realise that the order of usefulness is also the score order: piccolo being the most useful, English horn next, and so on. This for two reasons: the higher the instrument the smaller and thus cheaper; and the higher, the more useful for solos and general use. I advise you to think of piccolo and English horn as pretty normal members of the woodwind, with bass clarinet and contrabassoon used only if you feel the music definitely calls for them.

Piccolo

This miniature flute, sounding an octave higher than written, is possessed by the majority of flautists: the similarity of tone production and fingering making it easy to switch between the two instruments at the drop of a hat; indeed the switch can be made with only a couple of bars' rest if need be. It is common even in a 'double woodwind' set-up (the eight players) for the second flautist to change to piccolo as required. Another common set-up is three players: two flutes and a piccolo, or three flutes with third player doubling on piccolo.

Like the flute, the instrument is weak at the bottom and powerful (extremely!) at the top. Although it can play solo, this is comparatively rare, and its main use is to provide the top voice of the flute section, or to double somebody an octave higher. (NS Chinese Dance, 11 onwards.) It makes a great sparkle at the top of tuttis, but can become shrill and wearisome if used too much, especially in its highest register.

English Horn

(= cor anglais) An alto oboe, sounding a perfect fifth lower than written. Can be played by second oboist or by an extra player.

Its haunting, nostalgic sound is extremely effective in solo work, and it would be a pity to include it in a piece if it never got a solo. (NS Mirlitons, 19) The lowest register is the most characteristic, the upper notes being less effective. Its other main use is to complete three-part harmony with the oboes, or to replace the oboes' bottom notes with its smoother tone. It blends well with the violas to give the effect of hopeless longing: Tchaikovsky uses this combination to marvellous effect in his overture Romeo and Juliet; Rachmaninov, in Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor , doesn't include English horn in his orchestra, so tried for the same effect by doubling violas with the oboe (which even has to leave out its bottom notes rather than risk coarseness!) Cor anglais would have been much better.

(See also NS Arabian Dance, 5, where EH is enclosed between two clarinets. The composer could have used bass clarinet for perfect blend, but clearly wanted the 'exotic' flavour of the EH. Enclosing it gives a partial blend. At bar 33 he does the same trick with two bassoons.)

Bass clarinet

Normally pitched in Bb, with similar range to Bb clarinet but an octave lower. Part is written in the treble clef, sounding a ninth lower than written. Usually an extra player is required for this instrument, as two normal clarinets always seem to be indispensable.

Again, the eerie bottom register is the best, the upper register sounding rather characterless (use the higher notes only in ensembles). It is excellent as a bass for the woodwind group, or doubling the bass part in any orchestral situation. Solos can be effective (NS Sugar-plum, 8).

Contrabassoon

Sounds an octave lower than written, and normally played by an extra player.

It is no use pretending it is a solo instrument, apart from grotesqueries like L'apprenti Sorcier. It makes an excellent bottom layer either to a full woodwind section or to tuttis. It will often double the string double basses in unison.

'Luxury' woodwind

We may also have available the following:

Alto flute. Not used a great deal. Has a lovely sound, (fourth lower than written), and can be thought of as similar to the English horn in that it stretches the flute ensemble downwards.

Bass flute. Even rarer. Sounds an octave lower than written. You'll seldom need it, apart from special effects.

Oboe d'amore. Sounding a minor 3^rd lower than written, so midway in character between oboe and English horn. Used by Bach, also a few early-20^th century composers.

Contrabass clarinet. Sounds two octaves and a tone lower than written. Best in large ensembles or military bands. Little used in symphonic music.

E flat clarinet. Sounds a minor 3^rd higher than written. Rather more practical: agile and clear in its upper register, so making a useful addition where high clarinet notes are wanted. Can be over-shrill at the very top. See finale of Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony.

Don't count on getting any of these in an amateur orchestra, except possibly the E flat clarinet.

1. Breathing. Wind players must breathe! Make sure phrases are not too long for this; in any case the listener's ear must 'breathe'; we eat in mouthfuls and we like listening in digestible chunks. The ability of computer music to play without pause can be very misleading.

The oboes are a special case: the tiny aperture between the double reeds means that very little wind can pass through at a time, though it is under great pressure. This means that an oboist can play a very long phrase (more than the others) but will be exhausted at the end of it. Even with a normal phrase, he has not expelled all the air in his lungs; this means that oboists need rests in order to exhale stale air. Give oboes frequent rests for that reason.

Large instruments like the contrabassoon and bass flute also need compassion for the opposite reason that they require more breath to play, compared with others.

Finally, give the complete woodwind section a rest from time to time: let us hear the strings on their own, perhaps.

2. Articulation. You should be using a mixture of the three main types: a) If you write a succession of notes without further marking, they will be played non legato, achieved by tonguing every note (equivalent to separate bows in the strings). b) Place a slur over the top, and the legato effect is achieved by tonguing only the first note, allowing an uninterrupted airflow for the rest of the slur. c) Dots over the notes will produce the usual staccato. All woodwind can play staccato, including a whole string of consecutive staccato notes, but not all with the same facility or speed. Generally speaking, the larger the instrument, the harder to play many staccato notes in succession. The flute and oboe have no trouble at all, and a good clarinettist can handle it; even so it is much more in the inherent nature of the clarinet to play legato (slurred) than staccato, which takes a little more effort. Just bear this in mind. (NS March 41, where the clarinet part is simplified, also bar 61 on, both bassoon parts producing the required effect between them.)

3. Make it interesting. For everybody, not just the soloists. We normally give solos to player 1 of each pair, but make sure player 2 has some fun also. When an important but simple melody is doubled in octaves between two or more players, why not give this to the 2^nd player of each pair? You will earn their gratitude and they will play all the better.

4. Nutcracker Suite. Over and above all the examples I have quoted from this work, you would be well advised to sit studying the woodwind writing throughout the entire work, asking yourself at every turn 'Why has he done that?' When you can score as well as Tchaikovsky you will be a proud person!

5. Further study. After that, study Rimsky-Korsakov, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Kodaly, Elgar, Britten, Walton, oh, everybody! Good orchestration books abound: I recommend Blatter's Instrumentation and Orchestration as a start, particularly if you are writing for an amateur orchestra, then Piston's Orchestration for more detailed information on the properties of the various instruments.

6. Useful websites.

For general information on each instrument: http://www.si.umich.edu/chico/instrument/ Go to Browse/General Reference/Wind.

Or: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/music/woodwind.html

For acoustical properties of woodwind: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/woodwind.html

Further examples of spacing woodwind chords: http://www.uncwil.edu/music/errante/MUS306/ChordExx/

Scoring for Woodwind

By Terry Dwyer

1) Wonderful Woodwind

Photo courtesy of Bath Philharmonia

The Standard Woodwind Group

1) Relative power