Composer v. Orchestrator — Page 2

Bruce is incredibly talented. He did part of Light in the Piazza (not to mention numerous others... Urinetown, Wild Party, Gypsy, etc.). And he's a great man!

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I would love to hear more Vietnam sounds in MISS SAIGON.

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This is so interesting; everyone on this board is very knowledgeable of everything Broadway related. Oh, I had a question while reading this thread. How does one become a arranger/orchestrator?

John3

I knew what you meant. It was sorta said tongue in cheek. It would be a little difficult to use those sounds in the pop score they wanted. In addition, Eastern music has a different scale system than the west does. It'd be VERY hard to use traditional instruments. You can actually hear some Eastern references in the music though.

Updated On: 12/22/05 at 02:33 AM

Ok,

I have a few questions:

1) How much do arrangers and orchestrators actually cost? If you were working on a new musical and, say, you were presenting with an amateur group: would the fact that they be extremely expensive formidable to the show? If that's the case, and they are expensive, how do you work around that?

2) If someone writes a score in A Capella, as in "hummed", who gets the credit to those songs? Is the arranger then listed as composer as well? I think it would be fair to do that. And exactly how hard is the process of taking a hummed melody and turning it into a fully scored song?

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Jazzysuite82 --- I put "art" in quotes because some people don't think of orchestration as an art form. Some see it as more of a necessary technical service and skill. Believe me, I've met plenty of those (bums).

I disagree with that philosophy, and my chosen word for this process is "art." Even if a lot of it is technical, tedious and meticulous. (As I said, I've done it myself before.)

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I really don't know of anyone who writes a capella. Especially full length musicals. Mel Brooks had more experience than that. i mean if you really wanted to write an accompinament out of a hummed piece, it's not hard to do at all. There should be a shared billing as far as the composer credit is concerned. I honestly don't know who would do that, not even novice composers.

Rates vary by orchestrator. The orchestrators fall under local 802, the musician's union I think when it comes to NY. I don't know what the union rate for arranging, but there's plenty of freelance people about. I would say if you've got a budget, find someone who'll work for that budget. There's always negotiating to be done. If anyone has anymore to add now would be the time.

Ya happy NOW?

Hi,

I'm a composer/orchestrator/arranger whatever and I've been reading all of your very interesting comments on this topic...I just wanted to add my two cents.

I, personally, think it is really important for a composer to be involved in the orchestration of his/her work. Obviously, the piece is your baby when you write it, and most people have a pretty specific idea of what they want the piece to accomplish/exist as.

With that said...there is nothing more wonderful than sharing a piece a music with someone who can bring some new shade of color to it. It's probably one of the most exciting things about writing music...sharing and building it. The collaborative efforts that exist especially in theatrical writing is what draws me to theatre more and more every day. Thanks you for the very refreshing topic!

I also just wanted to add a quick bit about the a capella question. I would say to definitely harmonize the music yourself. A melody has infinite possibilities until it is harmonized and given structure. If you are actually pretty sure what you want the mood/purpose/genre of the song to be, I would definitely add some sort of road map of harmonization before handing it over to an orchestrator because it will save you some reworking if the finished product is not what you expected/wanted. Just a suggestion. :)

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