On Aug 25, 2004, at 3:42 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote:
"Bandstration"?
?
Someone please tell me WHAT the classical music world has against the word "arrangement." What's wrong with saying "Arranged for band"? "Arranged for string quartet"? "Arranged for wind octet"?
Well, it's kind of what this whole thread has been about, whether there is a definable difference between orchestration, transcription, and arranging.
I still maintain that there are differences in meaning, though the terms all overlap.
An orchestration (for me, in my world) still means that you are assigning instruments to pitches already chosen by the composer. Notwithstanding Andrew Stiller's opinion to the contrary (for which I still carry the highest respect) I think orchestration and instrumentation are essentially the same thing in the modern world.
Transcription means you have changed figurations and registers as necessary, but you are essentially still following the composer's original wishes, but for different forces than the original. LIke Mozart's Alberti bass for his piano pieces being turned into repeated eighth note chords in a different register when transcribed for strings.
Arranging carries the implication that things have been changed or added that are different from the composer's original intent, and requires more creative input than the other two. Granted, there are not brick walls built up between the three terms, but I might find it overgenerous if I were credited with "arranging" a piece for brass quintet that I basically copied note for note from a Bach fugue book, and added dynamics and articulations to. Likewise, I feel that I have been stiffed when I get credited as "orchestrator" when I have built a complete arrangement for orchestra from a vocal line and chord symbols on up. If I don't know what to call my work, "(musical) adaptation" fits just about anything.
Christopher
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