Welcome to our first class. If you’re here by mistake, stick around. Maybe you can teach us something. We’re trying to learn orchestration by examining the works of Lari Goss as recorded on Legacy Five’s “Just Stand” cd. Feel free to contribute your tho’ts or questions and when we’re through we’ll all be better musicians, prayerfully!
I will begin with the rhythm track. On this song there were 2 guitar players, a bass, drums and piano. They all follow the same chart – although each of them get their own copy!
The rhythm chart is hand-written and is charted mostly in the Nashville Number System (we’ll get into that later) but since the intro is so convoluted, it is written with guitar chords. This is a pdf of what the intro looks like: Great Is Thy Faithfulness Intro
At one time I had just the rhythm track but I’ve lost it so I only have the orch-ed version now. This is how it sounds: Great Is Thy Faithfulness – Intro
Notice that the drums lead off with “pick-ups” while the guitar slides picking up into the 1st measure which is the way Lari wanted to start it off as is typical of big ballads like this. You can’t hear the guitar “power” chords under the orch and, not until the 2nd echo of the “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” theme, do you hear the piano shining through with the trumpets.
As we analyze this material, I will follow the line-up as described in the PRINCIPLES OF ORCHESTRATION by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. It can be found online here: http://northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45335
You might want to read “A” which briefly covers the string section. You’ll learn there are basically 5 strings: Violin 1, violin 2, Viola, Cello and Double Bass. Here’s a pdf of the string section intro: Great Is Thy Faithfulness strings intro
Notice that all but the Double Bass (Contrabass) are playing the same thing with Violin 1 an octave above. The Viola line is written in the alto scale. (Learn more about it – and everything else! – at Wikipedia.) Learning the ranges of these instruments will be the death of me!
Does anybody know the scale the basses are playing? I’m going to find out from Lari how many string players were on this track and how many stacks. Let’s get some discussion going about the strings. Also about the chord structure of the intro. I’ll update this post as I get new info.
Whew!,
Tim Parton
Parton, wow…you have waaayyyy too much time on your hands.
very interesting. Love Lari Goss arrangements and his orchestrations. Keep it going. Thanks.
(1) So the piano player’s flourishes etc. aren’t written out – you / he would just have to go off the chording and improvise?
(2) I hadn’t realized how prominent the brass was in the intro until reading through the piano-only score. This is especially in the last measure, where the strings hold a straight note for three counts, while it’s the trumpets going up to the fifth / third intervals and providing the musical motion (I’m positive that’s not the technical term) that keeps the interest level from dying down right before the vocals come in.
(3) It took me a little while before I figured out what the bass is doing. I’m thinking it is playing the third of a chord, and that the root chord for the first half-measure in measures 1, 3, and 5 is the chord a full step above the root chord for the key.
So, taking measure 3, I’m thinking the root chord is G, leading into F, and the bass players are playing the third interval of the first and the fifth of the second, namely B natural and C.
Of course, Lari being the genius he is, there might be a diminished, augmented, or suspended chord somewhere in there, but that’s my best guess at this point. It’s kind of like a puzzle with the outside border (the root of the chord) missing.
Does this make sense? Or am I maybe missing something?
The basses aren’t really playing a scale, per se. The first six measures are a set of three 2-bar phrases that are simply a vii(half dim) of V chord leading to a I over V chord and the basses are simply following that half-step progression in each pair of measures.
The first chord would function as a secondary dominant, resolving to a I/V, which functions as a dominant-sounding chord. (Think of the 1st 2 measures in D, 2nd 2 measures in F and the 3rd 2 measures in Ab.)
He then makes each pair of measures build off the previously established key. (We end the first set in D, then he begins the next phrase with the melody note being a D, etc.) Once we get to the 3rd set, we’re in the right key.
Then it’s just a IV over V, V, I. The Bb/Ab is a nice-sounding ‘special effects’ chord because the D natural in the Bb chord doesn’t naturally occur in the key of Ab.
I agree. This chord structure is great–three keys just in the intro alone! I love it.
Daniel, in regards to your (1), I think yes. That’s why it’s so hard to play southern gospel–improvisation is key.
Thanks, Tim!!
Meg
I would do so!
Maybe I give myself too much work—I tend to write out every note when orchestrating something!
Tim, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
I’m not yet into all the technical aspects of this yet, but I love it. This is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I had Music Theory, and some other courses in college, but this is what I really wanted to learn. Thanks
Daniel–when you have a group of players (a string section for example), you’d need to write everything out, note for note. When you have a solo instrument or rhythm player (guitars, bass, piano, etc.) you can be more generic in your instruction: just chords and maybe indicating where a fill should be, what the style is, etc.
I see. And there’s only one pianist here.
And I forgot–frequently the rhythm tracks are done first and the orchestration written to go along with the tracks. An orchestrator might pick up on motif from the piano or guitar and support that in the orchestration.
That part is something I’d heard for. (Thanks just in case I hadn’t!)
I meant heard before!
There are some pretty incredible chord structures throughout just the intro of this song! Lari Goss is truly the master. Daniel was right on with what he had to say about the basses. Keep it coming Tim we can all learn alot here!
I think we need to remember that Lari Goss has a jazz background as well as classical. Often jazz bass lines with a dim7 or m7b5 resolves up by half-step to the root of the dominant. When you move up a step and do the same thing again and again it is called planing (as in plane). It gives a cool sound of expectation with strength as it moves upward.
Helen
Good stuff, Tim. Very good stuff. If we get to a sticking point, I know a classical conductor who might be able to answer a question or two, keeping in mind that some instruments are written in “different” keys.
Tim, the contrabass line utilizes the Locrian mode on G#. That’s another way of saying it begins on the seven of the A major scale.
Will someone explain the viola’s clef for me… and the range on a piano that this is played?
The viola uses what’s called the “Alto Clef” or “C Clef.” It’s a ‘moveable clef’ because middle C is the line wherever the middle of the clef is located. For the violas (alto clef), middle C happens to be the middle line of the staff. Trombones sometimes use what’s called a “tenor clef” where middle C is actually the second line down.
(F0r real music nerds: the treble clef is also called the G Clef, because the loop of the clef is around the G (3rd line down) and bass clef is also called the F clef, because F is located on the line between the two dots.)
These different clefs help keep the ranges of the instruments (or voices) more “on the staff” and helps avoid a lot of ledger lines above or below the staff, which in turn makes for easier reading. (once you get used to it!).
Thank you, Shawn. That actually makes sense… so the viola and the violin parts are actually just an octave apart (in the first part of this arrangement). Would it be accurate to say that the viola part is typically lower than the violin part?
Yes…most families of instruments are typically orchestrated in a 4-part setting. (Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon for woodwinds) (Trumpets, French Horns, Trombones, Tuba for brass) (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello/Bass for strings). Of course there are exceptions to that, but the whole realm of orchestration can be boiled down to basic 4-part writing.
In this example, the first violins are written to be played an 8va higher, so with the violas and 2nd violins, you have a 3 octave spread, which gives it a nice broad, expansive sound. (Tchaikovsky did a lot of 3 octave spreads when he wanted a big sound).
From a jazz perspective (not that I am a jazz expert), this intro consists of 3 V/V – V progressions through 3 keys. Jazz pianists would see these diminished chords as dominants in disguise. (Abhalfdim is really E9). E is the V of V (A). If he had used the full diminshed Ab, it would be E7(b9) which I think also sounds good.
I think you can consider the I/Vs as functioning like V’s here. They seem to.
I assume Lari picked the keys he did to keep the bass line moving up in half steps. I am guessing he picked this part of the song for the intro because it is definitely the most memorable chord progression in the song.
The last chord labelled Bb/Ab is a great sound. Jazz pianists would probably be think of it as a I chord with color notes added (9, #11, and 13).
Tim,
No clue what it is the basses are doing. I have arranged this piece in my head for just about any number of musicians and had no idea that it changed keys so often. Keep the info comming.
After consulting my trumpet I believe the basses are playing a A diminished scale starting on the 7th.
Greg, I agree with you that a half dim7 is just a masked altered dominant. Here in the North Texas area, jazz players use tritone subs a lot in dominant situations. This is what I see on the piano lead sheet Tim provided.
In the first measure D triad is the tritone sub of Ab, then F is the tritone sub of B, Ab the TTS of D. Ab triad has a common tone in the V chord (Eb used like a pedal tone), and the V chord will go home to the I–Ab. Use of tritones can yield amazing bass lines in the hands of a good jazz arranger or jazz bassist. Harry noted one of these.
One of the best jazz theory teachers in Dallas once told me that if you had five jazz players to do an analysis on the same lead sheet, they would all come up with something a little different depending on the instrument they played and their background. Jazz theory is not engraved in stone like classical theory. Jazzers love breaking the rules of common convention, but there is method to their madness.
Helen
Okay, all this is sort of, kind of starting to make sense!! I love the idea of orchestrating, and if I had the necessary tools, I think it would be a lot of fun to do!
I love the arrangement of this song; Lari Goss did an incredible job!