Orchestration Online

Happy to get to the end of the month and be a little bit ahead instead of behind as happened so much over the past couple years. Great stuff is on the way, stand by...

Thanks to all my supporters for making this possible! I've been happily scripting, shooting, and editing videos for the past month, with a new momentum since the New Year started and the Orchestration Challenge evaluations are all complete.

...with score/audio excerpts by Bruch, Schumann, Mahler, and Bruckner - plus a look back to see how my Carmina Burana score analysis videos might be relevant.

...including strengthening and darkening harmonies, balanced integration of elements from the subtle to the massive, and all-out onslaughts of octaves and unisons. I previewed one of the images from this tip during the live Q&A earlier this month. Now here's the full tip...

YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline Orchestration Tip: Trombone/Horn Combinations

ORCHESTRATION TIP: TROMBONE/HORN COMBINATIONS
A chapter-in-progress from 100 LAST Orchestration Tips, taking a deeper look into the possible teamups between trombones and horns...
youtu.be/yHeiL8Uq77s

2026 is starting on a strong footing, at least with this series of videos on Orff's masterpiece. Thanks so much everyone for standing by, now we're back on track with fresh content for training & study. Another tip to come for this month, then a whole variety of different video releases coming Feb.

There are some fantastic songs in this vein throughout the In Taberna section of Carmina Burana - and I'm really looking forward to sharing my analysis of them over the next few months, before we get into the final Cours d'amour run of songs.

After a long break tending to the 2023 Orchestration Challenge, it was great to jump back into some solid score analysis, & I feel this is some of my best work yet. I highly recommend this video in particular for developing orchestrators, as I scripted/produced it on a universal level of discourse.

The music is dark and forceful, pulsing to a driving beat that has a lot in common to today's hard rock - and stacked textures that seem quite simple in structure but are nonetheless carefully crafted and devastatingly effective.

YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline Carmina Burana XI. Estuans Interius

CARMINA BURANA XI: ESTUANS INTERIUS
Orff at his most operatic, heroic, chivalric, and even metallic: a blasting, scorching ode to the Goliard lifestyle: gambling, drinking, partying, and companionship; with a dedication to Venus and a desire to float on the winds of fate. youtu.be/gkm0iajns6Q

Orchestration Questions 2026 YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline

youtube.com/live/tG1iP7O...

COMPARISON OF TRUMPET VS. CORNET WAVEFORMS...
...which I'll be discussing at tomorrow's livestream Q&A (linked below), along with other excerpts from my upcoming book, previews of coming orchestration analysis videos, and answering as many of your questions as I can in 2+hrs. 10 Jan at 11:00am PST.

Hope to see you there. I haven't been able to do an event like this for a while, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Orchestration Questions 2026 YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline

PLEASE JOIN ME THIS SATURDAY 11am P.S.T FOR A SPECIAL LIVE STREAM!
Bookmark this link, save the date, then tune in for...
• Live Q&A!
• Chat about upcoming releases!
• Excerpts from upcoming videos!
• Previews from my next book, 100 LAST Orchestration Tips!
youtube.com/live/tG1iP7O...

...and strong enough to make an even better comeback in the coming year of 2026. I have a lot of very cool plans - but instead of announcing them, I'll just let them emerge over the next few months. I hope to celebrate the new year with a Q&A live video. More details very soon.

And thanks as well to all my subscribers, community members, and Patreon supporters for making all of this possible, and for being unfailingly awesome over the past two years while I faced a number of challenges. You helped keep the channel alive...

...and brings the year to an end in the best way, with a great exploration of how to make things with the potential for greatness reach ever higher. Thank you so much, Rafa, for the work you put into your entry, and all the support over the years!

But one thing for sure, Rafa makes it worth our while to look through the score, and to justify another couple hours of analysis and coaching. It's a fitting final video to this massive series of evaluations...

There's a powerful imagination at work here; all that's needed is a jolt of craft and some work on shaping and controlling the torrent of ideas. Were that to be applied, and the whole thing sped up to a true vivace, then this could be amongst the most compelling entries.

YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline Beethoven Patreon Evaluation 82B. Rafa Rodrigues

BEETHOVEN PATREON EVALUATION 82B. RAFA RODRIGUES (MOVT. 2)
The 2nd movement of Rafa's score shows signs of immense haste in its orchestration - but it's hard not to get swept up in the momentum, with one idea after the next spilling over.

youtu.be/GuU0o0LLUOo

Stay posted for tomorrow's 82B video featuring Movement 2 of Rafa's score - the very last video of this massive series of score evaluations. I can't wait to share it with you all!

I've left off the planned Part 2 intermission tip for this final entry - but I may return to it in the coming year as its own full-length orchestration tip video - and of course it will be featured in the book, and posted on Patreon when finish writing it.

Movt. 1 has some great percussion touches, and the inclusion of alto saxophone for an added point of intrigue. If anything, Rafa could have gone much further in a lot of his plans and tendencies, and I hope this video will urge him forward to ever greater achievements. Quite a standout effort, Rafa!

...with a highly individual and identifiable voice. I kept thinking that Rafa's daring was in full display when trying things out, and it was great to be there as the backstop to tell him how to realise different approaches technically. Hence the huge length of these 2 videos of a combined 4.5 hrs.

...two full movements, filled with so many things to comment on and help work out that I've divided my evaluation into two separate videos, one for each movement. While this score still had quite a few rough corners still to work out, it's still quite fascinating and engaging...

YouTube video by OrchestrationOnline Beethoven Patreon Evaluation 82A. Rafa Rodrigues

BEETHOVEN PATREON EVALUATION 82A. RAFA RODRIGUES (MOVT. 1)
Rafa's lively, multifarious, and deeply imaginative entry is in some ways the most challenging of all...
youtu.be/fc9FBNqTow8

...so I hope there aren't too many non sequiturs or mixups (other than the erratum noted in the comments for one of the intermission images). Everyone have a safe and joyous holiday, and I'll be back at the end of the year for the final 2023 Orchestration Challenge video!

Posting this while on a little trip around NZ's South Island, using the tiny trickle of wifi available here in a stray corner of the Inland Kaikoura Range. It was all I could do to complete this video+intermission between the start of this trip and the end of other travel I had to do the week before

...with a few adjustments that I recommend (and others I'm sure Callum himself will have thought of as well). A truly terrific orchestration, Callum! You set the bar very high here.

In a way, this makes our interaction here more of a conversation than a coaching session. Once again we see a score eminently suited for the repertoire that absolutely deserves to be performed many times...