Hardest Instrument to Write for

[Will Kirk]

What do you all think it is?

[MaestroX]

Hmm I think to write for a soloist an instrument such as the bassoon or contra bassoon or tuba I would say is very difficult to write for. I think instruments in extremes of pitch are generally hard to write for except the double bass as it has a vast range.

[Bassoonery]

I'm dead scared of string instruments - what with all the up and down bows and open notes and things... I have no idea what's easy and what's hard.

What would be amazing would be a quick guide to string writing with basic eg.s about what different standard musicians can play... maybe I should check out the encyclopedia again

[MaestroX]

Hmm I don't think thats in the encyclopedia but it would be good to have it in the future . I think with string instruments if no indication of up and down bows are given the players are happy to work it out themselves. Its only when you get into romantic music and beyond do composers state upbows, downbowsa and open strings.

[Will Kirk]

It's been my expirience that sometimes there is only one indication of what to start with, like you start on the first note with an upstroke, and it's implied that you are to go with a downstroke next, and upstroke etc.. That's generally been what I've seen.

I've also heard that Bassoon is insanely difficult to write for

[Bassoonery]

I've also heard that Bassoon is insanely difficult to write for

I've never heard that but I suppose it's true. On the original musicweb I wrote a couple of big posts about writing for bassoon etc - don't know if they are still around? I think the best thing is to look at examples - particularly Mozart chamber music and classical symphonies have the best most careful bassoon writing. Romantic is more exciting but less helpful as examples.

Thanks for string comments. I might have a go sometime.

[Chris Burton]

Solo pieces are definitely one of the hardest things for me to write for. Whether it be a Bassoon or a Flute. The thing about a solo piece is that you only have one instrument's tone color to work with, so you have to keep your music interesting to hold a listeners ear. I wrote an unaccompanied flute piece a couple of years ago andeven though it was a smashing success, I found it very hard to think less in terms of harmonies and more in terms of how I can make a single instrument sound like an orchestra.

I'm dead scared of string instruments - what with all the up and down bows and open notes and things... I have no idea what's easy and what's hard.

Don't worry about upbows and downbows, most players are perfectly content to work them out for themselves. The only thing that you really need to watch out for is your use of slurs. To a strings player, a slur means one bow direction, but if you write a huge long slur, they'll run out of room. Also, don't worry about open strings. They are great things to know if you plan on writing double/triple-stops but for general purpose writing, a player will generally cover an open string by playing the same note on a different string. The beauty of string instruments is that there are typically several ways to play the same note.

Now, those are definitely good things to learn in the long run but don't be afraid of them . I'll see if I can contribute something to the encyclopedia on that. Anyway, hope that helped.

[ttw]

The piano is pretty hard to write for. Not because most composers are unfamiliar but because the public "know" what a piano should should like.

[Will Kirk]

Originally Posted by ttw

The piano is pretty hard to write for. Not because most composers are unfamiliar but because the public "know" what a piano should should like.

how on earth could piano be hard to write for? For me it's the easiest instrument to write for

[MaestroX]

Originally Posted by Bassoonery

I've never heard that but I suppose it's true. On the original musicweb I wrote a couple of big posts about writing for bassoon etc - don't know if they are still around? I think the best thing is to look at examples - particularly Mozart chamber music and classical symphonies have the best most careful bassoon writing. Romantic is more exciting but less helpful as examples.

I can see if I can dig them out for you

Piano!? Bit of a red herring. I do see your point though but to most composers the piano is the most comfortable instrument to write for