An orchestrator is a person who prepares music for orchestral performance. Orchestrators can work in a variety of settings, including opera houses, concert halls, and film studios, and their skills can be applied in a variety of ways. This type of work necessitates a wide range of abilities as well as years of experience and training. People who want to work in orchestration can get training at colleges and universities that offer music programs, as well as institutions that specialize in training musicians and composers.
Some orchestrators are also composers. They create a piece from the ground up, beginning with the framework they want to use, developing themes, imagining how they want the piece to feel, and eventually creating a full orchestral score. Some composers prefer to orchestrate their own works because they want complete control over the piece and how it will be performed. Everything from determining how instruments will be used for texture to establishing tempo falls under this category.
In other cases, an orchestrator collaborates with a composer to transform a rough composition into a finished orchestral piece. Existing pieces of music can also be arranged for orchestra orchestrators. On a film, for example, a composer may create themes that introduce characters and ideas, which an orchestrator can expand into a full orchestral piece and play with as the story progresses and the characters change.
When it comes to orchestrating, there is a distinction between transcription and arrangement. When trancribing a piece, the orchestrator tries to stay as close to the original as possible. When pieces are arranged, they can be changed to make them more appropriate or to bring out different desired characteristics and features. Because it is not practical to keep an orchestra on standto test out pieces of the composition as they are developed, both require similar sets of skills, including the ability to hear the orchestra in one’s head while working on the piece.
Not all musicians are capable of creating orchestral works. It can be difficult to effectively manage and use an orchestra, and poor orchestration skills can detract from a composition. Instruments may sound out of tune with one another, or the tempo may be off. If the instruments aren’t used properly, the texture of the piece can feel thin and unfinished. An orchestrator’s abilities are crucial in bringing a piece of music to life.