Udemy Instrumental Thinking Part I

This course is an excellent preliminary study, well suited as a preparation for Dr. . Swerts' Orchestration Course, "The Five Archetypes of Orchestration," Parts I, II, and III-V will follow later. Here, though, with only one single folk song as a model, various instrumental presentations, possibilities, and techniques will be explained and demonstrated, modifying the original model into a new musical context as a consequence of the chosen instrument. In this first part, all the families of the orchestra will be presented and discussed one by one.

In the second part, we will proceed with instrumental combinations of the same families, but as duos, trios, and quartets, and various treatments of the string orchestra as well. Moreover, each model will each time rely on the original model of the folksong; as such, you will notice the immense difference in textures due to the choice of different instrument combinations. Some famous examples from the orchestral literature are also applied where necessary and possible.

After completing both courses (Instrumental Thinking Parts I and II), you will have a much clearer idea of the characteristics of each instrument type, which will allow you to go deeper into the basic elements of orchestration, as illustrated much more in Dr. Swerts course mentioned above. There, we go deeper into the different textures, where many combinations will be explained via the canon of Western orchestral literature and with assignments and worksheets.