Chapter 5b - Spacing and Balance
The proper interval spacing and balance of chord tones in an orchestral score may be achieved for all practical purposes by applying the lessons learned from the interval pattern of the natural harmonic series. No other single source material is of equal importance. The harmonic series for one-line C 1 is as follows:
As an experiment, strike— fortissimo — one-line C on a piano with the damper pedal depressed. Then, press down silently any of the whole notes up to and including number 8. (The remaining higher tones are too weak to be picked up.) Release the key of the fundamental C along with the damper pedal. The selected note will continue to vibrate. The explanation lies in the fact that the overtones, now undampered, are allowed to vibrate freely. This phenomenon, multiplied many times over, accounts for the source of resonance for the piano and the harp with their sounding boards acting as resonators. Further experiments will reveal that the lower tones in the harmonic series ("Chord of Nature") will be stronger than the higher ones. Note: The quarter notes in the series are not exactly in pitch with the tempered scale and therefore will not sound. Closer study of this harmonic series will also reveal the complete lack of close-position chords in the bass clef, but a crowding of the overtones as the series ascends from middle C. Here, in this scale of nature, can be found the best pattern for doublings and fillers. Of the ten triad tones appearing in the series, there are five roots, three fifths, and two thirds. This proportion of triad tones will be generally acceptable in chordal progressions regardless of the number of added doublings and/or fillers.
There is one more lesson to be learned about the resonance factor of the piano that can be applied to the sonority problems of orchestration. Play— forte — the chord of C major, with middle C as the root, but without the damper pedal. Careful listening to the resonance of this chord shows that it has little or no vibrancy.
Next, play the same chord, but with the damper pedal depressed.
Observe the change in sonority. The sound is fuller, more vibrant, because the overtones of the full chord are free to vibrate, picking up the "sympathetic vibrations" from their fundamentals.
Repeat this experiment using an expanded C major chord. Notice the increased resonance and vibrancy by the addition of three more voice parts and lower fundamentals. From these experiments it will be obvious that piano music receives its resonance in proportion to its tonal spread and that the vibrancy of its sonority is dependent upon the use of the damper pedal.
At first glance these elementary experiments may Figure 1-3 seem to be over simplified and lacking any direct relationship to orchestration, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Actually, the connection between the piano and orchestra needs to be thoroughly assimilated, and for the following reason: There is no damper pedal in the orchestra; it must be built into each orchestration.
But how is the effect of the damper pedal to become an integral part of an orchestral score? The orchestra's equivalent of the piano's resonance may be realized through the use of effective spacing of all melodic and harmonic elements, along with the judicious arrangement of sustained harmony parts. Chord spacings similar to the following may be permissible for piano writing but they would be decidedly unidiomatic for orchestral instruments. Piano music is written so that it can be played by ten fingers.
Orchestral music has an almost limitless number of voices to draw upon.
The chords given in Fig. 1-4 require further attention, but for a different reason. Notice that these chords have large note gaps in. the middle register. (Compare spacings with the harmonic series.) In practical orchestration, such gaps would be highly undesirable, and only their complete rearrangement could bring about any semblance of tonal balance. Proceed on the premise that all notes sound as written and where written — no more, no less.
Figure 1-5 gives these chords, with the same number of voice parts, rearranged according to orchestral practices.
From this survey of chord positions, it will be clear that good chord spacings are essential for balanced part writing. Doublings and fillers do not affect chord positions; rather they act as resonance factors. Doublings are to be considered as additional voice parts in unison with existing chord tones. Exceptions will be the addition of an octave to either a melody or a bass part, these being extensions in range.
Fillers, on the other hand, are to be regarded as added chord tones — notes not present in the original structure. They may be in any range and are to be considered as a means of extending the total range spread as well as of strengthening middle-range harmonic spacings.
From these explanations it can be established that doublings tend to increase the volume, while fillers serve to give sonority and balance to the harmonic structure. Neither addition should affect chord positions. In general, harmonic textures, once established, should be maintained until each phrase or passage is completed. The octave bass part, given in Fig. I- 10, is needed to support the range extension. Caution: Remember that chord formations above the bass may be expanded without involving the positions of the chord progressions.
The applied principles, derived from the foregoing uses of doublings and fillers, may serve as preliminary models in any rearrangement of harmonic progressions.
SUMMARY OF DEDUCTIONS
1. Avoid close-position triads in fundamental positions or first inversions in the lower part of the bass range.
2. Added doublings and fillers sound best in this preferred order: octaves (unisons), fifths, and thirds.
3. In general, it is advisable to keep thirds, sevenths, and ninths out of the bass range when used as sustained harmony parts. Moving melodic lines or scales with these chord intervals are not included in this category.
4. Keep chord extensions, downward from middle C, in open position.
5. Arrange chord extensions, upward from middle C, in close position.