When analyzing a song for orchestra, you have to learn to hear things differently. Instead of the words I hear flutes. Instead of the rhythm section I hear violins. Its something that takes years to acquire.
But I’ve also noticed something else… that everything song that works for orchestra is usually an amazing song. I remember hearing Britney Spears ’3′ a few weeks ago and trying to arrange it for orchestra, but was having difficulty (truth is, any song can be arranged for orchestra, but not every song ‘clicks’). So i muscled my musical knowledge and craft to try and make it work, but it wasn’t happening. This doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good song – it just didn’t have that ‘it’ factor. Most of her older reportiore is amazing, and I still think ‘Toxic’ would sound unbelievable.
So fast forward to the music I hear and analyze on the Billboard Top 100, reading up on HypeM, logging into We Are Hunted, and more, and there are only a few songs that ‘hit me’. As it turns out, almost every one of them are #1 chart toppers.
Even when I first hear a song before it climbs the charts I can usually tell if it will last – because it’ll arrange perfectly for orchestra.
Granted, most orchestrators have different styles, instrumentation, and technique. But for the way I do it, this concept has rarely failed, and I find it to be very interesting.
So next time you hear a song think to yourself – could an orchestra play this?
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