Orchestrating & Conducting Renowned Choir's 90th Anniversary Celebration Concert
- Nathan
- Aug 18
- 38 min read
The Gig
The Morriston Orpheus Choir are historically one of the best known Male Voice Choirs in Wales, hailing from the Swansea town of Morriston. They made their name in the late 70s, through the 80s and into the 90s as a powerhouse of Welsh choral music, releasing numerous albums of various genres, receiving international acclaim, mostly under the director of one of their longest serving Music Director (MD), Alwyn Humphries.
In April 2024 I took over as the choir’s MD. The choir has a regular staging membership of around 50 singers and we have worked hard over the last 18 months to regain confidence an strength in their sound, since they are less familiar singing as a smaller number. My focus as a choir director has always been on quality over quantity, and although male choirs have traditionally staged with 80+ singers, I believe they can still make a tremendous sound whatever the forces — with the right repertoire, accompaniment and good rehearsal techniques to bring out the best from each singer.
2025 marks the choir’s 90th year, having formed in 1935. To mark the occasion, the choir organised a 90th celebration at one of Swansea’s leading music venues, the Brangwyn Hall, which has become the home of many local choirs for larger events.
Repertoire & Guest Artists
The theme of the concert was 'Past, Present & Future', allowing the choir and audience to reminisce in some old memories and celebrate past achievements, as well as look to the future and the work the choir is doing currently.
The choir has a long history of supporting Welsh talent in singing. To support the 'present' aspect of the theme we engaged actor and singer Callum Scott Howells, hailing from Treorchy. Callum has an affinity for MVCs since his grandad sang with the Treorchy Male Choir. Having trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff and gone on to staring rolls on Channel 4 and the West End, Callum was a great fit to showcase a South Wales success story. We were able to secure Callum through a previous working relationship between me and him, since I used to MD an amateur dramatics group Callum performed with. We did a number of shows together. We got back in touch when Callum asked me to accompany him for a Tŷ Hafan charity concert at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff last year.
For the future element, we utilised another of my contacts - the Principal of a local drama school - Class Act Theatre School Swansea (CATS). This group of around 100 young performers between the ages of 6 to 21 represent the future of singing and performance in Swansea, and they were able to contribute a dynamic range of musical theatre performances to the concert.
The choir's repertoire was a mix of traditional Welsh hymns, some familiar tunes from shows and films, and some staples of the choir repertoire. We also introduced some newer material (for the choir) such as Coldplay's 'Fix You' and Ed Sheeran's 'Perfect', translated into Welsh by Bronwen Lewis, giving our own nod to the 3 elements of the concert's theme.
In general MVCs are aging, but the Orpheus perhaps more so than others. I believe the average age is around 75 at the moment. This has a lot of knock-on effects:
Firstly, learning new material is a slower process than with younger singers. Memorising and retaining these songs also takes longer. Altering already learned repertoire is also a challenge, since much of it has become habit, and changing habits is even harder than learning new sometimes. The choir has a large repertoire of over 60 songs, and around 30-40 of these tend to be considered 'ready to go' with very little rehearsal needed. But I've found that more rehearsals are needed recently for songs to really be at performance standard. Yes we could turn up and sing it and it would be fine, but to really get it in line with our best performances it would need around 5 rehearsals to recap and hone the sound.
Another consideration for older members is how long they can stand in one go. This impacts how many songs we can sing in a row. I know choirs who will sing 6-8 songs in a row without compering or sitting. In practice, this is too many for some of our members, and I've found 4 songs to be about right. I encourage members who need to sit more regularly to do so, and not to feel awkward about sitting when everyone else is stood. I'd rather them be part of it, helping with the sound and enjoying their time with us than to feel they can't participate because they can't stand.
All of this means that whilst 30 songs may be familiar, we can't have many more than about 15-20 songs really top notch all at once. This was a big consideration in how many songs the choir performed at this concert (I think 18). Yes it's their concert and they need to be the focus of us, but there's no point pushing them to sing more songs than they can manage to learn/retain or perform confidently, or to have them completely worn out from standing for so long.
As such, I had the choir open and close each half of the concert with 4-5 songs in each of these sets. That way the choir is the first and last thing the audience hears in each half.
The choir were also very keen and proud to be supporting local and up and coming talent, since this is a big part of their ethos and even features in their mission statement. Giving them a platform to showcase their talent alongside a world renown choir at one of Wales' most iconic performance venues, and a window into the professional world of performing gives them great pleasure.
Orchestra Lineup
Most commonly, male choirs perform with Piano accompaniment. Sometimes there is the additional of Organ, and the Brangwyn Hall has a magnificent Organ. A potential issue with using organ without a huge number of singers is that the Organist must choose the registrations very carefully not to overpower the singers, since they are designed to accompany a large congregation. You’d probably need 100+ singers performing very loudly to compete with the Organ at its loudest. At our current strength, we wouldn’t be hearing the full Organ.
Another option that the choir has performed with in the past is a Brass Band. The MVC + Brass Band pairing is quite common, especially since they often share similar repertoire, especially in terms of Welsh hymns. Again, the issue with this is volume. Having 50 voices competing with 30 Brass instruments plus percussion — the brass will win! However quietly the band intend to play, the voices just don’t carry over it with our numbers. The choir performed with such a lineup at their last appearance at the Brangwyn Hall in 2023, alongside Pendyrus Male Choir, meaning the number of voices swelled to around 100. Whilst the concert was enjoyable, there were comments from the audience that the balance between band and choir wasn’t quite right, and many of the singers felt they had to sing much louder than they would usually, and their voices were strained.
My view is that it's the choir's anniversary and their big night, so they need to be the focus and heard at all times.
Since starting with the choir I’d floated the idea of a concert with another of my ensembles, The Alternative Orchestra. They are incredibly flexible, performing as anything from a duo, trio or quartet up to a full orchestra. Most commonly we’ve performed as a reduced orchestra for musical theatre, which is typically a few instruments from each section. I believed that with this sort of lineup we could achieve a full and blended sound without overwhelming the voices.
After much discussion considering the space available on stage, budgets and repertoire, we decided on a 16-piece lineup:
Reed 1 (Picc, Fl, Cl, A.Sax)
Reed 2 (Fl, Cl, T.Sax)
Horn
Trumpet (dbl. Flugel)
Trombone
Percussion (Kit, Timps, Glock, Triangle, Tambourine, Mark Tree)
Piano
Keyboard (dbl. Organ, Accordion)
Harp
Strings (3x Vln 1, 1x Vln 2, Val, Vcl)
Bass (Elec, Ac)
This gives plenty of options for colour, texture, blend and strength.
The main consideration from an orchestration point of view was that the orchestra would be accompanying all artists throughout the evening, as well as the choir. CATS performed everything from Oliver! and works by Rogers & Hammerstein through to Mamma Mia by ABBA — quite different sound worlds! Whilst Callum performed a range of pop and musical theatre.
So I wanted to make sure that the lineup was versatile enough to cover all genres. I also didn’t want the Keyboard to have to do too much work in terms of mimicking missing instruments, such as Guitars or bulking out orchestral sections. In an orchestra pit where no one can see exactly what's being played, and in the MT world where sample instruments are more accepted, it can work well. But in a staged concert where the orchestra is on show it feels less acceptable to me.
Scores
It was a massive help that as well as being the orchestrator, I am also the choir’s MD working with them twice a week, so I know their repertoire inside out. Everything from dynamics and tempos through to breaths and where they need support, I already knew, and could make subtle adjustments to the orchestrations to let certain vocal moments shine or give a bit of cover and support.
I decided quite early on that for the choir’s songs during the concert I would conduct from my normal choir piano vocal scores, and not use a full orchestral score. There was very limited orchestra rehearsal, with 1 rehearsal the week of the concert where we ran all of the choir pieces, then another on the day, where we only ran a few pieces to get used to the sound in the hall. The choir rely very heavily on my conducting and prompts, and if I were to change too much about my conducting without lots of rehearsal time then they’d be thrown, and it was after all their concert, and they needed to shine. This meant that the orchestrations and the orchestral parts needed to be completely ‘self-playable’ and fool-proof. I knew I had amazing players who would get the job done, so I knew I wouldn’t have to micromanage the orchestra when conducting.
For CATS’ and Callum’s pieces I did conduct from full scores, since these were new to everyone, and I didn’t need to conduct any singers, just accompany.
Sound
We brought on board one of Wales’ premier sound companies who have years of experience mixing orchestral and choral gigs. They knew the hall very well and gave recommendations for micing.
The choir was miced with a number (5 I think) of Schoeps mics. The Piano, Harp and Strings were also miced, along with the Electric Bass (DI), Acoustic Bass (DPA) and Keyboard (DI). I only got to listen from the back of the hall briefly for one song, and the AMD stepped up to conduct, so there was no Keyboard, but it sounded great.
We had numerous comments following the concert of how well balanced all elements were, with a number of people complimenting how well the orchestra blended with and supported the voices, without overpowering them. This was exactly my goal from the outset — Mission accomplished!
Unfortunately, as always, we did have some patrons complain that they could not hear the choir and that ‘the Harp’ (THE HARP!!??) drowned them out. Not sure if this was a typo or not, but I have no idea what they could’ve meant. However, it seems this person was sat in the front row, which could be the source of this problem.
Aside rant...
I have long supported the idea that it is never a good idea to sit anywhere near the front of a music venue. You will only hear things in order of placement - i.e. whatever is closer to you, since you are so close to it. In this case the orchestra first, then the choir (with the Organ louder than everything when it’s there just because it’s so big! It’s literally part of the building).
My analogy for this is that it’s similar to if you stand very close to a very large painting — you will only see the bits you focus on, since you have no peripheral vision up close. And when you’re that close to a painting, you start to see individual brush strokes, which was never the artist’s intention. You are actively excluding the end result. In this case, the audience member (apparently) heard the Harpist’s brush strokes (which I still doubt).
On top of this, there is also a PA to contend with. This will be placed in front of the front-most mic, which in our case was at the very front of the stage in order to pick up the ensemble singing from CATS. We removed the front 2 rows of audience seats to combat this placement and to avoid very limited sightlines since the stage is quite high.
The PA must be set to a level that compliments and blends with the live elements on stage. Although the choir are miced, no one wants it to sound miced. The amplification should help lift the miced elements above those that would otherwise make them difficult to hear. The piano isn’t really miced because it’s not loud enough — it’s miced so that the sound engineer can lift the sound and blend it with the voices, to give the impression that the voices aren’t miced. If one is miced and the other isn't you can tell that things are miced. If both are miced then you can barely tell anything is miced. Furthermore, the speakers need to reach the back of the hall, so they will be set to a level of compromise to reach the back without overpowering the front. But, long story short, if you’re too close to the speakers, you’re not hearing their intended output, which is a blend, but more of a spotlight on particular areas of the performance that need electronic support to match the other elements on stage. A Trumpet is just louder than a Violin, there’s nothing we can do about that. That’s why there are 16+ Violins in a professional orchestra but only 3 Trumpets.
The sound needs time to blossom and flourish in the hall as it leaves the stage and all the sound waves interact. There’ll be a sweet spot in the room, often around half way, or between 1/3-2/3 where everything sounds really blended and comfortable. Take a few steps forward and you can hear the percussion too much and get a lot of PA and the voices sound amplified, a few steps back and you hear too much Brass but lose the voices… The sound engineer has the tricky job of weighing all of this up and getting the best compromise across the very large room. Sometimes, with bigger sound rigs and more speakers, they can be a bit more picky and adjust each speaker to compensate for what’s been lost along the way, but that’s a bit overkill for this concert and this post.
My rule of thumb when choosing where to sit in a venue, especially for a mostly acoustic concert, would be to go with vision. If you can’t see the whole stage/all the performers on stage as one without moving your head side to side, you’re too close and it won’t sound good. Similarly, I’d always aim for a central seat (left to right) if possible. There’s a reason the conductor is central — so they can hear everything evenly and adjust accordingly.
Also, if you choose to sit in the front few rows of a concert, I have no sympathy for you. It’s not going to be a true representation of the sound being created on stage. Closer is not better. I also think that venues should adjust seat prices to reflect this, rather than ramping up front section seats to create the illusion of a better audience experience, when it is in fact the opposite in most cases, at least in terms of sound.
Rant over.
Preparation
As usual, I copied my generic orchestral/MT template and adapted it to the necessary instrumentation. I set the Violin 1 stave to play as a half section (using the mixer sound selection) which sets the necessary parameters for NotePerformer, whilst the rest of the Strings were set to solo instruments. I also turned down all Strings in the mixer slightly, and turned up both Reeds. I find these elements essential when writing for anything other than a full string section, since it won’t give a true representation when proof-listening later on.
For the choir songs, I left out all vocals. I wouldn’t be conducting from a full score and I know them well enough to hear them in my head when listening back, so it would be a waste of time including them, and with over 35 numbers to orchestrate I needed to save all the time I could! They can easily be added in for future gigs if needed. Occasionally I added some in for reference, usually to check that what I was doing harmonically with the orchestra matched the choir. I sometimes added the vocals as cues in the orchestra parts too.
I wanted to make referencing bar numbers as easy as possible, so those in the orchestra parts had to match what I had on my choir piano vocals. Even if I added an intro/interlude etc, I'd match the bars by adding 23a, 23b etc. If bars were cut, it might jump from bar 34 to bar 56, for example.
Personally I don't use rehearsal marks. In this instance there generally aren't any on the original copies, so there was no point adding them. If I were to use them then they'd appear as large bar numbers. As a player I find that rehearsal marks don't really give a reference for how far through a piece you should be looking. If the conductor says 'from letter K', is that half way through? Near the end? It's dependent on how long the piece is and how frequent the rehearsal marks are. It also depends on whether the gaps between rehearsal marks are consistent. With bar numbers, in general everyone has a reference point. (Except when numbers are skipped or a's and b's added, but these are usually only for a few bars, not whole sections.) Pairing with good use of double bar lines for denoting new sections, I've never had a problem. I also number every bar in the bars so people aren't wasting time counting from the left.
Writing for Piano
One of my absolute least favourite things is turning up to an orchestral gig as a pianist and being asked to play from the original piano vocal score 🤬 It’s unnecessary and lazy. Especially in a choir context, those parts are written to be very full, and to support the choir as just a piano. When there are many other instruments involved, the piano doesn’t need to play everything!
If you play everything, you’re muddying the texture, and doubling things that other sections/players are playing. Absolutely no one wants the pianist getting involved with their gorgeous solo line, unless it’s absolutely meant to be doubled. Knowing what the sections/players can handle and when they need the piano’s support is essential. On a gig with plenty of rehearsal time the pianist might be able to work out what to leave out, but that is player dependent. And on a gig with very little rehearsal time they won't have time to work that out. So write what you want them to play! That's our job (orchestrator), not theirs (pianist).
Accompanists and Orchestral pianists are very different types of players, and for this kind of gig you need a hybrid. There were still many moments in the concert where the piano did play exactly the original piano accompaniment, but that was intentional, and usually solo or with some string backing, for example. That is the basis of the original composition and there’s no need to change it. But when a piano reduction has been made to facilitate a choir performing a piece, that part then needs to be expanded out to suit the orchestra, and the piano part reworked in turn, and the player needs to be able to handle not being in the spotlight anymore, and blending with the other sections.
Piano is a great support to every section and is so versatile. It can be a rhythm section all on its own - but when there’s a bass, drums and keyboard, maybe it could just play the right hand quaver motor-rhythms and leave out the bass; or it could help fill in the brass stabs, or double the woodwind runs in octaves… There are so many options, be creative! I particularly enjoy seeing how John Williams and Leonard Bernstein (and their orchestrators) use the piano. Sometimes it has it’s own isolated function and stands alone or with the rhythm section. Other times it’s supporting and decorating the work of the other sections. There are loads of JW scores online and with YouTube video reductions to have a look at.
Writing for Keyboard
The decision to use a Keyboard in the orchestration was somewhat pre-determined, since the choir has an Accompanist (who played Piano in the gig), and an Assistant Music Director who doubles as our Organist. I didn’t want him to be sat around and only playing for a few numbers on the Organ, so it made sense to add Keyboard into the lineup. I’m really glad we did, since it really added to the mix in so many of the numbers.
In general I had the Keyboard stick to Keyboard instruments. So in the traditional choir rep he played a lot of Celeste (or Celesta). In its higher registers it adds some attack and sparkle to the string and woodwind lines, or helps a melody line sing out. In its mid and lower registers it can handle some really nice chordal or arpeggio passages, supporting a string, brass or winds pad. It can also sit completely on its own, doing its own thing independently of the rest of the ensemble but still be heard, if placed correctly in the texture. It also doubles/blends well with Harp and Piano of course. Have a listen to some John Williams, La La Land or Disney underscoring to hear some great Celeste writing.
I did allow for some breaking of the ‘no orchestral instruments’ rule when it came to Percussion. There were some moments of Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Triangle, Marimba and Timpani, in that order of prevalence. These were always textural additions and not prominent lead lines.
The AMD also plays Accordion, do we did incorporate a live Accordion for one number from Cabaret. Always better than a sample!
See the accompanying posts on orchestrating for CATS and Callum to read about how else I used the Keyboard.
Harp
I really enjoy writing for Harp. I’m not sure I’m brilliant at it yet, but there’s an extra level of thinking and puzzling involved that keeps me on my toes. And having seen other Harp parts, I'm better than many. How it can pair with so many sections of the orchestra is incredible. There’s so much boring copy and paste of piano parts out there - it’s a crime.
Here are some combinations of Piano, Keyboard and Harp that are similar and related to each other without being identical. It adds so much interest that copy & paste, and each part is well suited to the instrument.
Some orchestrators attempt to write in every pedal change, and if you’re a Dorico user you’d think it’s expected since it tries to help with that. But in my experience it’s just not necessary. They’re good at it, they have their preferred way of marking it up. They’ll end up checking your markings anyway, which will inevitably have some errors since you're not a Harpist (unless you are). Get out of the minutiae and save yourself some time. We don’t add Piano fingering, we don’t write ‘sul A’ or ‘sul G’ on every violin phrase. These are player decisions/responsibilities - let them make them.
Where you do need to help them out is with glissandi. If it’s a very tonal piece with no key changes and very few non-diatonic notes and you want a gliss in that key, then you can just write the wavy line and they’ll do it. Nothing extra needed. If it’s anything else then you need to be more specific. For simple, obvious ones I’ll write ‘Dmaj’. Don’t use chord font or it won’t show the ‘maj’, and I think that should be included just to be super clear. If it’s ‘D7’ then I’d use the chord symbol font since it’s clearer to read. I wouldn’t use this for minor scales, since there are so many options.
Once it gets past really basic ones like these examples then I always include a pedal diagram to be sure they know what I mean. Something like E6/9, I’d like to be really clear which notes I do and don’t want. There are some that don’t lend themselves to chord symbols, so don’t kill yourself trying to find one, but I do find it helps to include one - 1. So the player has an idea what it should sound like, 2. The conductor knows what sound to expect, since they’re likely less versed in reading pedal diagrams on the fly, 3. So I know what I’ve written without having to work out the diagram, and 4. So if you ever need to transpose the piece, you know what you’re changing it to/from!
A side note here is that if you’re transposing an already written Harp part that has glissandi, they don’t always transpose well! What works in one key won’t necessarily work in another. For example, a Harp can glissando on a pure F#7 chord - F#, A#, C#, E (using pedals F#, Gb, A#, Bb, C#, Db, E - in scale order, not in pedal diagram order, sorry). But if the piece is transposed up a semitone, the Harp can’t glissando on a G7 chord, since the A (2nd/9th) will have to be there. Nightmare!
Filling Out The Strings
With what is essentially an enhanced String Quintet, I was worried about balance within the section, with the choir and within the orchestra.
The thinking behind having 3 First Violins was to round out the top line, especially when they go high. I’ve long been advised against using just 2 Violins in unison (i.e. 2 firsts and 2 seconds), since the intonation is so tricky, even for the best players, especially in louder environments. I must say, I did like the result of using 3 and would use that lineup again if necessary. Hearing the top line being slightly thicker tricks the ear into thinking the whole section is thicker.
For sections where I wanted it to be strings only but I wasn’t sure it would work, I had a few options up my sleeve, all context dependent:
Add the winds as an outline to support the chord - Something like Trombone on the root, Horn on the 5th, Clarinet on the 3rd. Add another clarinet if the 7th, 9th or another root need to get involved. This gives a rich, round sound, boosting the strings without being too noticeable. Usually whatever the first violins are doing wouldn’t need supporting since it’s at the top of the chord. This is most useful in pad or ostinato sections.
Add Harp - it could be exactly as above where it supports the main chord, or it could be in a slightly different inversion/voicing to thicken the chord higher up. This worked well for quiet moving passages. If it's a rythmic passage, the Harp can play on the stresses rather than an identical rhythm to the strings.
Add Piano - same as adding Harp, but a bit more flexible. Really good for strong, louder passages.
Add a Synth Pad (on Keyboard) - this worked really well, but doesn’t work in every context. Some songs just wouldn’t lend themselves to this, but for anything slower with a slightly contemporary edge (e.g. we did Josh Groban’s ‘To Where You Are’) this works really well. It’s quite a stringy, washy sound anyway, so it really lifts the strings and gives them something to sit on, encouraging them to play more like a section player than a soloist. I found this worked particularly well if there were chord extensions and I gave them to just the Strings or just the Synth, allowing one to be the bed of the sound and the other to add some flourish and flavour, rather than being strictly copies of each other.
The Taming of the Horns
In many instances I used the Trumpet, Trombone, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax (and sometimes Horn) as a mini Horn section (I mean like big band horns, not French Horns). This worked really well, but had to be done very carefully, since these are all very loud instruments, especially in such a small ensemble accompanying a limited number of voices.
Register choice was the main consideration; placing things in the middle of their registers where they have the best control over dynamics, rather than up high where it’s just loud, or down low where it’s either foghorn or barely there, and not much in between. This often meant revoicing a chord so that everything sat in a comfortable range, avoiding any single instrument being too high or too low and sticking out/being missed in the chord.
I wrote a few ambitious solo Trumpet lines, mostly taken from other versions of a song, which I was aware might stick out a bit. If they did, no harm done since they were usually in instrumental or otherwise very powerful sections anyway. But I noticed that the player almost always opted down the octave for these, which makes a lot of a sense and I had no problem with. I imagine being the loudest instrument in the orchestra playing an octave above everyone else is quite a nerve-wracking endeavour. It’s very high but you still try to blend as best you can, but being anything other than purely confident up there risks splitting. I think most players need to feel supported by the sound beneath them to be able to get up there without the fear of things going wrong. Like building the roof of a house without building the 2nd floor: It might hold with a bit of scaffolding and some pillars, but everyone is happier once the supports and walls are in place.
Flugelhorn is a bit of a secret weapon in more ballad numbers, but can be overused and a bit misunderstood. For good uses of it, have a look at some mid-2000s pop musicals like Sister Act and Legally Blonde. It’s not a replacement for the French Horn since it brings a different timbre and range. But it blends really well with the Horn, a mid-register Trombone and Clarinets/Flute. It works really well in a winds pad. If it wasn’t available, I would tacet the Trumpet player, rather than have them play quietly or muted.
Oh, mutes… I almost think of these as completely different instruments. The colour is so different to the unmuted instrument that the instruments serve a completely different function in the ensemble once they’re used. My key thought processes are: don’t use them to make the brass quieter; and avoid overusing them. Each mute has a pretty distinctive sound that can be quite linked to a particular musical context or era, and using them all over the place just confuses the sound world you’re aiming for.
Although technically the instruments are all quieter once muted, many of the mutes enhance certain overtones which means they stick out of a texture just as much, if not more so, depending on what’s going on around them. Unless there’s a particular reason not to, or they’re playing completely different lines, I find it’s best to have both Trumpet and Trombone use the same mutes at the same time. But that’s not applicable to solo passages. Whether or not to mute the Horn is a slightly different question. It most commonly uses just one type of mute (straight), and the sound difference isn’t as different as with the other Trumpet and Trombone. Again, depending on what it’s doing, it might be completely different to the rest of the brass/horns anyway.
If the all of the winds are working as a section with Clarinets and Harmon muted Trumpet and Trombone, I’d probably muted the Horn too, if it’s getting in on the action with identical rhythms and is part of the chord. If it’s Saxes instead of Clarinets then I might not mute the Horn, since they’re a bit louder and warmer, depending on register. The Horn is an amazing bridge between the sections: Woodwinds and Brass, Brass and Strings, Woodwinds and Strings. The mute can help smooth over that bridge if there are other muted sounds going on.
There's also hand stopping. Not super effective on Trumpet and Trombone, but sort of OK if you need a slightly stopped sound but don't have the time to use mutes. I get the impression it's not great for long passages since you have to hold the instrument differently which must affect playing style somehow. This is a specific technique giving a specific sound on the Horn.
Instrument Changes
This affects the Reeds, Trumpet and Bass. The main thing to remember is to tell them what instrument they’re playing at the start! Sibelius doesn’t do this automatically, it’s a manual addition at the start of a score. It will usually do it later on in a score. I’ve tried different methods - putting the first instrument label above bar 1, whether they’re playing or not; and putting the label above the first entry. I think I prefer the first entry version, since the bar 1 version could be missed and lead to a question from the player. It also then appears on the score as a note to the Conductor.
For Trumpet, this is not really an issue. They will assume that every piece is on Trumpet unless it specifically says otherwise to change to Flugel, and will change back at the end of a piece. If a piece is on Flugel throughout I would include a label at the start, and not just rename the part ‘Flugelhorn’ and assume the player will see it at the top left of the page header.
‘How long does it take to change instruments?’ is an age old question in the multi-instrumental world, and there’s no right answer. My thinking is to be as considerate as possible. If it looks like you’ve thought about the player and tried to give them all the time available to switch, then they’ll do their best to achieve it. There are all sorts of ways, like resting the Flute on your lap whilst playing the Sax (with a strap) so you can just drop one and pick up the other. If it looks like an afterthought, they’ll be less keen, since it’s just bad writing.
If I’m writing a piece that I know will have changes for any of these instruments then I try to plan ahead. I might know that the chorus has to be on Flute, so I’ll make my choices about the verse with that in mind. With the Reeds, there’s a lot of juggling that can be done between players. For this gig both players play Flute and Clarinet, so there’s no reason player 1 couldn’t play Clarinet and 2 play Flute, if that’s the way it has to be for them both to have reasonable time to change. Although it would annoy me seeing the Clarinet higher than the Flute in the score for those bars.
The other things to consider with the Trumpet and winds in particular is how long ago they last played that instrument. I don’t overthink this, it’s the player’s job, but we can help them out and be kind where we’re able to. Instruments get cold when they’re not being played, and if they’re not warm then they might be out of tune or not behave as expected. Avoid really high first entries after a quick change. They’ll need time to breath through the instrument and get it warmed up.
Mute changes should also be considered. Strings can mute and unmute relatively quickly. For Brass, these these can mostly be achieved pretty quickly, with players holding them between their legs for quick access if necessary. But even then there should be a break somewhere before and soon after for them to pick it up/put it down and avoid playing large sections worrying about dropping a mute.
I tend to be quite specific with my mute markings. For Trumpet and Trombone I'll always specify the mute type. Just writing 'mute' or 'con sord.' will get you a straight mute (if no other mute has already been used in the piece), but on limited rehearsal time on a gig with lots of mutes it's easier to be specific. Generally the Horn only has one mute, so you can just write mute/muted/con sord. If one instrument mutes/unmutes but the rest of the section doesn't, I often write 'stay muted'/'still muted'/'not muted'. It looks a bit odd to the player in isolation, but once playing together it's good confirmation. I also do this if there's a long tacet between sections and they're still muted when re-entering. Again, I want the players to feel secure and to play everything confidently, and not worry that they've got something wrong.
It's often underestimated how, even in smaller ensembles, musicians play as a section (i.e. Brass, Strings, Rhythm etc), and they expect to make a unified sound within their section, as well as accompanying the rest of the ensemble, so it's to be expected that they'd question a mute change to one instrument but not another. This is similar to Strings with pizz./arco and mute changes.
Bass changes are considerably clunky. Many players stand or sit on a raised stool to play, and since the upright is so huge it will attract attention when they put it down/pick it up. Again, the players can be super efficient, but give them the best chance to make it in time! In general most songs don’t require bass changes. The ones I find benefit from it are the ballads, where maybe the first verse is very stringy, and the acoustic is a bit more subtle. Then when the chorus kicks in the electric is more suited. I try to find a moment in the verse where the bass can drop out without the arse falling out of the song. Cello, piano, trombone or synth pad could all be options to cover. I wouldn’t go for a straight switch though, the texture needs to lighten to allow for less bass, especially since whatever takes over will likely be an octave higher. If there’s no easy change, I’d leave out the Bass for the verse, or leave it all on whichever instrument suits the majority of the song.
Something I see a lot of orchestrators ignore is changes between songs. Sometimes this is beyond our control, if we don’t know or can’t change the running order, or if you're only orchestrating a few songs of a larger set. But I’ve been in a number of ensembles where a song ends with an applause segue and a quick 3,4 into the next number, but the Bass needs to change instrument. I try to be aware of this where I can. The song needs what it needs, but if the change hasn’t happened, there’s no point starting without them or being cross at them for not making it in time. Consider changing the song order, adding some compering in between, add a little instrumental intro onto the front of the next song to give them time… There are creative ways around it. If all else fails, warn the player in advance that this is an unavoidably quick change, and that you’ll wait for them. They will be quick, but they need to know that you’re (the Conductor) on their side and not make them look/sound stupid. Write it on your score so that you make eye contact with them and check they’re ready. And write ‘QUICK SEGUE!’ in their part (as an Orchestrator or Copyist, or Conductor if no one else has thought to do it). I find handwritten helps, then they know you’ve taken the time to warn them of it and you really mean it and it’s not just a label left over from a previous gig. I'd treat Reed and Trumpet changes between songs similarly.
Music Prep
This is, surprisingly, one of the first orchestra gigs where I’ve actively encouraged that players use iPads. I've done plenty of Cabarets and smaller gigs like this. I was a one-man music team and knew that I’d be up against it in the final days, so wanted to reduce the workload at that end as much as possible. Out of the 16 players, 7 requested paper copies. Thankfully, these were all single-stave instruments, which cut the page count even further.
Considering page turns for iPad users is trickier than for a double page spread, especially for Strings and Piano, since they often play non-stop throughout a piece. Some players were able to use Bluetooth foot pedals to turn pages, so I checked who had what before prepping the parts. Even with a foot pedal, as a player I find it quite nerve-racking to turn during a busy passage, so I still looked for suitable breaks where possible. If none existed, then I favoured turning on a longer note (semibreve or longer if possible). Both Keyboard and Piano were on iPads but not using page turners, so I generally tried to follow the same rule -- aim for turns on longer notes where the (sustain) pedal can cover the turn. Pianists are very good at this.
Both Bass and Percussion requested paper. These are the two you really don’t want to drop out at any point for an awkward page turn, since they’ll really be missed! I taped their parts so they could be unfolded and placed on the stand as a single long sheet. For anything over 3 pages (what most stands can hold), I ensured there was a nice turn after page 3 so they could readjust, or a nice turn after page 1 then adjust. For a few I wrote ‘open last page’ or something similar on the top of the first page to be clear that this one needed some geography prep in advance.
Sibelius defaults to a 2 page view where it shows you the spread of the pages. But it also offers single page views as a reminder you're prepping for an iPad. I didn't actually use this, since I'm quite used to just seeing everything as a single page now. But it could be useful for future projects where I'm mixing single and double page spreads. It's the option at the bottom right of the window next to where you turn on/off panorama view and zoom.
For the other paper pushers I used 4-ring folders and hole punched double-sided sheets with appropriate page turns. Sibelius likes to insist on a right hand page to start. This is unnecessary, wastes paper and creates extra page turns. If a piece is 2 or 4 pages, we can read it with 0 or 1 page turn. If you start with a right page then it forces 2 page turns. Being able to see the geography of as much of a piece at once is handy. Where necessary I use blank page notices to facilitate page turns, and I will include a large diagonal arrow if a page has only a few systems, rather than leaving loads of white space, or massively justifying the staves so they’re too spread out.
Conducting Practice
I find that writing the orchestrations and being so embedded in the music for hours and hours, I’m usually pretty familiar with most of the numbers in terms of tempos and texture. I export all of the Sibelius audio demos for reference and listen to them in the car while driving to keep me familiar with them. I wrote some in April and the gig wasn’t until the end of June, so a refresh was welcome. Most of the choir pieces didn’t need practicing since, as mentioned, I wouldn’t really be conducting the orchestra, I’d be concentrating on the choir who I rehearse regularly. But there were a few moments where I elongated and wrote out a timed section that was originally a fermata which I had to look at, or a bit where it’s very colla voce and our accompanist just knows what’s going on so doesn’t need my help, but the orchestra would.
The original end of ‘What Would I Do Without My Music’ is a bit basic, and I wanted to give it more of a flourish, particularly as it was our final piece before the interval to end act 1. I had to remember to conduct this differently to normal, and to ensure it was clear to the orchestra when to come in, but also to the choir when to (or more when not to) cut off, since they’re not used to me making any additional gestures after they’ve hit “on”.
In ‘I Dreamed A Dream’, lining up some of the entries in the final colla voce section needed a bit of rehearsal.
Our first song in the concert was the resolute 'Let All Men Sing'. It's really powerful and has the perfect lyrics to kick off this concert. It's somewhat known in choir circles, but the Orpheus hadn't sung it for over 10 years, so would likely be unfamiliar to most of our audience. Before this first number we had a picture slideshow on the big screen tracking the choir from its beginnings to now. It started with a film style countdown with numbers in circles counting from 10 to 0 to build a bit of anticipation, then the video started. The start of the video "welcome to out concert" needed underscoring, so I orchestrated the opening section as an instrumental by the orchestra. It sets the tone of excitement and anticipation, and introduces the main theme of the choir's opening song, so it feels slightly more familiar to the audience when we start singing it.
The somewhat tricky element of all of this was that the music needed to be vaguely in sync with the video. By complete coincidence, the piece is written to be performed at 120 bpm, which is of course double the speed of the 10 second countdown. So I'd know exactly when to start and at what tempo. (The choir actually performs the piece a bit fast, maybe 134 bpm, but that didn't need to be in sync.) Once out of the opening section I created a more subtle link section as the video transitioned to the photos and initial story of the choir's formation. After a minute or so it introduces the choir's first official recording, 'Myfannwy' from the 1950s. This recording played as part of the video, not performed live, so the music would need to cut out. I tried to be clever and transition into the song's key during the underscore. I added a vamp to the end of the underscore so that we could wait for the video then move on cue as the recording began. We should've rehearsed this more to get it really secure - we ran out of time and I forgot to go back to it - but it was all on me, no one else had to know when to move, so it worked out fine.
Rehearsals
As mentioned briefly, we had only 1 rehearsal ahead of concert day. This brought together the orchestra, choir and the young performers from CATS. We rehearsed at the choir’s usual rehearsal venue, a beautiful chapel on the outskirts of Swansea. The choir sat upstairs, in what could be thought of as the choir seats, since they are at the front of the venue, in front of the organ, and the focal point of the room, just behind the pulpit. There’s space on the floor where the alter table usually resides which was just about large enough for the orchestra to fit. The venue has a Yamaha baby grand which is handy! The upstairs overhangs weren’t ideal and the acoustic was a little boomy for the lower end instruments, with a lot of stone and wood in the building and not many soft furnishings, but it did the job. The kids sat in the congregation pews downstairs. More on that in another post.
Here are 2 numbers from that rehearsal (the one with Accordion mentioned earlier) filmed on a an apparently very low res phone from the back of the chapel:
We also had an orchestra only rehearsal on the day, along with a rehearsal with guest soloist Callum Scott Howells, then a run of a few songs with the choir, and some other target areas I’d noticed from the previous rehearsal.
Compering
This is something I've come to more as a necessity than a want. Many choir MD's are expected to compere concerts, introducing songs and guest artists. I've become more confident in this in recent years, mostly because I've started giving it proper thought and prep time. I like to have notes prepared, but prefer not to read from the directly.
I've tried writing out a full script then reducing it down to bullet points so that I have an idea of what I want to say in long form, and the list can trigger my memory on stage. I find that I have a much more natural tone of speaking and better audience rapport if I'm not using notes and going with the flow. I'm not a super-efficient reader, and find myself becoming robotic and not listening to what I'm saying if I'm literally reading a script/list. So I've experimented with using flash cards for my lists and making the bullet points as short and clear as possible. I number these so I know I'm on the right one, and make a separate one for each compering segment. If I'm using physical scores then I'll put these as the next page in order with the music. If I'm using my iPad I'll write a big COMPERE note in red at the end of a piece.
I like to introduce pieces in reverse order - last first, first last - using phrases like, "in a moment you'll hear...", "before that we have...", "but first, we bring you...". This allows me to actually introduce the song we're about to sing, rather than some awkward double mention. I'm sure there are other ways of making this work, but this works for me at the moment. It also gives the choir a clear idea of what they're about to sing!
What I really dislike about compering is being asked by a guest artist, committee member or venue staff to include something last minute. My notes are usually prepped in advance and there's nowhere to add their request so that I see it in order. I'm literally just glancing down at the next point, so everything is chronological, and things written in the margins just get missed. A few times I've completely overlooked a last minute addition. Oops. Of course I want to be flexible and accommodating, but most of these additions are standard things (fire exits, toilets, raffle tickets) that organisers will have been aware of for months. They should have the consideration and foresight to let me know in advance that these things need to be included.
For this gig I intended to write my notes the week of the gig, a few days in advance to give them time to sink in. Unfortunately I got sidetracked by other things and didn't end up writing them until the day of, about 1-2 hours before the gig, making changes right up until I walked on stage. Not ideal, but needs must. I do find that reading them just before I go on helps, so maybe writing them then does too 😬
Somehow I managed to walk on stage for act one without my notes. Oops again 🤦♂️ Thankfully I'd sort of prepped for this, and almost always keep a copy of the running order or programme on my stand, visible at all times, just incase I've forgotten to write in a COMPERE now note, or have scores in the wrong order. So I was able to get through each compering segment (which I'd kept to a minimum due to the use of the big screen videos and holding cards) remembering what I'd just written and checking who/what was coming next on the setlist. This actually went really well - I was surprised - and might be the most natural compering I've done! I remembered my notes for act 2, but tried to use them as little as possible since act 1 had gone so smoothly.
This was one of the largest audiences I've compered to, over 500 people. I've led rehearsals of bigger ensembles (I MDed a 1000 voice youth choir with orchestra for a few years), but I find MDing and speaking to collaborators different to speaking to audiences. Maybe I shouldn't and that's where I'm going wrong... 🤷♂️ But it feels different to me. Audience compering seems more official and more of a performance.
The Big Screen
This had a few purposes:
We wanted the audience to hear the choristers' voices (speaking not singing) and for them to tell the story of the choir's history, tying in with the 'Past, Present & Future' theme. Most of them would not be confident speaking publicly to so many people, and getting them in and out of their seats would be a logicstical problem. So we decided to prerecord their stories and compering as videos to be played back on the night.
In a previous concert this year we trialled featuring images of film and musical posters relevant to the song we were singing (this was a Movies and Musicals concert). The addition received positive feedback from audience members who said it helped them link the song to the theme and brought back memories of when they first saw the film. I also find that attending a concert without purchasing a programme can leave me in the dark if a song is performed that I'm not familiar with. So I wanted every audience member to have access to at least the song's title without needing a programme, so they could look it up later if they liked it. So we did this again, with either the song title and/or an image of the show/film the song was from where appropriate.
Programme sponsors were given digital advertising slots on the screen before the performance and during the interval.
It allowed us to promo our own future gigs and recruitment drives during the interval and as the audience were leaving. We also gave slots to our guests, CATS and The Alternative Orchestra.
We showed happy birthday messages from prominent figures with links to the choir, such as Bryn Terfel and Lord Michael Heseltine.
Lyric videos - this is something I've wanted to try for a while but not had the means to. For me this had 2 purposes:
If you can read the lyrics, it assists you in hearing the lyrics, even if they're not super clear. This is partly why some films and TV programmes use subtitles for people with thick accents, or when there're a lot of sound effects going on. What they're saying is audible and intelligible, but it could easily be missed. We have a song where only the top tenors sing the chorus melody in a subtle part of their range, and there's a lot of other sound going on in the lower sections. This could be difficult to hear/understand. So if the audience can read the lyrics in sync as they're hearing them, they instantly hear the top tenor line a lot clear, it seems.
Translations. We sing a lot of Welsh songs, but the majority of our audience is not Welsh speaking. This doesn't always matter and of course the music can still be very enjoyable without understanding every word. But lots of people like to know the meaning of a song. So providing an in-line translation (Welsh lyrics on screen alongside and English translation) gives everyone the opportunity to understand. This is also a learning opportunity, since another of the choir's values is to introduce the Welsh language and Welsh songs to those unfamiliar with them.
I achieved the in sync element using Keynote for Mac and a manual button pusher - my friend Geri. Each line of the lyric appeared and disappeared on her click, so she could time it with us and it didn't matter if our tempo changed.
Whilst I'm sure other MVCs have utilised a big screen in their concerts for various reasons, this may be a first for in sync lyrics and choir-led pre-recorded video content.
The audience feedback on the modernising feel of the concert and in particular the use of the screen for many of the above reasons was very positive.
The Performance
I always find that there’s never as much space as you’d like. The Brangwyn Hall is a large concert hall with a pretty decent sized stage, but once you get a Piano, Timpani, Drum Kit, a choir and 100 kids involved that space diminishes quickly. The venue offers stage extensions which they usually recommend for orchestra gigs, but we didn't have the budget.
I’d visited the venue in advance and made a stage layout plan, but people and instruments always need more space than I anticipate. Thankfully we had a great Stage Manager on board for this, and between us we got a layout that worked and wasn’t too different to the original plan, so didn’t affect the players and sound team too much. We had to make a few adjustments once the players were in, in particular giving the Brass a bit more space.
I’d intended to record the whole performance from the stage and from out front on my phone (plus an old phone), but in the busyness of the day something had to give and I ran out of time to set them up. I’ve seen a few clips from audience phones, but it would’ve been nice to have heard everything back!
Summary
All in all this was a great gig and I really enjoyed every aspect of it - orchestrating, music prep and conducting. It took up most of my time from mid April through to the end of June. I would've liked to have had help with the music prep and orchestra fixing (booking players), since these both take time and consideration and have knock-on admin tasks linked to them. I did find doing the music prep broke my creative flow for orchestration, so if I could've finished a score then sent it to a copyist then started a new score, I might've worked a bit quicker.
I would also have liked more support in terms of production management on the day. The Stage Manager was great, but was only brought in to help on the day. I was the only one with an oversight of all departments, and it would've been nice to have had a Production Manager who was on top of those things so that I could concentrate on music. I had to sit for over half hour with the lighting technician helping decide lighting states. Whilst this is important for creating an atmosphere for the audience and giving the right focus to the action on stage, I don't think it's something I as the MD should be giving time to on the day.
The choir has its own Marshalls who help with seating and getting the choir on and off stage, but again, they don't have an overall view of the concert and what might be appropriate/needed. Having a production meeting with key people would've helped things work together a bit better, but time and foresight was not on our side to make that happen. But the Stage Manager did a great job of making this happen on the day, even with the limited time.
This is one of my favourite kinds of gigs to work on. Multi-disciplinary and cross-genre live music! Getting to use my own creative ideas, as well as working with others (CATS Director and Callum) to realise their musical and theatrical ideas.
Find out more about the choir - https://www.morristonorpheus.com/
Find out more about the orchestra - https://www.thealternativeorchestra.co.uk/
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