Learn the idioms of the instruments you’re composing for

Composing music for an instrument you don’t play can be incredibly hard. Often it’s harder than a lot of people imagine. I remember being at Berklee College of Music and many times during recording sessions or rehearsals people in the ensemble would mention that certain things are difficult to play or “not something you would write for violin.” That doesn’t mean that you can’t write it, but that it was written in a way that’s dissimilar to other types of violin music. That doesn’t make it bad, but it might mean that it’s awkward to play on that instrument. For example on guitar you can only play a maximum of 6 notes … because you only have 6 strings. If you were to write out a chord for guitar that has 7 notes, one of those notes would have to be removed.

Something else to be aware of is the mechanics of the instrument. If we take guitar as our example again, we need to remember that the player only has four fingers to use. Maybe five if they’re familiar with reaching their thumb around the neck how Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan would do, but not all guitarists are comfortable and familiar with this technique. If you write a chord that requires more than four different fretted notes, they need to be arranged in a very specific way because you run the risk of that chord not being playable.

The same thing can be said about piano. One hand can only reach so far. If you write something that is outside of that reach, the pianist may be able to roll the chord (playing them as close together as they can while still playing them separately), but there’s a big chance they might not be able to play it.

I’ve definitely written stuff that doesn’t make sense on violin or viola or flute or clarinet. At the time I didn’t know how to play anything on any of those instruments.

One way to get around this problem is to learn the instrument.

I’ve done that with some instruments because I also enjoy playing them, but if you don’t enjoy playing them then there’s another way to get around this.

This method also can take quite a lot of time to be useful. Imagine how much time it takes someone to get proficient at playing an instrument.

Simply learn the mechanics.

You don’t need to know exactly how the technique is and you don’t need to be able to demonstrate it, but knowing something about how different instruments are played can help a lot. For example, learning the notes on the violin finger board can help you better write for violin. Or if you learn different fingerings for flute you’ll be able to better write for flute.

If you’re writing for very high level professional players, or the music is fairly simple, then this likely won’t be a problem for you. But if you have a specific sound you want or a specific technique you want used it can become an issue.

This is something that takes time to learn, especially when learning about multiple instruments. But remember that even learning the basics can help. And you don’t need to learn everything right away. Start small. Start with the strings of the violin. Start with the first five notes of a C major scale on flute. Then add on to those things.

It’ll get easier the more you know.

ISJ