Beginner's Orchestration

Part 3 -- Strings Family

Strings usually refers to wooden instruments with metal or organic strings, played with a bow. This includes violin, viola, violoncello / cello, and double bass / bass, developed from the 16th century by Andrea Amati of Cremona. The Amati family, along with the Stradivari and Guarneri, refined the instruments over generations, producing a form we have now. This is the most iconic timbre across orchestra.

Regardless of size, the hollow body creates stronger resonance, similarly to woodwinds. The more surface area, the more resonance, and the larger the instrument.

The Bridge refers to a piece supporting the strings. Since the strings alone are quiet, the bridge transmits vibration to the top plate, sound post, and back plate, displacing more air and inducing more amplitude. The bridge is, essentially, an acoustic amplifier.

Stradivarius violins are expensive because their unique form induces greater amplitude than other violins, as the top plate is made of ancient alpine spruce, inducing stronger resonance.

The Bow is a handle with a tip and heel holding horsehair, with a screw adjuster in the heel for tightening. Traditionally, the horsehair came from the white tail of a grey stallion, such as Arabian, Andalusian, American Quarter, Percheron or Lipizzaner. Synthetic strings are also available and much cheaper.

Rosin usually refers to conifer resin, rubbed along the hair to increase friction against the strings. Depending on make and intent, rosin may have certain additives to modify or enhance viscosity. Too much rosin causes resinous dust to flutter, which can get in your nose or eyes, so don't overuse!
In some orchestral settings, strings players will not apply rosin, playing dryly, inducing timbral eeriness or gentleness.

Détaché
Default bowing; bow alternates in either direction per note.

Legato
Plays notes smoothly in continuous motions.

Portato / Louré
Single stroke per note with slight break between; notated with slurs (curved lines beneath notes).

Staccato
Bow stops during stroke, playing note at half its duration; notation with dots.

Pizzicato
When string is plucked. If rapid plucks are required, a guitar is used.

Jeté
Bouncing motion towards bow tip; notated by slurred staccato.

Saltando
Bouncing staccato; notated with drips atop notes. Often used for fast music.

Marcato
At slower tempo, bow stops between each note; at faster tempo, slight bounce.

Martelé / Martellato
Staccato with heavier separation of notes.

Grand Martelé
Fast, forceful bow strokes.

Trill
Rapid diatonic alternations of pitch and upper pitch, without separating notes unless otherwise specified.

Tremolo
When bow saws against the strings, producing a vibration.

Fingered Tremolo
A trill with an interval longer than a whole step.

Sul Ponticello / Sur le Chevalet
Bowing closely to bridge for thin sound.

Flautando
Bowing closer to fingerboard, producing a flute-like sound.

Sul Tasto / Sur la Touche
Bowing over the fingerboard for thinnest sound.

Sul G
When all notes played on G string.

Glissando / Portamento
When bow slides along consecutive notes, producing a continuous ascending or descending pitch. Notation uses lines.

Arraché / Anreissen
Forceful pizzicato.

Pizzicato Secco
When player places finger back on plucked string.

Bartok / Snap Pizzicato
When string is pulled up then released, clacking against the fingerboard.

Col Legno
When back of bow taps against strings. Unpopular for players as this can damage their bows.

Sordino
When a mute is attached to the bridge, producing a whispered effect.

Scordatura
When strings are intentionally detuned, lowering the string note down to a Perfect 4th but this is ineffective. Do not detune further than Major 2nd.

Wolf Tones
An acoustic anomaly when the Hertz of a note matches the resonance of its instrument's body, naturally amplifying overtones and producing a sense of 'howling' (hence the name). Most audible on cello E, F sharp, and natural F, increasing vibrations in the body that annoys the player.

In the orchestral world, 'wolfing' is equivalent to 'trolling' if you ever wish to annoy inexperienced cello players. If you're 'wolfing' an entire orchestra by making every musician play only Wolf Notes, you will induce audio fatigue and everyone will probably hate you.

C Attachment
An apparatus for bass, lowering the low E string by four semitones, to a low C. Eases playing lower registers. If a bassist does not have this attachment and encounters notes below E, they transpose the notes up one octave.

Never assume bassists always have this attachment!

Practical Harmonics occur at intervals of a fourth, fifth, octave, and two octaves.

Harmonics in the violin family is when the player lightly touches the string, producing a stronger ringing sensation. They function best from semi-soft to semi-loud notes.

Natural Harmonics

Interval ——— Overtone —— Pitch above Fundamental

Perfect 4th ——— 4 ———— 2 Octaves

Perfect 5th ——— 3 ———— 1 Octave + Perfect 5th

Perfect Octave — 2 ———— 1 Octave

2 Octaves ——— 4 ———— 2 Octaves

Bass should be limited to natural harmonics only; most practical in solo or cadenza.

Double Stops
When two strings are played at once, useful for accentuating an ascended chord.
Violin: G + D, D + A, or A + E

Viola

Cello

Bass
Usually not double stopping as is barely audible (suspect intonation). Nevertheless, if done by highly skilled players, they are useful in divisi and DAWs.

Triple Stops
When a Double Stop is briefly played then moves onto the next string.

Quadruple Stops
When the lowest Double Stop moves to the highest Double Stop.

Strings Hints
Don't copy-paste sections, repetitive sameness is boring; have slight adjustments! Tchaikovsky wrote with extensive but slight alterations.

Minimise extensive chromatic scales; use for key moments in cinematic pieces.

Minimise extensive intervallic jumps (don't exceed an octave).

Avoid the most 'awkward intervals' of:

Augmented 2nd and 4th

Diminished 4th and 5th

Major 7th and Minor 9th

Awkwardness in strings may, however, be intentional for a comical score or moment.

Piano arpeggios usually don't translate well to string ensembles.

Avoid writing styles for strings originally idiomatic for piano.

A string quartet can be put into an orchestra by adding and doubling contrabasses and celli at an octave.