Since I've never had formal lessons (90% self-taught), I need help using the right music terms on my scores.

I'm writing a piece of music where the tempo is more fluid and not strict (The default tempo is 90). The tempo gradually slows down at the end of each phrase before returning to the original tempo. It's very subtle. How do I let the conductor know that he/she should relax on the tempo (would I have to instruct him/her? then again that would defeat the purpose of a sheet music)? This is more of a mood w/ tempo connotation than strict tempo so no "a tempo, rit, ritard, fermata, and any explicit tempo markings. Listen to the sample to get an idea.

Also what's the correct notation for a cymbal roll? How are percussions supposed to be notated in terms of note duration? How do slurs work with string instruments (iirc, my teacher told me slurs means the players bow in one direction over several notes)? How does a string player bow arpeggios with 16th notes? How do I use slurs appropriately? Do I need to insert upbow downbow ornaments?

Edit: what the heck... please move this to music discussions.

Not sure, but I think you can notate 'rubato' or 'expressivo' in the score and hopefully the conductor will pick up on that.

Can't help at all with the other questions. I'm clueless about strings and percussion. Nice Zelda theme though! :D

hehe. It's a glimpse of the medley. I'm thinking of gathering talented music students from several universities, but that's for another time ^_^

I've looked at the definition of Rubato and it says speeding up then slowing down for expression. I do not want the conductor to speed up in this situation. I'm looking at "Mood markings with tempo connotations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Mood_markings_with_a_tempo_connotation)" from Wikipedia, but they're left to their interpretation. The conductor might simply relax their hand gestures (even show moods through face gestures), but keep the tempo kinda strict.

I'm thinking of Adante con tranquillo (moderately slow with calmness) + "but not too strict to tempo" (any italian word for this?). I think that should do it. I can instruct the conductor on how it's supposed to sound if she/he has any questions. The first section in the medley that you've heard will be the only part that is more loose in terms of tempo (musicians must pay attention to the conductor on this one!).

Tempo: Gotank is right in suggesting the use of "Rubato". The literal meaning of rubato is to increase the tempo then decreasing it proportionally so that a consistant tempo is attained but no player will ever try to be that specific when they see Rubato. However, Rubato is discouraged when dealing with none professional players at a size where a conductor is necessary. This is because individual ideas about where to expressively go faster or slower is different for every piece and it is difficult for the conductor to unite all the players unless extensive time is given for practice. Also, the bigger the orchestra, the harder it will be to have everyone hearing the same song in their heads. For this reason, Rubato is usually used for solo or duet lines rather than in tutti for orchestral writing.

String writing: A slur on a string represents one bow (1 direction). This means it is technically physically impossible to slur across two strings and to slur longer than the length of the bow will allow. Keep in mind that the louder it is, the faster the player will have to move the bow across. That being said, many string players are able to play a very convincing "fake" slur and the more experienced the player is, the better this fake slur will be. The strings on a violin is GDAE going up starting with the G under the middle C. Also, a violin player has several positions on where their hands are to line up for playing higher registers. I forgot the specifics but I believe each position is a 7th higher than the last. Do not quote me on that, better to just look it up on google cause its not hard to find. This means it is strongly discouraged to have trills and slurs that would go across notes that are played in 2 different positions. Position is usually less of an issue because there are many ways to work around it via using different strings. When string players do an arpeggio, they will try to play as many as they can on one position before shifting to the new position. 16th notes are usually not too difficult on a moderate tempo (under 140 is my assumption) but if you give them a short pause on the position breaks it should help the run emmensely for begginer and intermediate players.

Cymbal rolls can be notated as a trill or as a tremelo. You should also state whether you wish to let the roll vibrate or immediately stopped. "L.V."- let vibrate - or a rest to stop the sound. If you wish to have the cymbal roll to end with an accent, you would usually write an additional note at the end of the roll with an accent above it. You may write LV over the accented note so that it is sustained until the sound naturally dies off or use the value of the note to indicate how long you wish the sound to continue.

Thats about it that I can think of off the top of my head. Most of those are just me spitting out stuff from my notes from my orchestration course back in university and some are just from experience. If you wish to know more about percussion or string writing, there are dictionary sized books with size 7 font writing that can explain to you in details;)

I think your thinking too much like a 19th century person. "Calmly" is an acceptable tempo marking. Ill see if i can find my old orchestra sheets and show u. Anyways, tempo markings are no longer limited to Italian. If you think Adante con tranquillo sounds more professional then go ahead. :D

You could also try using phrasing slurs to try to get the idea across. Another option would be to put tenuto marks on the last notes of the phrase, but I'm not sure how well that would be understood. Really though, the only way to know for sure would be to put "slight rit." and "a tempo" in the score, and maybe sticking a "simile" after that.

Long technical post following; skip to the last paragraph if you're not interested:

Honestly, speaking as a violinist, you don't really HAVE to worry about positions and specific bow directions unless you're writing something extremely idiomatic or are going for a specific sound; we'll figure it out (unless you're writing for beginners—then you want to spell things out a little more clearly). Also, it's perfectly fine to slur across strings (though it is better to avoid this). And as to positions:

14279 (click to enlarge)

The first five notes in each 'bar' are what a violinist can play in standard or "first" position, and the next four are what can be played in third position. In general, a violinist will alternate between first and third positions, staying in one or the other as long as possible (like KaitouKudou said), though other positions do pop up a lot, especially when playing extremely high notes. The number in the position refers to the location on the string, e.g. third position means that the violinist's first finger is where the third would usually be, fourth means that the first finger is where the fourth would be, and so on (up until positions where your twelfth finger would be, if you had one...) But you only need to worry about this if you're writing huge intervals in fast music. A good string section will be competent enough to figure out something that works.

Usually, strings like their down bows on the strong beats (usually the first beat of the measure) and their up bows on pick-up notes; the rest isn't too important. If you don't write it in, that's what'll happen. Here's what the bowing would probably look like if you were to write an arpeggio of sixteenth notes followed by a whole note.

14280 (click to enlarge)

So, as a general rule, don't worry about positions and bowing, and treat the slurring like you'd treat breath marks. The longer the slur, the more legato the passage will be, but strings can't keep that up forever, so break it up wherever feels logical. If you've got, say, repeated sixteenth notes, try to slur it the same way every time. And don't even worry about the slurring unless you really want a specific feel. A good string section will figure that out too.

THanks. I'll take a look at this after my exams.

In the meanwhile, I would like to split the Viola section (divisi) into two parts to play chords (they're dyads with mostly 3rd intervals). What are the implications in doing this? I don't know if "thinning" will be the result of this, afterall the # of string instruments used changes the sound texture. Will it drown out? Obviously there aren't any problems with midi virtual orchestration, but I have to orchestrate this in the context of a real orchestra should I ever distribute the sheet music.

Secondly, would it be fine to combine trombone and Viola sections in unison? They're playing staccatoed dyads. The trombones will play a little quieter than the Viola section. It sounds good using VST, but I don't know if this will translate the same in a real orchestra.

Thanks for helping guys.

For string double stops, Its reccomended you dont make the players have to shift too much to accomadate the notes. If your chords are more than 2 pitches(then its not a double stop) the string player will play two at a time and pull accross and end on the last two. Its sort of like an Arpeggiated Chord on a piano.

@Equisix: He's talking about divisi.

I think the viola divisi will probably be fine. I don't know anything about doing a trombone/viola unison, but something tells me that it would be difficult, as they are usually pretty far apart (spatially).

You notate "divisi" on the score.

Realistically the trombone will drown out the viola if played at unison regardless of dynamics. Even if viola was put up an octave there is significant chance they will still get drowned out. You literally will not hear the viola sound at all due to the richness of the harmonics created by a brass instrument. I learned this listening live to an orchestra playing while our prof explained this very scenario to us through it. It was very interesting cause you see their hands moving but no sound.

@Equisix: He's talking about divisi.

I think the viola divisi will probably be fine. I don't know anything about doing a trombone/viola unison, but something tells me that it would be difficult, as they are usually pretty far apart (spatially).

Yes but u can still have double stops during divisi. Split staves are also fine:P
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