orchestration in singapore

[zenguan88]

hi guys do you know of any places where we can audition for a place to play the violin or any other instrument. something like the singapore youth orchestra or maybe something slightly less advance. Or maybe any other orchestra that you know that people that have grade 5 , 6 wants to get out there to experience playing in a band and or to improve their song repertiore.

thks

 

[Cheez]

That's a little tough. If you are talking about orchestra instruments, choices are pretty limited. You need to have a certain proficiency in your instrument. Otherwise, most people join their school alumni bands. Most of them are wind orchestras but if you can get enough string players, it's possible to include some string sections. NUS has an orchestra.

By the way, why are you asking? What instrument do you play?

 

[zenguan88]

i play the violin . i got a grade 6 certs and played for 2 years. these few days i have been venturing into severals violin technique books. for eg. SCHRADIECK (the school of violin technics) which i got from music essitial. the reason i ask its because i hope to play in an orchestra to furthur my studies repertiore and also to gain experience the pressure and the confident and also the rhythm when playing in a band.

although jazz would be my main interest i don't mind starting off playing classical pieces. i love the sound of the violin as this is my holiday period soon i have been forcing myself to prastice the violin everyday for at least 3 hours. i hope to audition in to some orchestration places by next year june.

i do know churches have some orchestra but i am not a christian and i don think they would take me in. so i am most probably looking for places like under community center etc. if any of you guys know pls inform me

another benefit i thought from playing in an orchestra is that you get to know other strings member and they will impart or you can secertly learn skills from them. i would definately love to improve my bow playing and also the violin techniques such as vibrato and pizz

 

[unsane]

on the same note, are there any string sections available to hire for session work,and any rough rates?

 

[zenguan88]

you mean sessionist . i am not sure the rates but i do know that the strings in SSO those china pple are really good and for a few hundreds you can hire them. but i heard rumours that most pple go to china to record cos you pay les but got more pple to pull the strings for you making a larger sound,. but you pay the airfare and yea well unless your recording for money

just a thought.

but do you guys think its okay to use a violin in a band? what i mean is a normal 5 piece band.

 

[ala_carte]

depends on wad u're looking at in the first place i guess, technically any instrument can be in a band, and whether it's ok or not is really up to u.

 

[zenguan88]

yar but playing in a band and in a orchestra is different. in the orchestra everything must be neat must be perfect. although you have people to back up for you if you go wrong. but orchestra will push you more and needs more outta you than in a band .

I WANNA PLAY IN A ORCHESTRA lols. but prastice first 6 months i can do it

 

[ala_carte]

isn't tt good, so u won't have to fumble during recordings?

wad are u waiting for, go practise now!

 

[Cheez]

on the same note, are there any string sections available to hire for session work,and any rough rates?

Nowadays with softsampling, paying for sessionists from any section in an orchestra is a thing of the past. We can emulate pretty close to the real thing. Save money as well.

Only certain instruments are still pretty hard to sample - the saxophone is one of them, although it is not strictly an orchestral instrument (unless you want to play Ravel).

 

[Cheez]

Zenguan, you may want to try out NUS orchestra. I'm not sure if they will take you in, but no harm trying. More strings the merrier!

If you REALLY cannot find one and you are REALLY desperate to play in one, you can try playing along with any orchestral pieces of a CD. You can get the orchestral scores from various places - the National Library used to have thousands of them but I'm not sure if they are still around after they moved to the new place. Don't start with pieces heavily emphasising violins yet. It will not be the same as the real thing - as in the real situation, you need to listen to other players around you and the other instruments as well; you also have to keep one eye on the conductor while the other eye on the score.

 

[unsane]

pretty close to the real thing.

those are the key words man..

 

[Santa]

well zenguan, the major problem of playing violin is that its in A rite? (pls correct) if that is so, u'd have a bitch of a time transposing..

unless u play the string one in C

also, in orchestra playing, u have to look at the conductor and follow his flow... thats one of the reasons why my rhythm as a guitarist is quite gone...

it is true that u have other ppl to back u up, but hell u'd stick out like a sore thumb still... so not much diff.

anyway i think if u wanna learn jazz or smth just get a teacher/impro to a lot of songs till ur super zai at impro then u'd fit in with any band.

my 2c

 

[zenguan88]

the strings are G D A E, usually we don transpose we just play the notes like if its C # we play C # even if the scale have 6 sharps we still have to play it. and its not hard actually. well however a violin there is a range to it. but thats why viola cello and double bass are there for .

plus the violin don only play A major it can play every other scales as well like the guitar theres no need to transpose

haha improvisation need shredding huh yea thats why i improving my fingers now lols . thks for ur post

 

[teraslasch]

hey cheez, i agree with u that lots of orchestral stuff can be done with computers , but there is really limitations. u can fool ppl when u create massive stuff with ur orchestral library. but when it boils down to solo instrumentation tracks, its darn obvious to tell whether it's fake or real.. :lol: .. but the real stuff will always sound the best.. but like tt, now hire orchestra cheaper? cause less ppl do it .. Less demand -> cheaper?

 

[zenguan88]

yar i guess so..

makes you wonder why we all will spend so much in softsamples. yea i still know that ablums hire orchestra to play for them instead of using samples. i think this definately is debatable. many producers use soft samples as demo and record the orchestra real life. makes you wonder again WHATS THOSE REALISTIC SOFT SAMPLES FOR.

well yea ur right play along with cd, but i want the feel haha but its a good subsitution meanwhile i will look around to see if theres any places which i can get a place thks cheez. THKS TERA. haha thks everyone

 

[Cheez]

Yeah, solo instruments tend to be harder to emulate. The little nuances of the real insrument are hard to emulate. But the Garritan Strad 2 comes pretty close don't you think? Also the VSL aren't too bad either.

Agree with you tera. For large orchestrations, nowadays with good sequencing skills, it will be almost impossible to tell the difference.

The key is that hiring people are expensive. If you hire a large section, you pay each person by the hour. The other trick is - use softsamples and then hire one player playing the same instrument as the sample and record his playing over the rest of the samples (layer). The slight nuances in the real instrument gives the added reality. That way, you only pay one person. Many do that nowadays.

I think achieving ultra-realism ins't too difficult nowadays. The tools are only one part of it - the skills involved is crucial. Wait for me next piece!

 

[Cheez]

Santa, the violin is a C instrument. So playing in a band with C instruments doesn't need any transposition.

 

[joshie]

try the thompson big band.

 

[zenguan88]

everyone heads towards the samplers way and if every ablum is created through samples, wont the ablum price drop.
you pay 20 bucks for an ablum, having samplers definately save the cost of an orchestra strings playing for you.

ok back to topic hmmm thompson big band any links any more information ?