Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Writing for Horns

Horn sections have proved an effective addition to popular ensembles for some time:
As a financially necessary reduction of large swing bands, horn sections can consist
of any number and combination of winds instruments; most commonly trumpets,
trombones and saxophones.

While there are no specific standards for combinations of instruments in horn

sections, general consideration should be given to obtaining a balance of
instrumental capabilities in terms of range and timbre. A horn section made up of
four trumpets will lack power in the tenor/bass range, whilst a section consisting
exclusively of tenor saxophones will have no representation in the alto/soprano
range.

In addition, while instruments of the same family blend well, a section constructed
entirely of brass or woodwind instruments can sound ‘mono-timbrel’: Sections
combining brass and woodwind tend to sound rich and full; this is why they have
proved so successful and popular.

While it has in the past been common for saxophone players to ‘double’ on other
woodwind instruments, including flute and clarinet, this is no longer a prevalent
practice. For the purposes of this class and assignment, horn sections will be
considered to consist of trumpets, trombones and saxophones (alto, tenor and
baritone). Typical combinations for a horn section include:

Two Horns: Trumpet & alto, trumpet & tenor, trumpet & trombone, alto &
trombone, tenor & trombone.

Three Horns: Trumpet, alto & tenor; trumpet, alto & trombone; trumpet, tenor &
trombone.

Four Horns: Trumpet, alto, tenor & trombone; trumpet, alto, tenor & bari.

Idiomatic Horn Writing

Horns can play essentially all types of musical material and can be textured in any of
the ways discussed to date. To make your writing for horns successful, listen to
examples of idiomatic horn writing and reflect these tendencies in your own
arrangements. Use the Material – Texture model when writing for horns.

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Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Voicings

The types of voicings that can be applied to horn sections include all of those
discussed to date. The choice of voicing will be determined primarily by the desired
effect of the passage. Remember, open voicings (drop 2 and drop 2 & 4) are less
agile than those contained within an octave. If your horn figures need to be lithe and
nimble, use closed voicings; if they are to be more static and lush, open voicings may
be appropriate. The range of the 1st voice and the ranges of each instrument in the
horn section will need to be considered when applying voicings: If the first voice is
quite high, closed voicings may not be appropriate as they may cause the 4th voice to
play beyond its range.

Notation & Articulation

Most musicians in horn sections can generally be classified as ‘commercial’

musicians or, if they are improvisers, jazz musicians. Largely due to the difference
between their working environments, the method of notating music for commercial
and jazz musicians is different from that used when writing for orchestral musicians.
It is expected that commercial / jazz musicians are able to inflect notated music with
appropriate stylistic nuance without these details being notated. That is to say, unlike
orchestral musicians, commercial / jazz musicians do not need to have every
intricacy notated. In fact, the ‘golden rule’ for notating for commercial / jazz
musicians is to provide only the essential information, presented as clearly and
concisely as possible. For example, the following passage, to be played at a
moderate tempo, is presented twice: Initially as it should be notated for an orchestral
musician, followed by the way it should be notated` for a commercial / jazz musician:

. .
Orchestral
^ Commercial

& 44 œJ ‰ ‰ œJ Ó & œ ‰ œJ Ó

Note the use of the ‘hat’ accent to indicate a crotchet of short duration in the second
example: In orchestral notation this symbol indicates a hard accent, but it has come
to mean ‘short’ for commercial / jazz musicians: It has replaced the traditional
marking as the staccato dot can be difficult to see when sight reading in poorly lit
conditions.

Also note that, while Sibelius will play back the first example in a manner close to
how it would sound if a classical musician performed it, it will not play the second
example as it would sound if performed by a commercial musician. This point must
be thoroughly understood: Correct methods of commercial / jazz notation will not
necessarily sound as desired when played back using Sibelius.

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Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Ranges of Horn Section Instruments

Below are the fundamental ranges of the instruments commonly found in horn
sections. Please note that these ranges are presented here in concert pitch, using a
combination of treble and bass clefs for ease of understanding: All horn section
instruments read in treble clef when transposed, with the exception of the trombone,
which reads in bass clef.

Be sure to familiarise yourself with the capabilities, properties and transpositions of

these instruments by reading the appropriate sections of the required text for this
subject, The Essential Dictionary of Orchestration. Further revision of transposition
can be found in the document Revision of Transposition, which can be found in the
Lecture materials folder on the MUS205 Moodle site.

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Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Mutes and Special Effects

The timbre of the trumpet and trombone may be affected by the application of various
mutes. The most common are:

• Straight (somewhat tinny, as if heard from a distance)

• Cup (a warm, woody buzz)
• Plunger (whah-whah effect)
• Harmon* (a metallic buzz – the ‘Miles’ sound)

*The harmon mute is less commonly applied to the trombone. It is generally used in
conjunction with a microphone, as it results in a significant reduction of volume.

Jazz and commercial horn players are versed in the production of numerous special
effects, including bends, rips, falls, shakes and doits:

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Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Breathing and Stamina

When writing for horns, it is essential that you consider that horn players (indeed, any
players of wind instruments) must be granted time to breathe and rest between
phrases: Generally speaking, horn players cannot play continuously for more than
approximately eight seconds at a moderate volume, and less for louder volumes.
The length of note a player can create is also determined by the size of the
instrument they are playing: It takes considerably more air to create sound on a
baritone saxophone than a trumpet. A good test is to sing your horn lines: if you can
sing them with comfortable, natural breathing, then they are probably playable.

Similarly, it can be quite taxing for horn players to play for long periods, even if
appropriate opportunity for breathing is included in the arrangement: This is
especially true for trumpeters and trombonists, particularly if they are playing in their
high registers and / or at high volumes.

Horn Solos

If you wish for a member of your horn section to improvise a solo over a segment of a
song/piece, you need to supply them with the chord symbols appropriate to that
segment. It is traditional to transpose chord symbols for transposing instruments
(although many jazz musicians to prefer to read concert pitched chord symbols when
improvising). Solos should be notated in the following manner:

Solo
C7 F9 G7(¨9) B¨9

&4 V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V
4

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Higher Education

MUS205 Arranging Principles 2 and Music Analysis

Folio Task 7A: Writing for Horns

• An incomplete score for Duke Ellington’s Take the A-Train’ can be found on
Moodle. It is to be used for this assignment.

• You are to complete this arrangement for the specified instrumentation. Note
that the very 1st stave is a working stave, which is to be deleted prior to
submission.

• Your arrangement is to follow the form prescribed.

• This assignment is to create an original arrangement of the song, not a

transcription. This said, you are encouraged to listen to recordings of the song
to gain ideas.

• You must notate and write for the rhythm section in the manner discussed last
semester.

• The melody is to be assigned to the voice.

• You must include some accompaniment in the horns behind the guitar and
piano solos.

• The horn section component of the arrangement will consist primarily of

accompaniment to the melody. Consider the types of accompaniment we
have previously discussed, including counter melody, ostinato, ‘pads’, figures,
etc.

• You are expected to use several textures in the horns: Choose from unison,
single-part harmonisation and four-part harmonisation (closed, open and
complex).

• You must include articulations and dynamics in your score.

• Submit electronically only, using only your student number as the file
name. Do not include your name anywhere on the score. This is to ensure
anonymity when assignments are examined in class.

• This assignment must be submitted by 4:00pm on TUESDAY September

23rd. You do not need to submit a complete draft (though this would be
excellent), but you must submit a reasonable attempt. Failure to submit a
draft demonstrating sufficient effort by this time you will attract a 10% penalty
on Folio Task 7B (Writing for Brass Final).

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