Welcome to Soaring Strings
In orchestral music, nothing has the potential to soar quite like a First Violin melody. If you love classic film soundtracks, such sweeping melodies will be imprinted into your musical DNA, whether you're a fan of friendly aliens visiting from extra-terrestrial places, swooning silver screen moments of heart-wrenching romance or any one of a thousand other narrative Hollywood tales told through music.
Throughout Soaring Strings, I'm going to take you through how to compose such melodies, before exploring all of the production techniques we can employ to bring them to life.
Listen: Examples from the Course
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- Soaring Strings
The Course
I'll start this course with a basic piano guide; a sketch of everything the soaring First Violin melody can go on to become.
I'll outline why certain musical intervals have the potential to take our breath away, as well as unpicking the supporting harmony - exploring both root position and inverted chords.
From that launch-pad, I'll begin to create a supporting musical arrangement from which our First Violin can take off. I'll then take you through the melody in every detail, managing the transition between notes, as well as deeply exploring all of the performance techniques available to maximise its emotional impact.
Mix techniques will prove vital too, with multiple approaches to tone, dynamics control and spatial considerations demystified.
Here is everything you need for your melodies to take flight.
- Learn to compose a melody which can truly soar
- Support that melody with harmony to offer grounding and wonder
- Fill your arrangements with colour, learning articulations and orchestral voicings to bring imagination to life
- Expand the arrangement with musical techniques including Rallentando and Rubato to bring a deeper musicality to your productions
What you will learn
Having outlined the musical fundamentals of melody and harmony, Soaring Strings will deliver on its promise to explore all of the ways in which the mix of your First Violin melody can reach for the stars.
Offering a deep dive into leading orchestral sample libraries, I'll show you how MIDI Controllers and Velocity techniques can manage transitions between notes, as well as key performance details including Vibrato.
Both Spectral and Dynamic EQ have the potential to provide extra sheen and smoothness; I'll explore both so you can decide which is right for you.
And, as always, I'll let musicality be the guide to instrument choices, articulations, mix balances and more - taking your inside my own compositional approaches.
- Explore EQ at per-instrument and group stages, to maximise tone control.
- Discover the acoustics of recorded orchestal samples and how to add further reverb to provide mix cohesion
- Explore supporting orchestral articulations, learning how these can help develop an arrangement as it unfolds
- Dive deeper into MIDI control and the techniques available to maximise your sense of musicality, with a spotlight on Vibrato
Curriculum
Magical
Allow your imagination to take flight through the composition and development of a soaring orchestral arrangement
Focused
Let your musical instincts guide your choices of articulations, tone-shaping, dynamics control and a sense of space in your orchestral mixes
Musical
Break through technical barriers to let your inner musicality cut loose; ride the ebbs and flows of a melody in full flight
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Your Instructor
I’m Jono Buchanan. I’m a composer and producer specialising in music for TV and Production Music. I write extensively for some of the largest broadcasters around the world, having also worked on films, documentaries, composed for sports broadcasts and much more besides. I’ve always been a huge fan of electronic dance music too and in the early to mid 2000s, worked as a producer of remixes for some of the biggest pop acts of the day, including Whitney Houston, Pet Shop Boys, Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes.
I have been a visiting lecturer at London’s prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama for 25 years. Despite a busy life as a media composer, I’ve never been able to stop myself wanting to teach - I love seeing creativity unlocked in anyone who wants to learn more. For me, the mix of composing, producing and being fascinated by developments in music technology have all developed side-by-side.
YouTube has provided a platform to offer free Logic Pro instruction and on the Jono Buchanan Music channel, a new longer-form video and a Short are posted every week. My Teachable courses will let you take your knowledge deeper, as they're all designed to allow you to unlock your creativity in a more immersive and focused way.
- Learn from a Guildhall School of Music & Drama Professor with 25 years’ experience
- Jono’s extensive experience as a media composer is central to this course
- Immersive, focused teaching