Trusting Your Musical Instincts (and Making Them Stronger)
As composers, we’ve all had the moment: You return to a piece you once felt proud of and suddenly… it sounds bland, overdone, or confusing. Maybe someone you respect told you it was “over-orchestrated” or that the form “doesn’t work…”
Now you're second-guessing everything.
The truth is, orchestration—and composition more broadly—is rarely about finding “the right answer.” It’s about listening closely, choosing deliberately, and trusting your artistic compass. The needs of the piece will come from the piece itself! In other words, every piece, like we as individuals, has a different set of goals, needs, desires, etc.
Another thing to keep in mind is that there are so many variables that are out of our control: the resonance of the space, the weather, how many people attend the concert, the overall vibe with the ensemble—all of these have direct consequences on how the piece is going to speak, even if it doesn’t seem immediately obvious how. So, in terms of orchestration, we do our best but there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem, and some solutions work well in some contexts but those same solutions might be terrible in others.
When something feels off, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad composer. It just means there’s potentially room for more clarity, depth, or imagination. That’s exciting.
Here are some practical ways to get there.
1. Start With a Hierarchy: What Do You Want the Listener to Hear?
Before you start tweaking colors or layering instruments, ask:
“If a casual listener walks away with only one thing, what should it be?”
Build your orchestration around that. Reinforce it. Highlight it. Everything else becomes either support, contrast, or texture.
This creates a pyramid of priority:
Top: Most important lines, clearly heard
Middle: Supporting materials, enriching harmony or rhythm
Bottom: Background textures, atmosphere, momentum
2. Make Lists of Possibilities (Even the Weird Ones)
Orchestration is about choice. And one way to unlock fresh choices is to literally make a list. Let’s say you want to create an “ethereal shimmer” at the start of a piece. You could brainstorm:
Triangle + artificial harmonics
Glockenspiel with reverb
Clarinet player whistling on an a unison with glockenspiel or crotales
Choir whispering phonemes and/or whistling overtones they hear in the orchestra
Bowed vibraphone + muted trumpet + oboe + muted violin 1 and 2 sections in unison
The first few will be predictable. The later ones get weirder—but that’s where the originality lives. You don’t have to use them all. But by seeing your range and pushing your limits, you become a better orchestrator.
This is also a great way to shake off imposter syndrome: When you write down 10 ideas, you realize you do have creative tools. You just needed to air them out.
3. Develop Material Like a Character
Think of your musical motives as characters in a story. Each one has traits, habits, maybe even fashion choices. A recurring motive can appear in:
Different colors (strings, then winds, then percussion)
Different moods (major, minor, retrograded)
Different contexts (leading vs. responding)
Different rhythmic energy (insistent pulses vs. sustained chords)
This makes your piece feel alive. Don’t just repeat a motive—reveal new sides of it, the way a good novelist peels back layers of a person.
4. Use Contrast, Not Just Volume
If something feels bland, it’s not always because it’s “too quiet” or “not full enough.” Sometimes you just need contrast:
High vs. low
Bright vs. dark
Smooth vs. percussive
Dense vs. sparse
Ask: What’s the opposite of what I just did? Try it. Roles don’t have to stay fixed—give the basses a melody or make the violins pluck like percussion.
5. Take Breaks and Stop Obsessing
If you’ve stared at a passage for too long, you won’t see it clearly anymore. That doesn’t mean it’s bad—it means your inner critic is louder than your inner listener.
Step away. Listen to other music. Go outside. Work on a different piece. Let your subconscious solve it while you’re not looking.
Sometimes, the “bland” section turns out to be beautifully understated—once you come back with a clearer head.
Practical Tip: Be Cautious and Intentional with Dense Rhythmic Layers
One common issue in orchestration is gridding rhythms too tightly. Tuplets like 6 against 4 can feel impressive on paper but potentially muddy in execution, especially at fast tempos—unless the goal is to create a mix of grids that feels complex and overwhelming! But if the goal is to create something more precise, try these things instead:
Align more rhythms with rhythmic grids that coincide for strength and clarity
Let complex rhythms breathe—don’t stack them constantly
This doesn’t mean to not use quintuplets or septuplets. It just means that it can sometimes be more powerful to hear one grid at a time than to hear 2 or more, unless they reinforce each other.
Final Thought: Surface vs. Structure
You don’t need every gesture to tie into a grand architectural scheme. Some ideas are surface texture, and that’s OK. Not everything has to “develop.” Some things just exist to shimmer, surprise, or stir emotion.
Trust your instincts to know the difference. If you feel the need to keep something in, maybe it’s because your ear wants to hear it, not because your theory brain can justify it.
Takeaway Actions
If you’re revising a piece and feeling stuck:
Identify what’s essential—and make that shine.
Make a list of orchestration options, from safe to wild.
Develop motives like characters.
Use instrumental contrast to renew stale textures.
Don’t over-edit. Step back when needed.
Your early instincts matter. Listen to them, shape them, and give them room to breathe.
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I have a music composition masterclass coming up on June 28, 2025! Learn more here:
