Learning From Music Outside Your Genre

I love looking at scores and parts from other musical traditions.

Today, I’m looking at orchestral parts. I very seldomly write for orchestra, so the conventions are not second nature; and the conventions can be quite different from jazz or choral ones, with which I am very familiar.

I saw three or four things today that made me say, that works really well! Things related to page turns, multibar rests, etc. Little things.

Now, I know that I cannot borrow them all into my work, because my chosen genres have conventions that work, and that are expected. Practitioners know how to interpret them.

But I can think carefully about them and choose what I might sneak into my scores, thinking that they might work better.

Go check out some music outside your bubble. You’ll learn and get some ideas.