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    Divisi For Strings

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    Shannon Sea
    Divisi for Strings.

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    Divisi For Strings

    Uploaded by

    Shannon Sea
    88 views5 pages
    Divisi for Strings.

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    Divisi for Strings

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    Divisi for Strings.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    88 views5 pages

    Divisi For Strings

    Uploaded by

    Shannon Sea
    Divisi for Strings.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 5

    What the heck is String Divisi

    and is it contagious?
    Peter Lawrence Alexander
    Author • Professional Orchestration Series of Books • January 29, 2010

    Study Halll• www.alexanderpublishing.com• 1


    Music technology has moved to a higher plane for string writing with the release of what are
    called orchestral sample libraries that let a composer easily write for divisi strings.

    So here’s the question du jour: What the heck is string divisi, and is it contagious?

    The answer is: once you’ve learned what divisi is and how to use it, it’s highly contagious!

    So let’s start with the basics.

    Divisi is an Italian word, and it means to divide. Applied to the strings, it means that one or more
    of its sections are divided into smaller parts.

    There are three types of strings divisi: two parts, three parts, and four parts.

    If the score is marked div a 2, it means that a specific string section is divided into two parts. And
    that’s the most common divisi used by composers.

    Next most common is div a 3, which means that a specific string section lis divided into three
    parts.

    Next, and rarely used, is div a 4, which means that a specific string section is divided into four
    parts.

    For simplicity, we’ll apply this to Violins 1 to see how it works. Just understand that it also
    directly applies to Violins 2, Violas, Cellos, and the Basses, since you can divide these sections
    into smaller parts, too.

    Central to how divisi is set up onstage is the music stand, also called a desk.

    Whether on the concert stage or in a recording studio, two strings players use the same
    music stand. If you have 12 first violins, there will be six music stands. So if the part is marked
    div a 2, it means that the first violins are divided into two smaller sections each playing a different
    note.

    If a part is marked div a 3, now its more difficult to set up. With 12 First Violinists, that means the
    parts have to be assigned to players across six music stands. Four players will each play a different
    note. And here’s where it gets tricky. The concert master of the string section, the leader of the
    strings, has to work out, by individual, by music stand who plays what note.

    Study Halll• www.alexanderpublishing.com• 2


    Following the same thinking, if a part is marked div a 4 for 12 First Violins, then that means that
    the four pitches have to be assigned across 6 music stands with one pitch assigned to three
    different players, Once again, the concert master has to work out, by individual, by music stand,
    who plays which note.

    Now, when you have a “live” First Violin section with 12 musicians in it, divisi is easy to work out
    because the number 12 is divisible by both 2 and 3. However, for many big budget film scoring
    sections, and many large orchestras, the First Violins will have 14 or 16 players. Since neither 14
    nor 16 is divisible by 3, the concert master has to work by each string player, by music stand, who
    will play which note if div a 3 is used.

    Now you can understand why div a 2 is used most often.

    HOW DIV A 2 WORKS IN LIVE PERFORMANCE


    So let’s consider how div a 2 works in live performance. And this will help us understand the
    recording of div a 2 to use in sample libraries.

    Remember, two players share a stand. So from the audience perspective, the player to the left is
    the outside player, while the player to the right, is the inside player.

    When a part is marked div a 2, what usually happens is that the player to the left, the outside
    player, performs the higher note on the part. The player to the right, the inside player, performs
    the lower pitch.

    Now, there’s a second way to handle this. Remember, in our example we said that there were 6-8
    music stands for the First Violins. So the second technique is to have the players at the front
    stands perform the higher note while the players in the back play the lower note.

    The question is: does it make a difference how the divisi is set up?

    The answer lies in sound and subtlety. And the person making the final decision is the
    conductor.

    Study Halll• www.alexanderpublishing.com• 3


    Now there is one other factor and that’s how the strings are seated onstage.

    String Seating Arrangements

    There are two standard seating arrangements. The most common from the audience perspective,
    going left to right, is Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas and Cellos, with the Basses angled to the right
    behind the cellos. 1

    If both groups of violins are div a 2, this means that you’ll hear four-part harmony to the left on
    stage, and in a stereo system, also to the left.

    But then there’s the other seating arrangement, called the European seating plan here in the U.S.

    As I read you the setup, try to see it in your imagination. Going left to right, there’s Violins 1,
    then, surprise, Violas, then Cellos, then Violins 2 to the far right of the stage.

    So, If both groups of violins are div a 2, this means that you’ll hear four-part harmony stage left
    and stage right, and in your stereo system, in the left and right speakers.

    For live performance in the concert hall, it’s not uncommon for a composer to be thinking about
    a specific string seating arrangement while he’s writing.

    WHY COMPOSERS USE DIVISI


    Well, that’s certainly a lot of technical information about string divisi, but we’re not quite done,
    because the next question is, “why do composers write divisi anyway?”

    The answer is color and sonority. With divisi, you can create rich vertical harmony, You can
    create mini-ensembles within the larger string ensemble, each with its own color and sound. You
    can even create a double string orchestra as Vaughan Williams did in Fantasia on a Theme by
    Thomas Tallis, which you heard in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
    starring Russell Crowe.

    Nor have we considered the kinds of textures available when you mute the strings and divide
    them.

    1 This is the seating arrangement many string sample libraries are recorded in. And when this arrangement is used, the library is

    advertised as being pre-panned. This is a great time saver for composers because it means they only have to work to adjust the
    volume levels.

    Study Halll• www.alexanderpublishing.com• 4


    Now, one compositional point about divisi. Don’t think that applying divisi writing is for just
    delicate or lush writing. It certainly can be! But handled correctly, divisi writing creates a big
    sound. In Aaron Copland’s film score for The Red Pony, the strings are written in fifths and
    sixths in octaves. And it’s a huge outdoorsy, western sound.

    You can hear divisi writing in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, The Dance of the Young Maidens which
    contains hard edged pulsing rhythms.

    In Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, the opening


    movement, Promenade, uses divisi writing to suggest grandeur and nobility.

    Now, because of the types of coloration available with divisi, electronically, divisi writing has
    been the Holy Grail for composers. That’s because you can create a divisi sound using many
    existing string sample libraries, but it takes hours, sometimes weeks, of editing to get it right, so
    that it sounds close to a live recorded string section. If you write for a living, the time you put in
    editing a piece electronically, is time not spent creating a new work.

    So the newer libraries designed for divisi really are a blessing, because they make it much easier
    to create divided strings because of how the libraries are recorded and organized. This ease in
    creation means a composer spends more time writing. And that’s important, because
    professional writers earn income from writing and royalties. If you’re not writing, you’re not
    generating material to create royalties.

    Now, discussing money and music isn’t very artistic. But even composers have children who need
    to go to the dentist or optometrist!

    TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
    In case you’re wondering, divisi libraries on the market today do best on the more powerful
    machines because they’re RAM hungry and CPU intensive. On a PC, you’ll want at minimum, an
    i7 Quad Core CPU, while on the Mac, you’ll want a Mac Pro. For either system, a composer
    needs 12GB of RAM or more to do all your work.

    Well, that’s our overview on divisi. So for this Study Hall, class dismissed.

    Copyright © 2010 Peter Lawrence Alexander All Rights Reserved

    Study Halll• www.alexanderpublishing.com• 5

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