How to Orchestrate a Melody for an In-Time Ballad
("Everything Happens to Me" Solo Piano)
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In a prior video, we talked about to how orchestrate this melody out of time (aka "rubato"). When playing a ballad in time, it's very important to bring out as many subdivisions as possible since there is no drums and bass spelling out every beat for the listener. Rhythmically, the fun of a ballad is alternating between 16th note and triplet subdivisions.
Similar to the rubato ballad, there are various textures we can use when orchestrating a melody for solo piano - LH bass fills, passing chords, inner voice movements, bell tones, octave stamping, pedal points, etc. These textures assist rhythmically filling in the subdivisions, as well as harmonically in creating fluid motion into each chord, and ultimately melodically in bringing this melody to life in a way that will resonate emotionally with the audience. This is from a special LIVE solo piano performance at Libretto in Paso Robles, CA on 5/15/24. To watch the FULL performance, CLICK HERE. |