This is a 4 part series that starts with a piano sketch for 8 bars and goes through a few options for how to orchestrate it. The piano sketch is interesting to me because it starts with 3 staff lines. One for melody, one for chords and one for bass line. In the first video, Peter Scartabello turns his 8 bar piano sketch into an orchestration for woodwinds. The second video repeats the process for brass. The third video does the same for strings. The 4th video is where things really get interesting as elements of the 3 previous versions are blended together into 2 new versions of a much more “colourful” orchestration using woodwinds, brass, strings and some added percussion.
The videos might start out a little slow, but stick with it. When he gets to the actual orchestration, his technique represents an interesting formula for composing and orchestration.
Basic Orchestration Concepts: Woodwinds 1/4 (by Peter Scartabello)
Here are links to the remaining videos in the series:
Basic Orchestration Concepts: Brass 2/4
Basic Orchestration Concepts: Strings 3/4
Basic Orchestration Concepts: Combinations 4/4