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Mystery

Musical

Example

Mystery

Secret

Score

Mystery

Animated

Score

Orchestration (cont.)

In bar 9, the muted horn provides a brief yet haunting sound:

In bar 11, we introduce another trick which we will use to greater effect later - the bass notes suddenly swell and then quickly diminish in volume:

This evokes the feeling of a long deep breath followed quickly by a sigh.

We greatly amplify this mysterious gesture in bars 15 through 20 when the basses are joined by trombone chords and tympani rolls - all swelling with great urgency:

We include this orchestration device in this example to teach the following lesson: in addition to harmony and instrumental color, a sudden increase or decrease in volume can greatly affect the musical mood.

In bar 21, when we finally return to the eerie calm of the opening, the high violins restate for the last time the central harmony of this piece - the augmented chord with a major 7:

And in one final gesture the harp, celesta and synth bells individually spell out the notes of that harmony:

We previously mentioned that the harp and clarinet in their mid range sound beautiful together. We should also mention that in the higher ranges, the harp and celesta provide a magical and mysterious sound when played together.