Learning to write for orchestra can seem overwhelming. Today I will share some tips that can help you get you on the right track with your arrangements.
A lot of what holds people back from achieving a convincing orchestral sound is:
not doubling
not trading
not using percussion
Doubling
Orchestral music often piles 10 different instrument on the same line, not for the sake of power but for complexity of timbre and a sense of «hugeness».
You're writing for 50 musicians – use them!
That often means that you as the composer need to THINK bigger.
And yeah, that means your score is gonna look like this, and that might be a bit overwhelming, but you'll get used to it.
You can see in the picture above that the melody is being doubled by every wind + their mother + the cat. The piece is the prelude to Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner if you want to check it out.
Trumpets playing a fanfare can sound disconnected from the rest the texture – you can double with horns underneath to glue the parts together.
Bassline in octaves is more or less necessary to support a full orchestral texture, because the forces are so huge. When music is orchestral, everything is bigger.
Or you can try doubling the brass with a full church organ for extreme crispness, like in this Lili Boulanger piece.
Trading
Writing for orchestra you have the luxury of being able to change between entire groups of instruments at a moment's notice.
You can play a melody's antecedent with all the brass, consequent with strings, a poetic echo with winds and use light percussion for a twinkle at the end.
In fact, such practice is standard procedure to the degree that if you don't do it, it won't even sound properly orchestral.
Notice how this part of the song starts with a trumpet fanfare, gives the melody to the flutes, and then finally the horns. All the while, the strings are supporting with countermelodies and the harp provides some fills.
Now doing this, you'll have to handle complexity that will surely cause your harmony to go out of wack in ways you don't expect. This is remedied by disciplined study of counterpoint.
Percussion
Percussion in orchestral music isn't there to keep the beat like in pop music, but to add color and depth to the soundscape. Percussion is sound design, not rhythm.
For example, you can roll the timpani in the background to create tension.
A bass drum can add extra oomph to the notes in a pizzicato bassline.
And instead of putting the snare on 2 and 4, try using it together with chord stabs as an accent. Give those chords more of a smack and a snap. You can even use it to double a melody!
Listen to all the exciting coloristic effects the percussion has in this Ravel piece!
Another thing to consider is that since percussion is placed in the very back of the sound stage, using them at all creates a big sense depth as a matter of course. They will have a different reverb signature than the other instruments, and their attack will make the reflections splash like crazy.
I'm simplifying and generalizing and maybe even exaggerating to get the point across. Often the opposite of all this is appropriate, but that's not where most people struggle. Consider these aspects in your orchestral writing and you will level up for sure.
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