McKay's Orchestral Textures (Video Lessons by Ryan Leach)

[Nayrb]

So, recently I noticed that there are times when I just don't know what to do: a track has a nice melody and a good rhythmic/bass line underpinning, but it's just not as full as I want it to sound. None of my usual routes were providing the answers I seemed to need, so I moused around for awhile and found this series of videos by Ryan Leach about McKay's orchestral textures. No doubt this is old news to the more experienced among us, but I found it pretty enlightening! Some things I guess I already knew, more or less, but having some nice audible examples really helps. I'm not much for reading notation, but the examples he uses are simple enough that the scores serve as a visual aid, almost like seeing piano roll tracks stacked on each other.

I included individual links to each texture's video below. There's a final one that just plays back all his different versions of the theme in each texture after Hybrid.

Intro to McKay's Eight Orchestral Textures

Monophonic Texture

Chordal Texture

Polyphonic Texture

Heterophonic Texture

Onomatopoeic Texture

Polythematic Texture

Homophonic Texture

Hybrid Texture

[Terry93D]

I've heard of McKay's book but didn't know much about it other than that lots of people held it in high regard. Thank you very much for sharing.  

[Nayrb]

(08-28-2021, 04:19 PM)Terry93D Wrote: I've heard of McKay's book but didn't know much about it other than that lots of people held it in high regard. Thank you very much for sharing.  

Yeah, it's cool stuff! Honestly, it's stuff we've all been doing anyway, but it helps to categorize, or at least compartmentalize, some of it so as to think of it as discrete decisions when necessary. I know I struggle at times filling in a mid-range harmony under a higher melody. It's actually a little easier for me to put high-register harmony behind a mid-range melody, like on horns or something, because it feels more "keyboard-like," as if you're just playing triads and intervals on the keys to fill things in.

[PPH]

I'll have to take a look at this! Thanks!