Part 9 - Woodwind Section - Line-Up & Seating

In modern scoring, the woodwind section of the orchestra has unfortunately become a less integral component of the orchestra. In fact, we might see quite a lot of session orchestras these days not having any woodwinds at all or at best a few flutes that double the violins. Part of why this is happening is because of the association of traditional orchestras and scores with the woodwinds that many clients these days are concerned with. I regularly get the remark to not use woodwinds as they sound "dated".

Interestingly there has been a trend a while ago to use particularly low woodwinds in great numbers for epic music, eg. several Contrabassoons or Contrabass Clarinets to create a substantial gnarly sound. However in general, particualrly the double reeds are very often disregarded in modern scoring.

Consequentially there hasn't been that much change in the past decades to this section in the scoring world compared to the traditional orchestra. Historically speaking, it should be pointed out that there was a time in the history of film music where there was a lot of experimentation going on in the woodwind section. Particularly Bernard Herrmann was known for such experiments.

For example his score for Torn Curtain (1966) uses a very unusual line-up:

To inject a more monumental and forceful emotionalism into Hitchcock's narration Herrmann chose an extraordinary ensemble: twelve flutes — doubling on piccolos, alto flutes and bass flutes — sixteen french horns, nine trombones, two tubas, two timpanists, eight 'cellos and eight basses.

Here's an excerpt with score reduction. Notice how he doesn't use the large ensembles for mass of sound but for colors, especially the horns which he subdivides into sections that are stopped, muted or open.

If we look at "normal" woodwind sections we have to look at scores that are more traditional like Williams, or Powell's animation scores.

The most common line-ups would be double or triple woodwinds. So 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons or 3 of each. In most cases the player in each section with the highest number would be available for doubling.

Usual doublings would be Piccolo and Alto Flute for the Flute player, English Horn for the Oboe player, Eb Clarinet and Bass Clarinet for the Clarinet player and Contrabassoon for the Bassoon player. These can be expected by any professional player.

In traditional orchestras the first player will always remain on the main instrument. With triple woodwinds it might sometimes be required for the 2nd and 3rd players in each section to double, so for instance 1st Chair Flute, 2nd Chair Piccolo, 3rd Chair Alto Flute.

This is where a very important difference between concert and session orchestra happens: with session orchestras it is sometimes required for all players of the section to double, so for instance we might see all 3 flutes switching to piccolo. This is common practice in LA and London session orchestras but can cause trouble when you record outside of that world, particularly with established fixed ensembles. If you record with players that normally play in concert orchestras, first chairs usually will not double but rather specialize on the main instrument. If you for instance request the first players to double in Prague, you will lose the best players on the main instruments as the doubling players will be sourced from the pool of 2nds and 3rd players. This doesn't need to be a problem as they could theoretically also be excellent on the main instrument but particularly when recording in locations that don't have a large pool of really good players, expecting the 1st chairs to double but also writing technically demanding passages for them on the main instrument could be a call for disaster.

These multiple doubles also sometimes could cause issues with the availability of instruments. Requesting for 3 Contrabassoons might overstretch the capacities of certain orchestras or musician pools just for the sheer fact that there might not be enough of these realtively expensive instruments circulating in the pool.

Scoring sessions also quite regularly use instruments that are relatively rare in the concert world. For instance in the 90s, Williams was calling for a "Piccolo Oboe" quite regularly in his scores. I did quite a bit of research on it and it is an extremely rare instrument and supposedly there was a single player in the LA session world who had it and who Williams or his orchestrators regularly called. The instrument does not sound pretty but it adds bite in the ensemble. Williams used it a lot in relatively aggressive passages, not so much for lyrical things like the video linked above and as far as I can tell never in a solistic context.

More commonly we see calls for bass flutes (quite rare) or Contrabass Clarinets (even rarer), Heckelphone/Bass Oboe, Basset Horn etc. For a recent project, I had a booker hunting down for a Contrabass Clarinet here in Berlin. Turns out that in the entire 4mio people music capital of Berlin, there are exactly 3 Contrabass Clarinets available. Prague has one, Vienna has at least one... you get the idea.

With composers like Danny Elfman loving this instrument, it has become more common in cities like LA and London with a big scoring session scene but everywhere else, it is a rarity. Just a few weeks ago, Gordy Haab was posting a picture from Abbey Road raving about the 2 Bb Contrabass Clarinets:

With film and game scores, we sometimes see larger line-ups than the triple woodwinds especially for color reasons. Sometimes there might be a 4th or even 5th player added to the section for a specific cue but it is usually confined to just one or a few cues.

Also mixed line-ups are possible. I often tend to use 3 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 3 Clarinets and 3 Bassoons. 3 Flutes so I can have one player mostly on Piccolo extending the range upwards. 3 Clarinets so I can have one player mostly on Bass Clarinet that can function in almost any context and 3 Bassoons so I can have one player mostly on Contrabassoon to extend the range downwards. With Oboes, I feel like the second switch back and forth between Oboe and English Horn when needed is sufficient. But again, this is just the default. Depending on what the music requires (or the budget allows) I change this.

I generally like the possibility to have 2nd and 3rd players double as this of course expands the color palette even further.

A still quite rare occurance are the addition of Saxophones to the woodwind family. Except in jazz influenced scores they are quite rare in traditional line-ups. An exception here would for instance be the Main Theme for SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET which uses an Alto Sax in the Woodwind section.

Regarding the seating, the woodwinds almost always sit center/center of the stage:

The row closer to the conductor usually has flutes (to the left) and oboes (to the right) the second row has clarinets (to the left) and bassoons (to the right). First chairs are always sitting closest to the center axis so the inner 4 players of that red circled area above are the first chairs. From there outwards sit 2nd and 3rd chairs. So in the picture above we have a line-up of 3/3/2/2 This is the common shorthand to indicate 3 Flutes, 3 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons. The third flute is playing Piccolo and the 3rd Oboe is playing English Horn in the picture above.

Generally, it is advisable to have them sit as compact as possible so they have a chance to hear each other. With the woodwinds regularly being overpowered by brass and even strings in louder passages, it is crucial to have them sit tightly packed so they can interact with each other. In some cases you might call a featured soloist to play next to the conductor but seating experiments as with the brass are uncommon with the woodwinds.

In the picture from Abbey Road you can see that on top of the spot mics on each group there is also a pair of overhead microphones over the woodwind section which provide a medium distance signal that has fewer of the close mic characteristics (and less separation) but helps to boost the section a bit in the mix when it is drowning under the rest of the orchestra.

Most often when recording stems, you would record strings and woodwinds together in one stem, with more budget you might record a dedicated woodwind stem which brings the already explained pros and cons.