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Principles of Orchestration

by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

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Note to Table B.

In the following Table B the top note in each register serves as the bottom note in the next, as the limits to each register are not defined absolutely. The note G fixes the register of flutes and oboes, C for the clarinets and bassoons. In the very high compass those notes are only given which can really be used; anything higher and not printed as actual notes are either too difficult to produce or of no artistic value. The number of sounds obtainable in the highest compass is indefinite, and depends, partly on the quality of the instrument itself, partly on the position and application of the lips. The signs resonance are not to be mistaken for crescendo and diminuendo; they indicate how the resonance of an instrument increases or diminishes in relation to the characteristic quality of its timbre. The scope of greatest expression for each typical instrument is marked thus, bracket under the notes; the range is the same in each instrument of the same type.

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