The 'fastest' instrument

The piano is in all registers

I think so too, but it would be a good idea to listen to Carlos's opinion since he is a conductor and knows the technical characteristics of most instruments. I don't think it's the strings because they have a certain attack time and once they play, they still have to deal with the movement of the bow (moving the arm and fingers is not as easy as moving only the fingers). The wind instruments could too, but we are back to the usual issues with attack times. Mmmmmm, I really think it's the piano. Let's also wait for the opinions of the others...

One hopes that even a composer will one day know how to answer these questions ...

Anyway, I would add the harp and the celesta... at least I think so

...sorry, and the percussion, faster than those?

What passage are we talking about?...and even if it were melodic, there is tuned percussion

GianBurrasca wrote:

Hi, I'm new.

I would like to know, in your opinion, which instruments are the fastest and in which register. To whom would you assign a very fast passage during orchestration?

Thanks to whoever helps me

There is more than one fast instrument, but it depends on how the fast passage is written (arpeggios, scales, leaps...) because there are instruments that are amazing in some of these patterns and others less so... For example, an arpeggiated pattern sounds very good on the clarinet (in almost all keys, although some are uncomfortable), less so on the flute, where instead patterns rich in scales sound very good (also on the clarinet, to be honest). Oboe and, above all, bassoon are less fast. However, I repeat, one should know how the passage is written, also because I am deliberately omitting the strings, which would deserve a chapter of their own

The guitar can also be extremely fast in arpeggios (it can perform some that become less easy, if not impossible, at the same speed on the piano); and, in jazz, they can be very agile instruments that are not considered as such in classical music, like the trumpet... In short, as others have already said, it all depends on what needs to be done and the phrase to be executed.

For wind instruments, I think it can be said that the middle or high register of single reeds is the most agile in most situations.

Carlos wrote:

(even on the clarinet, to tell the truth). Oboe and, above all, bassoon are less fast.

If you mean that the bassoon is even more agile than the oboe, that surprises me; in fact, I had read that, given the greater air displacement inside the instrument, the bassoon would lose agility in the lower registers (especially in legato and descending phrases, while maintaining a certain agility on staccato and when ascending); instead, I believed that the oboe remained equally agile across the entire register, and with a full emission regardless, perhaps with the exception of the first two notes on rapid staccatos.

Unfortunately, not playing in orchestras, I have not had the opportunity to truly experience this information, which I took for granted.

Given that in my reasoning I missed a lot of possibilities (thanks for the precious indications)... let's talk about passages like the following:

92 eighth notes (we are talking about 6/8), thirty-second notes:

- middle octave: arpeggios and mixed broken arpeggios with ascending scales

- g2 c#4, notes in leaps

- f#3 f#1, notes in leaps

As for the pf part... which shouldn't have any problems?

GianBurrasca wrote:

Given that in my reasoning I had missed a lot of possibilities (thanks for the precious indications)... let's talk about passages like the following:

92 at the eighth (we are talking about 6/8), thirty-second notes:

- middle octave: arpeggios and broken arpeggios mixed with ascending scales

- g2 c#4, notes in leaps

- f#3 f#1, notes in leaps

As for the pf part... which shouldn't have any problems?

First of all, one must deal with the extensions and registers of the instruments... so apart from piano/harpsichord/celesta/organ or harp keyboards for scales and arpeggios, I would say that overall the clarinet is the best, while for the other 2 textures:

- g2 c#4: bassoon or cello. I hypothesize that in the low register, however, the indicated speed is dangerous more so for sound precision, especially for the cello.

- f#3 f#1: as above.

Other instruments playing in this register do not have the necessary agility to be able to perform a passage like this.

Of course, composers study books and they generally tell you that that type of passage in that register for that instrument can be performed, but, by shifting it by only half a tone and not knowing the technique of the instrument, the passage could require a hand shift on the keys and therefore could result in being too difficult or unplayable.

The best thing would be to know some instrumentalists and show them the passage you want to write.

The story is different for the strings... the variables increase due to the bow articulations... so I would say let's limit ourselves to the woodwinds/brass... for now.

Thanks rstrauss, unfortunately I don't know any instrumentalists

GianBurrasca wrote:

Thank you rstrauss, unfortunately I do not know any instrumentalists

some passage is in your head and you don't want to risk never seeing it performed, unfortunately this is the only way

CromaDiBrera wrote:

If you mean to say that the bassoon is more agile than the oboe, that surprises me

In fact, I wrote exactly the opposite: "Less fast [than the flute and clarinet, ed.] are the oboe and, above all [ergo: less fast, ed.], the bassoon".

To answer the topic title, I'll say it with a joke (but not even that much) ... electronic sounds

In responding to a post like GianBurrasca's, I feel like saying, it depends... especially in passages of great range.

It depends because it hasn't been understood whether he wants to entrust the part to one or more instruments that perhaps dialogue or exchange parts (but which ones? The instructions given are too generic) and if solutions like a beautiful pointillism in the style of Webern are acceptable within the context he has "created" (or almost), which after some of his works we inevitably like very much.

Carlos wrote:

In fact, I wrote exactly the opposite: "Slower [than the flute and the clarinet, ed.] are the oboe and, above all [ergo: slower, ed.], the bassoon".

You're right, sorry, I misunderstood.

Under equal conditions (register convenience, passage convenience, convenience of sound production mechanisms, etc...) monophonic instruments are faster, because with a single movement two sounds can be emitted, one in the attack movement and one in the release movement; that is, in practice, one sound when a key is pressed and another sound when it is released without necessarily having to press another one; it is very convenient, for example, to perform a trill this way, something that does not happen, for instance, on the piano, where to play two notes one must make two movements. After all, just try an electronic keyboard with a mono- sound compared to a polyphonic sound, and you will notice that with the mono instrument you are much "faster".

In effect, even strings played in legato, with a single bow stroke, fall into the type of description I made above.

geppino12575 wrote:

Under equal conditions (register convenience, passage convenience, convenience of sound production mechanisms, etc...) monophonic instruments are faster, because with a single movement two sounds can be emitted, one in the attack movement and one in the release movement; that is, in practice, one sound when a key is pressed and another sound when it is released without necessarily having to press another one; it is very convenient, for example, to perform a trill this way, something that does not happen, for instance, on the piano, where to play two notes one must make two movements.

How does one evaluate "equal conditions" between a tuba bass and a piano?

Carlos wrote:

How does one evaluate the "level playing field" between a tuba bass and a piano?

Well, I have written in parentheses what some of the conditions to be evaluated are....

geppino12575 wrote:

Well, I wrote in parentheses what some of the conditions to be evaluated are....

Yes yes, I saw them, but they still seem unindicative to me, because read this way they would mean that in a comfortable register and in the presence of a comfortable and well-equipped passage, the tuba is faster than the piano. And, both you and I know that is not the case...

Carlos wrote:

Yes, yes, I've seen them, but they still seem unrepresentative to me, because read this way they would mean that in a comfortable register and in the presence of a comfortable and well-instrumented passage, the tuba is faster than the piano. And, both you and I know that is not the case...

But on the contrary, because among the various parameters there is also the sound production mechanism, which in a tuba is certainly less immediate than in a piano. And anyway, to confirm what I am saying, all wind instrumentalists know that a trill obtained by operating a single piston is easier than one for which two pistons must be operated alternately. Let's try to make a soprano sax and a piano perform a trill, let's see who "goes faster...."