Previous application of the Reference Chart to the string section demonstrated the necessity for making certain structural changes before attempting any actual scoring. These changes can, for the most part, be applied equally well to settings for the wood-winds as an independent unit, providing that suitable provisions are made for differences in ranges, timbres, and tonal strengths and weights.
The resumes given for each of the wood-winds indicated their tonal characteristics. It is this area of tonal differences that offers a challenge to the orchestrator, for the selection of a wood-wind for any given phrase or passage should not be governed solely by its playing range. Rather, each instrument should be selected according to its total tonal potentials: range, timbre, and intensity. In each instance, the means for the full representation of musical values is paramount.
The quality of appropriateness may be evaluated by a comparison of the flute, oboe, and clarinet within a specific range. All three instruments have an ascending two-octave compass starting on middle C, yet they will vary considerably in this compass in tonal strength, definition, and intensity. The tonal profile of any musical idea within this range will therefore be affected by the timbre of the instrument selected — non-reed, single, or double reed.
As one means of orchestral contrast is achieved by the juxtaposition of sectional timbres, a scoring technique for the wood-winds as an independent unit becomes an invaluable asset. Following the format used for the strings, this can be approached progressively through the application of the Reference Chart. Differences between the scoring for the two mediums will thus become identified as definite idiomatic peculiarities and characteristics which can then be adjusted to meet the requirements of appropriateness for each phrase or passage.