Orchestration check: ranges, breathing, harp pedals

An online tool for checking a score: it reads MusicXML or MIDI and finds the places the orchestra cannot play, or will not play the way you intended. Every finding names a bar and a pitch — and you can hear it.

How to check a score

1

Export the score as MusicXML (more accurate) or MIDI

2

Load the file — the check runs in your browser and takes milliseconds

3

Start with the red findings: a player simply cannot play those

4

Press ▶ on anything arguable and listen to it

5

Download the report as text and send it to the conductor or copyist

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Find out what the orchestra cannot play — before the first rehearsal

Instrument ranges

click to hear the extremes

What this tool knows by heart, on one pitch axis. Load a score and the ranges are joined by breathing, divisi, harp pedals, timpani and low intervals.

comfortable range full range

Pitches are sounding, not written: MIDI and MusicXML store real sounding pitch, so a clarinet in B♭ is checked against what the hall will hear.

Range limits and the low interval table are widely accepted guidelines (Adler, Piston, Rimsky-Korsakov), not law: composers break them deliberately and get the effect they wanted. Amateur ranges come from MuseScore's open instrument database — the same numbers that colour a notehead in the editor. The tool points at the places; the decision stays yours. A part whose instrument could not be identified is not checked at all — inventing a range for it would be worse than saying nothing.

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What gets checked

Every finding can be heard
Press ▶ and the low interval sounds at the register it actually sits in. “Muddy” stops being somebody else's opinion: you hear it and decide for yourself in two seconds.
The harp has seven pedals, and that is provable
A harp has one pedal per letter name, so exactly seven pitches are available at any instant. A chord that will not spell onto seven letters is impossible — not taste but mechanism, and it is decided exactly.
Ranges have three bounds, not one
The physical limit, a professional's comfortable zone and an amateur ensemble's range are kept apart. Outside the first is impossible; outside the others is risky — and those are different conversations with a player.
MusicXML instead of guesswork
General MIDI puts violins, violas, cellos and basses on one program number, so a part has to be recognised from its track name. MusicXML carries the real part names, and Dorico, Sibelius, Finale and MuseScore all export it as standard.
Breathing, stamina, divisi, timpani
A line running fourteen seconds without a rest, a part that plays almost without stopping, three notes in one string part, timpani asked for more pitches than there are drums — the questions a notation editor never asks.
A score map and an honest list of what was skipped
Parts down, bars across: you can see whether it is one passage or the whole piece. A part whose instrument was not identified is named outright — silence about it would read as “this one is fine”.

Why this matters

An orchestration mistake is most expensive at the rehearsal: the orchestra's clock is running and it is too late to rewrite the part. A notation editor checks note syntax and will colour a note outside its range, but it will not ask whether the oboist has time to breathe or whether the harp can take that chord. And if the score lives in a sequencer with samples, it will not ask even that: the library plays anything, including things no human will ever play. Here those questions are asked in a minute, with bar numbers, and with a way to hear the spot in question.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the red notes in Sibelius or MuseScore?

A red notehead in an editor is a range check, and only that. Here range is one check among several, and the others are ones editors do not perform at all: whether a wind player can breathe, whether the harp can take that chord on seven pedals, whether the timpanist has enough drums, whether a simultaneity turns to rumble. Plus comparison across the whole score rather than within one stave: muddiness happens between parts, and within its own stave it is invisible. Dorico has no range highlighting at all.

MusicXML or MIDI — which should I load?

MusicXML, when you have it. It records the real part names, so identification becomes reading rather than guessing. MIDI works, but General MIDI puts the whole string section on one program number and a part has to be recognised by its track name — if the tracks are unnamed, part of the score will honestly go unchecked. Accepted: .musicxml, .mxl, .mid, .midi, and Guitar Pro files.

Where do the ranges come from?

The physical and comfortable ones come from the standard orchestration tables (Adler, Piston, Rimsky-Korsakov); where sources disagree, the more conservative bound is taken. Amateur ranges come from MuseScore's open instrument database — the same numbers your editor uses to colour a notehead. Two tables built from different sources agree to the semitone on flute, clarinet, bassoon and harp, which is about the best verification data like this can get.

Why does a good score still get “muddy” findings?

Because close low intervals are not a mistake, they are a device. Beethoven writes thirds for bassoons down there on purpose, and it sounds thick precisely because he meant it to. The tool shows those places and lets you hear them so you can decide; that is why they carry their own, mildest label.

What does “part not checked” mean?

The instrument could not be identified from the part name or the program number — a synth patch, say, or an unnamed track. Inventing a range for it would mean issuing invented findings, so those parts are listed separately instead.

Does it check orchestral colour and balance?

No, and it is worth knowing that up front. This tool answers mechanical questions: can the player reach the note, is there time to breathe, does the harp have the pedals, will the simultaneity turn to rumble. Whether a solo flute will be heard under the brass, whether the timbre suits the theme, whether the texture should change — those are matters of taste and experience, and replacing them with checkmarks would be a lie.

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Who is this tool for?
🎵 Musicians & Producers 🎛️ Sound Engineers 🎓 Students 📚 Educators & Teachers
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