The Scoring Samurai is a blog about what it actually takes to do serious orchestral work at a professional level—not just the craft, but the whole ecosystem. The tools that remove friction. The habits that protect the hours. The philosophy that keeps you at the desk when nothing is urgent and everything feels far away. Written by a working orchestrator for anyone who takes the work seriously.
Trust The Player (and Outsmart the Playback Engine)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been spending some of my downtime following Michael Barry’s YouTube series Inside the Composer’s Mind. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a goldmine. Analytical without being dry. Practical without being prescriptive. Highly recommended.
In an episode on Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3, he points out something small but telling: the snare drum has a crescendo to f—but no explicit starting dynamic.
That tiny omission is not an omission at all. It’s intent.