Editing Arrangement (section)

==== Size of the string section ====
Artistic, budgetary and logistical concerns, including the size of the orchestra pit or hall will determine the size and instrumentation of a string section. The [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[Musical theatre|musical]] ''[[West Side Story]]'', in 1957, was booked into the Winter Garden theater; composer [[Leonard Bernstein]] disliked the playing of "house" viola players he would have to use there, and so he chose to leave them out of the show's instrumentation; a benefit was the creation of more space in the pit for an expanded percussion section.<ref>{{cite web|last=Burton|first=Humphrey|title=Leonard Bernstein by Humphrey Burton, Chapter 26|url=http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/archives/bibliography/bibliography.html|access-date=22 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629180202/http://www.westsidestory.com/site/level2/archives/bibliography/bibliography.html|archive-date=29 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[George Martin]], [[Producer (music)|producer]] and arranger for [[the Beatles]], warns arrangers about the [[Intonation (music)|intonation]] problems when only two like instruments play in unison: "After a string quartet, I do not think there is a satisfactory sound for strings until one has at least three players on each line . . . as a rule two stringed instruments together create a slight 'beat' which does not give a smooth sound."<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=George |author-link=George Martin |title=Making Music: the Guide to Writing, Performing & Recording |publisher=W. Morrow |location=New York |year=1983 |pages=82}}</ref> Different music directors may use different numbers of string players and different balances between the sections to create different musical effects.

While any combination and number of string instruments is possible in a section, a traditional string section sound is achieved with a violin-heavy balance of instruments.

{| class="wikitable"
|+Suggested string section sizes
!Reference
!Author
!Section size
!Violins
!Violas
!Celli
!Basses
|-
|rowspan="5"|"Arranged By Nelson Riddle"<ref>{{cite book|last=Riddle|first=Nelson|title=Arranged By Nelson Riddle|year=1985|publisher=Warner Brothers Publications Inc.|location=Secaucus, NJ|pages=124}}</ref>
|rowspan="5"|Nelson Riddle
|12 players
|8
|2
|2
|0
|-
|15 players
|9
|3
|3
|0
|-
|16 players
|10
|3
|3
|0
|-
|20 players
|12
|4
|4
|0
|-
|30 players
|18
|6
|6
|0
|-
|rowspan="4"|"The Contemporary Arranger"<ref>{{cite book|last=Sebesky|first=Don|title=The Contemporary Arranger|year=1975|publisher=Alfred Pub.|location=New York|pages=127–129}}</ref>
|rowspan="4"|Don Sebesky
|9 players
|7
|0
|2
|0
|-
|12 players
|8
|2
|2
|0
|-
|16 players
|12
|0
|4
|0
|-
|20 players
|12
|4
|4
|0
|-
|}