Writing for 8 woodwind (and perhaps plus 2 horns)

1. No need to have them all going all the time. Constant tutti writing tends to produce a monotonous sound. Exploit the different tone-colours.
2. To write for 4 instruments only, almost any combination of pairs will blend well, e.g. 2 cl 2 bsn, or 2 ob, 2 cl, but 1 fl 1 ob 2 cl is not so blended, and so on.
3. If all 8 are to play, the normal functions are as follows;

Bass, 2^nd bsn. 1^st bsn will play, in order of preference: 8ve above bsn 2, unison with bsn 2, tenor part, melody octave lower (rare).

Melody, oboes. Flutes in unison or 8ve higher.

Inner parts, clarinets.

But it also can work thus: Sop: ob2, Alto: cl 1, Tenor: cl2, with fl 1, fl 2 and ob1 doubling these an octave higher.

4. Principles of doubling:

1. Doubling at unison produces thickness and more strength but also loss of tone-colour clarity. Also, two instruments are not twice as loud as one. (About 1.5 times) AND a wavering effect is produced (the "a 2 bug"). This will not matter unless this line is exposed, and not too fast-moving.
2. Doubling at the octave is more effective as it produces tonal clarity, avoids the wavering mostly, and sounds subjectively twice as loud as one instrument. Octave doubling is very frequent in woodwind writing.
3. Flutes sound best above the stave anyway, so they will very frequently have an octave-doubling function.
4. Doubling of the bass is done downwards (range permitting) and other doublings upwards or unison.

1. Writing for horns:

In the 18c, horn parts were seldom melodically interesting; they thickened the inside texture, and the exact notes hardly mattered. More modern music is still influenced by this to a large extent, i.e. they are rarely melodic, so they often double existing inner harmony, maybe in a simplified form as they are not so agile as woodwind. 2^nd horn can often take the bass if it is not quick-moving, releasing the bassoon for other work.

2 horns plus 2 bassoons is a stock substitute for 4 horns as they blend well

6) Balance. Remember that horns are a little louder than woodwind by nature, so two horns in unison is quite a strong sound. Oboes are no louder than other woodwind but their pungent tone means that they usually cut through the texture unless they are greatly outnumbered. Care with their notes, these tend to stand out. Give oboes plenty of rests anyway, for the sake of both the players and the audience.