TromboneChat

This is slightly off-topic but… can anyone recommend a good forum for asking questions about big band arranging in general? Not just trombones? Questions like 'does this passage work better on tenor or alto?' or 'how does this drum chart look?'.

I'm not particularly interested in Facebook or Reddit, would rather an old-school forum / message board like this one

Thanks!

I do big band writing, and I don't frequent an arranging-specific board. More often, I'm looking at boards to figure out quirky music notation software problems. That said, I know there are several people here who are very good big band writers. The normal place for these kinds of inquiries would be the "Composition, Arrangement, & Theory" section.

Thanks. I guess it just feels odd to me to post a sax question on a trombone board! A bit off-topic? I'll think about it.

(And, yes, exploring notation quirks online, like just the other day figuring out how to notate 'C Dorian' as a chord symbol in MuseScore :)

For orchestrtaion-specific questions, Thomas Goss over at Orchestration Online has put out a lot of quality information. At his website, on Youtube, and on Patreon. If you're talking about saxophone range questions, that definitely is covered there. Along with lots of orchestration books, generally. Stuff like that really isn't specific to big band writing.

How to write a drumset part - yeah, that's more idiosyncratic in big band writing.

https://orchestrationonline.com/

If you're on facebook, there is a jazz arranging group there which you can join:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/513772098763333

There are plenty of other jazz related groups there as well.

Do you ever worry that forums, even forums like this one, might give you bad advice?

Here's one of the best online resources I've found for big band arranging. It covers everything from how to write for the different instruments, voicing techniques, engraving, etc.

https://www.evanrogersmusic.com/blog

jacobgarchik wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 11:48 am Do you ever worry that forums, even forums like this one, might give you bad advice?

Depends on the forum. Over here I feel that there are enough people in the know to call out bad advice when they see it. On other forums I frequent, particularly on topics I'm less versed in, there are a core group of folks whose advice I tend to trust. That said, you have to know enough to know what you don't know and recognize expertise that you don't have.

The nice thing about arranging advice is that while it might waste some of your time, you can always go back and fix things.

jacobgarchik wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 11:48 am Do you ever worry that forums, even forums like this one, might give you bad advice?

That is the most pertinent question I have seen in years. What a bind for seekers.

Thanks, Jacob!