What are some tips for composing a string quartet?

If you are writing for a professional group (e.g. Kronos, Arditti) they’ll want something which is highly artistic. Think of it like creating a painting with all that entails (new and unusual structure, sounds, and relationship between the instruments).

If writing for any other quartet (non-professional, amateur, student group, or unknown), here are some individual tips (I realize that a lot of this is more about general purpose string writing than string quartet writing):

Give all of the instruments something fun to do

• Especially ‘cello and viola
• Counterpoint is good, but even better if the figures all “add up” to an overall line
• Dice up the melody over multiple instruments
• Have someone fill up awkward gaps with figures of some sort
• Perhaps consider multiple melodic lines which rise or recede in prominence (a great example of this is Debussy String Quartet, 2nd movement)

Remember that strings can play forever

• There’s no breathing and no decay (yay!!)
• Use this to your advantage to have a flowing and continuous bed of sound which can manipulate or weave into your composition
• This can be either very long notes (literally, as long as you like) or any sort of repeating pattern

Don’t worry about open strings, bowings or fingerings

• Just write music and let the players work it out

Not too much fast-fiddly stuff, unless it’s for 1st violin

Avoid double-stops

• Having a single instrument play more than one note at a time is difficult and not that satisfying
• Try other patterns, such as alternating notes (instead of C-E at the same time, try C,E,C,E,C,E as alternating notes - it has more motion and is vastly easier to play)
• Although, 6ths are relatively easy to play

Pizzicato is fun, but it’s a rookie mistake to use it too much

• Instead, try just putting articulations on notes (e.g. dots, lines, ^, > ) to indicate short notes with various types of attacks

Avoid multiple large leaps (e.g. 8ve or more) in a row

Try to stay roughly in the range of each instrument

• Very high notes on low instruments can be very effective, but use sparingly. Cellos and Violas playing in non-standard clefs is a sure way to have them hate you.

Let everyone have a solo at some point

Always look for ways to make the accompaniment more fun

• Off beats? Fun rhythms? Octave oscillations?