18 THE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS “Toerr is human; to forgive isnot our policy.” ‘The sertiment in this paraphrase of a benevolent adage is particularly appo- site to the preparation of scores and parts. Alhhough conductare and orchestral performers may occasionally make mistakes, these very human humans usually do not forgive the errors of the orchestrator, the copyist, or the compose. Rehearsals can degenerate into traumatic grumbling sessions wher. frequent er- ors in the score or parts interfere with the smooth performance of a work. In fact, many pieces have been denied a hearing because of just such situations. It is most appropriate, therefore, that we discuss and review the correct pro- ‘cegures for laying out a score and extracting parts in the most professional Here are the considerations that must govern that process: 1. The score must be cleat, easy 10 read, and as unproblematic as possible. All new, different, or original notation must be carefully explained 50 that when ‘a conductor reads the score the method of realizing this notation is imimedi- ately apparent 2, The score must be organized logically, with every instrument appropriately labeled the vertical alignment ofthe music must be accurate 90 that all notes ‘and beats coincide. The spacing on the page, indicating the separation of choirs, must be immediately discernable, for a conductor has to read all the Tines simultaneousty. 3. In addition to rehearsal numbers or measure numbers, the score must con- tain every detail for every instrument, including special instructions for ‘bowing, tonguing, or articulations. THE ORCHESTRAL SCORE SETUP ‘The instruments ofa large symphony orchestra appear ota full score page in an unvarying order: Piccolo, Flutes 1 and 2 (Oboes 1 and 2 English hom 757958 Tye STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION (Clarinet in D or B (the required key of the instrument indicated at the be- ginning ofthe score) Clarinet 1 and 2in Bbor A (indicated at the beginning of the score) Bass clarinet Bassoons 1 and 2 Contrabassoon Horns 1,2,3,4 (keys ofthe hors indicated atthe beginning ofthe score) ‘Trumpets 1, 2,3 Geeys of the trumpets indicated at the beginning of the sore) Trombones 1,2,3, Tuba ‘Timpani (number of drums should be given at the beginning ofthe score) ercussion (all instruments must be listed at the beginning of the score) Piano (or celesta) Strings When preparing a score to be read by a conductor or sent to a publisher for publication, itis imperative to leave space between the choirs on the score page. Ifyou write out a score by hand, leave an empty line between the winds and the brass, between the brass and the percussion, between the percussion and the harp, and between the (harp) piano and the strings. If you construct a score via Finale or another software program, simply leave a litle extra space between these choirs in your setup of the score page. If you require additional instruments, you should fit them into their appro- priate family on the score page: Wagner tubas or euphonium between the trom- ‘bones and the tubs, saxophones between he bass clarinet and the bassoons, (Note that in some American scores the saxophones are printed below the bas- s00ns or even below the brass, ust above the timpani) ‘The score layout given in Example 18-1 is for the entire orchestra. Notice that all staves are connected with a single bar line at the beginning of the line; heavy brackets set off the choirs; and an additional brace clarifies instruments of ‘a family. Bar lines should be drawn only through the individual complete choirs. It is absolutely wrong to draw a bar line through the entire orchestral score, for it obscures the choirs and deters the rapid reading of the score by the conductor. Key signatures should appear in their traditional position right after the clef signs and before the time signature, Time signatures may be repeated on every ‘instrumental line or enlarged so that one time signature is given for each choir. ‘Tempo markings should always be placed at the top of the score and repeated in the space that separates each choir. Dynamics are usually placed below the requisite staf, unless two instruments share a staff and two different sets of dy samics are required,‘THE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS. 759 EXAMPLE 18-1, Score Layout i. ‘Anersate wn of tating ie anata ret eh a260 THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION If the composition has an independent piccolo part it appears above the flute pats, Ifthe second or third flute player instead doubles on piccolo, the piccolo part will appear on the line normally read by that player. The alto flute part is always placed below the regular flute parts; most often ts doubled by the third flute. ‘Likewise, the second or third oboist may double on English horn, a clar- {netist on bass clarinet, a bassoonist on contrabassoon. To indicate that a player {s to change instruments, the instruction “change to 7—or in Italian, “muta in ,"~should be written above the player’ staff in the score as well asthe player’s part and given well ahead of time. A change of key signa- ture or clef that is required because the new instrument iin a different transpo- sition should also appear atthe point of change. From time to time, the homs are grouped 1, 3 and 2, 4 on two staves when, cach pair plays a great many unison passages as high and low hors. However, ‘more often Horns 1 and 2 share one staff, and 4 the other. Trumpets are written on two staves, as are trombones. Trumpet 2 is sepa- rated from Trumpets 2 and 3; the two tenor trombones (Trb. 1, 2) occupy the fist staff and the hass trombone the second (Tb. 3). ‘The above discussion concerns only the initial page ofa score; subsequent score pages should follow the same model, except that you may use abbrevia- tions for the instrument names, It is not necessary to repeat the transposition of a particular instrument on every page unless there is a change from one trans- (posing instrament to another inthe middle of a wook, such as Bb clarinet switch ing to A clarinet. Although some composers use all kinds of notational short cuts, such as leaving out clfs or key signatures after the initial page, we strongly discourage this custom—even though it appears extensively in jazz charts. Although the cutout score originated by Stravinsky that was used ubiquitously throughout the 1960s and early 1970s is no longer popular, you will encounter it often in 1mid-twentieth-century scores. In this kind of score, the staves begin where the particular instrument starts to play and stop as soon as that instrument ceases to play, Notice in the following example that each instrument is always placed in the correct choir and is labeled every time it enters.EXAMPLE 18-2. Stravinsky, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, mun. 13-26, Cutout Score dao62 THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION THE REDUCED SCORE After the inital page, subsequent pages may contain more than one system, each ‘of which shows only those instruments playing at the same time. Systems on pages such as this ae called reduced scores. When using reduced score pages, insert two heavy slash marks Z between the systems so that i willbe easy for ‘the eye to separate them immediately. Also, clearly mark all the instruments in all systems appearing in a reduced score and retain the order of choirs as i ap- pearson the intl page ofthe score. ExaMPLE 10-9, Mahler, Symphony No. 1 ist movement FULL SCORE PAGE, MM. 269-274‘THE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS. 763 1b, REDUCED SCORE PAGE, Ma. 275-287 eee st tier164 ‘THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION THE CONDENSED SCORE When writing educational or commercial music the composer is often ashed to supply a condensed score in which a full score is compressed to only three or four staves but which provides al! the essential melodic) pitches, zhythms, and har- ‘monies contained inthe fll score. Ina condensed score al pitches must be non- ‘transposed—in other words, every note must sound as written. A regular three- ‘r four line condensed score, prepared for conductors who are notable to read a full score fluently, most often uses a staff foreach choir. The resulting score may cor may not be playable on the piano, depending on how complex it is. If the score is to be a pam reduction, it should be written on two slaves, omitting all nonessential octave doublings so that it can be played with two hands. Here are ‘examples ofa full score, condensed score, and a piano score of the same passage EXAMPLE 10-4. Brahms, Symphony No. first movement, mn. 62-87 a FURL SCORETHE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS. 765 , CONDENSED SCORE ee >766 ‘THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION PREPARING INDIVIDUAL PARTS ‘The clearer the parts the easier its to perform a work, particulary if the orches- tral score has a dense texture and contains technically taxing passages. Ifthe ‘work contains unusual notation i is essential that all notation other than the standard, universally accepted symbols be carefully explained in a “Guide to the Notation” at the beginning ofthe individual part. The composer or orches- trator must also keep in mind that correcting a single wrong note in rehearsals of professional symphony orchestras might st upwards of $200 per minute. Here are some important guidelines to follow in extracting parts from a score: 1. Use a good-size paper (914" x 12%") with no more than twelve staves on ‘each page, and provide each player with his or her own Part. Strings, of ‘course, should have one part per stand, 2. Use ink rather than penal if you are not using a computer progtam to make your score. 3. Make the note heads atleast as large as those printed in a published part for ‘easy visibility. The same holds true for the flags on eighth or sixteenth notes, ‘the rests, and the thickness of beams denoting rhythmic divisions. 4 Be sure to include rehearsal numbers or letters, or number the measures of the work by fives or tens in both score and parts. Make certain that every player has detailed information about what is happening every moment in the performance, whether he or she is playing or not. Chaos may result if a ‘ehearsa! number or letter or a change of meter is omitted because it occurs ‘hile an instrument is resting, Let us suppose a player has sixteen measures ‘of rest and the score has rehearsal letters placed every ten measures, Here is how the part should read: Placing Rehearsal Letters within Measures of Rest a a ‘This ame ule would apply if changes of meter oud Within that rst ‘period. Now let us suppose that five measures after[E] is in 2, and the rest of themensur are f Ths how the part should rend exauece ‘with Changes of Meter Rehearsal Letters within Measures of Rest in Music 5. The general problem of page turning must be dealt with when you begin to lay outa parton a page. In string orchestra part, the person on the inside of ‘the stand tums the page, while the one on the outside continues to play so that a rest is not essential. It is imperative, however, that a woodwind orTHE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS 767 brass player has enough time at the end of a page to make the page turn. Wind or brass players have been known to leave out an entire passage be- ‘cause there were no rests to free their hands. And even in string parts, you ‘must consider the weakening effect on an important string. passage when half the section drops out to turn a page. 6. Musical cues ar often necessary to facilitate reentry ofan instrument after a long period of rest. The notes in the cued parts should be smaller than those in the rest of the part. Both the instrument playing that particular cue and the place where the cue begins should be clearly indicated. Also, the cue ‘should be transposed to fit the part into which itis written, EXAMPLE 18.7. Musical Cue Allegro d= 8 7. Frequently, parts for oboes, bassoons, violas, and even horns are cross-cued in other parts so that important lines assigned to these instruments will not be lost if the original instrument is not available to a particular ensemble. Particularly in music for school orchestra, crose-cuing is advisable. For in- stance, important oboe or English horn lines are often cross-cued in the clar- inet, violin, or muted trumpet parts, depending on where they lie in the register. Bassoons are cross-cued in the clarinet or cello parts, and some- times a tenor saxophone part is supplied if no bassoon is available. Since vi- las are scarce in some high school orchestras, it may be necessary to have a third violin and a second cello part divide up the viola part; these cross-cues, however, should be used only if n0 violas are available, Be certain that all cross-cuing is indicated in the full score so that the conductor may assign each substitution. ‘As mentioned in the chapter on transcriptions, there is no real substitute for the original instrument. However, cross-cuing will prevent the loss of important lines even if the cross-cued instrument's sound is a bit removed from the composer's original intention. 8. The following shortcuts are permissible when copying out parts: a. Use 8%, 15" or 8 designations as much as possible to avoid more than four ledger lines above or below the staff. b. When a passage is repeated exactly, you may use repeat marks. It is helpful to number the repeated measures for easier execution, EXAMPLE 10-0, Numbering Repeated Measures v Use the abbreviations sim., sempre stac., sempre legato, and s0 on to avoid repeating staccatos, slurs, and other details768 ‘THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION EXAMPLE 16-9. Using Articulation Terms 9. Two instruments that are written on the same staff in the full score should >have separate parts written out for each player. [EXAMPLE 16-10, Two Instruments on the Same Sta a. FULL SCORE Generating Scores and Parts Electronically Since the late 1980s the use of computers and professional software programe designed to generate music scores have become ubiquitous. All music typeset- ting programs ar as good as the person using them—in other words, an experi- enced typesetter is able to use any one of them and produce a perfectlooking score and beautifully clear orchestral parts. Some of the programs present prob- Jems in two areas, which necessitates checking carefully for errors. ‘The most crucial area concerns the placement of accidentals when two in- struments are written on the same staff ina full score, Let us look atthe follow- ing example: EXAMPLE 18-11, Placement of Accidental in a Full Score gee ‘Two oboes would have no problem reading this passage from the score since the accidentals, marked on first occurrence only, are valid throughout the mea~ sure. When some computer programs generate the separate parts from this score, however, they sometimes look this way:THE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS 769 kxaupie 112, Pact of Accdeniasin th Resulng Computes Generated Parts - oo fee ESS ‘When this happens, extra accidentals must be added in the full score to ensure that the parts for both players generated from that score contain all the required accidentals. Thus, the score passage must read: 1. Placement of Additional Accidental in a Full Score “This score will then generate the following pasts: EXAMPLE 10-14. Placement of Additional Accidentals in the Resulting, Computer-Generated Parts .rti<‘isOO—r—~—~—CisCK;SCXCrzsCSCrisCMsCM they are electronically generated. "Extya precautions must be taken when electronically generating the score | and parts ofa highly chromatic work. The composer often writes an abundance of accidentals to remind the performer exactly which notes to play. These extra | accidentals ae often invaluable to the performance ofa complex work, but are often cut out bythe computer typesetting Program as “unmecsssary” whenever the accidentals have already appeared in a measare. In the following passage the E> in the third beat and the Ff and T4 of the fourth beat (circled in the score) are actualy gratuitous, yet they should be put into this very chromatic mix to aid the performer. You must be certain that the software program complies EXAMPLE 10.78, “Insurance” Accidentals770 THE STUDY OF ORCHESTRATION ‘The second problem area concerns the distorted appearance of slurs and ties when held over from one system to another. This problem becomes particularly acute when the measures that contain these slurs and ties initially appear on one line or in one system but in a subsequent version of the typeset piece are broken up onto two different lines (see Example 18-16). Some camputer programs do ‘not automatically correct the resulting distortions, which therefore must be re- paired manually by the computer typesetter. EXAMPLE 18:18, Computer-Cenerated Ties Before Being Repaired Manually Itis hoped that these faults and others like them will be addressed in later, more sophisticated updates of music typesetting programs. Proofreading ‘As a general rule, proofreading your own score and parts is a difficult chore. ‘Therefore, we urge you to follow a two-step process to ensure a minimum of 1. Proofread both score and parts thoroughly yourself, 2. Give them to someone else to proofread so that you can make certain even ‘the smallest detail has not been overlooked. This second step can make the difference between a flawless first reading (and first impression) and a te- dious rehearsal, a discouraging affair for both composer and performers. Fora more detailed study of manuscript preparation, we refer you to George Hreussenstamm’s very useful handbook, The Norton Manual of Music Notation (ew York: W. W. Norton, 1987), which treats copying out scores by hand ‘Other books on this subject include: ‘ochun, Lazlo. Mader Music Notation. New York G. Schirmer, 1961 Donato, Anthony. Preparing Music Manuscript Englewood Clif, NJ: Prentice- Hal, 1963 Read, Gardner. Music Nottie. Second Edition, New York: Crescendo Publishers a Division of Taplinger Publishing, 1969. ____. Madern Rhythmic Notation. Bloomington: Indiana University ress, 1978. iba, Howard, New Music Voabulry. Urbana: University of Tinois Press, 1975 Stone, Kurt Music Notation in the Tuetith Century, New York: W. W. Norton, 1980. Warfield, Gerald How to Write Music Manuscript. New York: Longman, 1977,‘THE PREPARATION OF SCORE AND PARTS 71 On setting scores electronically, you might wish to consult the following, the last three of which are trade journals: Purse, Bil. The Finale Primer: Mastering the Art of Music Notation with Finale 2000, 2d ed, San Francisco: Mller Freeman Books, 2000, Computer Music Journal. Computer Masic Foundation. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Electronic Musician. Overland Park, Kans: Prime Media Information Group. ‘Reybourd Magasine. San Mateo, Cait. ‘Olfprints of articles in these journals that deal with computer-assisted music ‘copying, as well as information regarding the specific volumes that contain them, can be provided by each publisher.