Scores and Parts Musicicans use in rehearsal and Performance must be of the higest quality to ensure efficient Rehearsal time and easy reading otherwise. For this reason I’ve compiled some good tips and Ideas to help make your music successful: 

1) Since conductors read a score from 3-4 feet away, it is essential to produce scores large enough to read comfortably in rehearsal and performance. If you need to print small staffs to fit the pages onto your letter-size printer, then your copies should be enlarged. It is essential that the conductor can clearly see time signatures, notes, and all other words and symbols, so plan your choice of noteheads and type sizes well.

2) Scores must be printed on both sides of the page, bound either with a plastic spiral or stapled into a book-like format.

3) Instruments need to be clearly labeled at the left margin of the score, and staves for pairs of instruments must always be clearly labeled, including indications for a2, solo, etc. Tempo markings should use metronome indications whenever possible.

4) Orchestra scores are best notated with all instruments shown in their proper transposition. In transposed scores it is important to indicate whether Clarinets are in A or B-flat, whether Trumpets are in B-flat or C, and to label all other transposing instruments (including the use of Horns in bass clef). If you prefer to keep your scores in concert pitch, they must be clearly marked as such.

5) It is distracting to conduct a score when every page has a different staff setup. It is generally better to use staves with rests and a consistent staff setup than to change the setup frequently, except for passages with an uncommon amount of divided strings or a long passage with many resting instruments. As with every other aspect of notation, good judgment is essential and should supersede rigid rules.

6) Extracted parts for Clarinet and Trumpet need to be clearly labeled B-flat or A Clarinet, and B-flat or C Trumpet. All wind parts doubling secondary instruments need to be very clearly labeled. When a conductor moves to a new section of a piece, each player must quickly know which instrument to play without searching several pages back. If markings like con sord., pizz., div., or solo go across a page turn, it is helpful to add a parenthetical reminder at the start of the new left-side page. This will save confusion and wasted time in rehearsals if the conductor jumps to the start of that left page. Also, be sure to label any non-standard use of accidentals, especially in unmetered passages.

7) Cues for transposing instruments should be transposed appropriately. For example, if an F Horn enters on its high G,(G5)  and the Violins are playing C5 in the previous measure, Horn players would benefit from knowing they will continue the Violins’ pitch.

Page turns need to work in real time. A one-bar rest is often sufficient in a slow tempo, but not in a Presto. Plan ample time for each player to turn at the end of every right-side page. Music to the end of the right-side page, with rests following the turn, can make performers nervous and distracted, and this can always be avoided with a little advance planning. When you can’t find an easy page turn, be industrious and creative; end a right-side page in the middle of the page, leave a blank page marked as intentionally blank, or adjust the spacing of some pages so a rest falls at the end of a right-side page. This will almost always work if you spend a little time trying. In a pinch, remember that some passages inHarp, Piano, Percussion, and most wind instruments might be playable with one hand, and that a solo string passage allows for a stand partner to turn.

9) Notation in the parts must not be too small! Percussion, Harp, and Trombone players sit at an extra distance from their stands, and strings will use 2 players on a shared part. Standard “xerox paper” may flop over, tear, or be flimsy. Heavier weight paper is better. Parts should be folded, stapled, or taped, but not comb bound. Comb bound parts don’t fit well into folders or cases and are hard to turn quickly.

10) Do not rely on any notation software for standards, and do not believe any claims made by software manufacturers. Treat your software like a tool to accomplish your own notational plans. Music notation is a graphic language, and it is not as simple and automatic as word processing. Most software, even the most popular programs, will give you very clumsy and distracting spacings and layouts unless you take command as if you were hand-copying with a computerized set of tools. Avoid horizontally loose spreading – peripheral vision is crucial to reading music.

11) Frequent rehearsal numbers are essential for efficient rehearsal. The practice of numbering down the left margin is convenient except during long rests. For example, 5 10-bar rests with measure numbers between them is more practical than a single 50-bar rest, and a cued passage in the middle is even better; when the conductor calls a bar number to rehearse from, all players must be able to orient themselves within the resting passage immediately. While the left-margin method may be convenient to engrave, it is much more effective in rehearsal to have specific and frequent “boxed” measure numbers geared to spots where textures, themes, instrumentation, and tempos change, with the conductor and every player having all the same signposts.

12) Above all, remember that rehearsal time is usually very limited. With trouble-free parts, you’ll get a rehearsal which focuses on the musical aspects of your piece. With bad turns or ambiguous markings, the rehearsal time will only focus on keeping the players together; And trust me, you do not want that.

The “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” is quite possibly the most moving piece of orchestral music ever written, and I am saying this after having heard Mahler 9, Beethoven 9, and Barber’s Adagio for Strings over 20 times a piece.

I must admit, after I heard a recording of this piece, I don’t remember much of the next 2 or 3 days. I can’t concieve of what my Parents and Friends must have thought, because I was walking around in some kind of dream. It was a strange feeling, one that doesn’t leave easily, and even being as intense of a person that I am, I can’t bear to hear this piece more than a few times in a great while. It’s just too real.

Some background on Gorecki’s Masterpiece:

The Symphony is scored for solo soprano voice, 4 Flutes (3 and 4 = 1st and 2nd piccolos) , 4 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Contrabassoons, 4 horns, 4 trombones, harp, piano and strings.

One thing that I find interesting is the complete lack of dissonance outside of modal inflections, as well as the absence of nonstandard techniques and the need for virtuosic playing. The music is completely Gorecki, virtually no references to other composers’ music. The entire work is predominantly soft, the dynamics only reaching fortissimo in a few bars.

Here’s where the pain begins, (and tragically ends.)

The words the soprano solo in the second movement are taken directly from an inscription found on a cell wall, in a gestapo prison from the days of Nazi Germany. The inscription was written by an 18 year old girl, who had been seperated from her mother, and knows her demise is drawing near.

I cannot describe to you the overwhelming power of this work. So I will simply let you listen for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miLV0o4AhE4

After my last post concerning the Wagner Tuba, I was met with some pretty rough opposition from local readers. It makes me unhappy to hear such things because I believe that the only reason the instrument is not used more often is the extreme lack of experience with the tuba itself; And when very learned people and outstanding musicians ridicule my support of the instrument it is extremely confusing.

The general impression of the Wagner tuba that is still current is of an outdated museum piece, and it is often the butt of caricature. Many hornists also have a problematical relationship with the instrument and do not normally like to play them. The Wagner tuba has a negative reputation of being hard to play and having intonational difficulties, but this stems purely from unfamiliarity with the instrument which can be the result of infrequent usage.

Think about this one guys…

Stravinsky, Bruckner, Wagner, Holst, and Schoenberg all used this wonderful instrument.

You can argue with me over it, but could you argue with them?

Just a thought.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this wonderful instrument, I invite you to visit www.wagner-tuba.com, and check out some of the information found there.

It has been my experience as an orchestrator, that despite the wonderful sonorities and colors available to me through the “Standard” Brass Choir of the Symphony Orchestra, using a quartett of these “Tuben” greatly enhances the depth and rich flavour of the brass section. Whether it be a grand Orchestra Tutti, or a Tuben solo or soli, the sound of these instruments are unique and distinctive in the orchestral sound.

The use of these instruments in the Orchestra is very rare. The great master Wagner used them in “The Ring”, Bruckner used them in his 7th, 8th, and 9th symphonies, and Schoenberg used them in the “Gurrelieder”. As far as I know, only one large solo work has been written for the wagner tuba, that being the Edel Rhapsody for Orchestra and solo tenor Wagner Tuba.

If you’ve never heard the sound of these fantastic instruments I would suggest Bruckner’s Symphony #7, the Second Movement. This is the most famous of passages, occuring in the very first bar.

 I’m sure after hearing the sounds of this instrument you will agree that although the orchestra could go without them, once they’re there, they simply will not go away.