Marking your parts(music that is)

[poochie]

I had the pleasure the last week of playing the 3 rd trumpet in Gotterdammerung and it reminded me of the value of the most underrated tool in the "arsenal", the pencil.
Forget all the other gadgets ,which mouthpiece backbore, which case ,which horn etc...,do yourselves a favour and get a few good pencils in your case.
The opera I played was 5 hrs 45 minutes long and full of exposed solos ,made all the easier by Mr. Bond's fine marking .
Sharpen those pencils everyone!

[Craig Swartz]

Don't forget the eraser. Used to be the rental parts would come in clean- doesn't seem to be the case any longer. Lots of written-in fingerings and other distractions.

As a side note to those who teach, about 30 years ago I started giving out those cheap Bic mechanical pencils to kids to clip on their Manhasset stands sot they'd always have one at hand that would not roll off when they turned a page. I started using them a hundred years back and still demand them to be on the stand in plain sight. In public schools most classroom teachers won't allow them since they'd have a room full of kids like me who'd spend half of the time clicking them. The little ones think it's a treat to be able to have them in band. Easily amused.

[martin mc hale]

On the second last page of Gotterdammerung there is that rarest of rare animals-trumpet in d flat. I got a pencil out and marked the fingering in . Too late at night to think clearly by then.
Martin

[poochie]

Agreed! It's strange what you become accustomed to. I was rehearsing Khovanshina last week and was playing a Bb part on a Bb trumpet, that seems stranger to me than Db on a C trumpet.

[Bill Dishman]

I tell my kids this little story...

God didn't invent pencils for writers to author great novels, stories or poems.

God didn't invent pencils for mathematicians to compute great formulas and calculations.

God didn't invent pencils for artists to sketch masterful artwork.

God invented pencils because he got tired of musicians playing wrong notes!!!!

[trpthrld]

Poochie, hopefully you can clear up a question I've had for some time.

I think it's easy to agree there is no universally accepted standard way of marking parts. I was taught that if the music is legibly printed and clearly marked (dynamics, articulation, etc.) that an experienced, professional musician should be able to play the part with no extra marks (using their ears to assist in how their part fits into the big picture), unless the conductor wants something changed from the ink.

I play more musicals and backing major acts than I do operas and orchestras (and I'm very available should ya ever need an extra!). The condition of books and charts that have been played for years, along with hundreds of guys marking the parts...oy vey, what an eye test! Aretha, Tops and Tempts come to mind as prime examples of way too many personal takes on how to mark parts.

As far as marking, I was taught that if something is circled, that means it does not exist anymore. Not the same as a tacet, but it simply does not exist. There are two reasons for using a circle instead of pencil scratching the part out:

1. With rental musical parts, the books are supposed to be returned clean and clear of all marking. By using a circle instead of pencils scratch marks, erasing is quicker and cleaner.

2. This allows, in the course of rehearsals, if that eliminated part needs to be reinserted, it's quicker and easier to erase a circle instead of pencil scratches.

Added tacets, btw, are indicated by parenthesis marks.

BUT...I understand that in orchestral literature, if something is circled (like dynamics or articulations), that means it's important.

so...can ya help clear any of this up?

Thanks!

ps. Post-It note pads are perfect for editing parts, especially sections that have been eliminated. Easy to remove when the run of the show is over, and the added plus of if ya can't see it...ya probably aren't gonna play it.
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[poochie]

Tim, usually we bracket and write tacet. Circles mean pay attention .I'm in the enviable position of having a crack library staff at work who do all that for us. Rental parts we use are different story. I often find all sorts of markings that are not consistent in the section so usually we erase and start with the ink then wait for the conductor to tell us we're too loud.
I remember doing a show called The Music of Andrew LLoyd Weber, all new orchestrations .We were a couple of weeks into the run when the sent the parts to final copy,mine came back with all my hand written reminders in ink.Now memorialized in the 3 rd trumpet book are cues like"out of tune English horn note" and "way too fast tempo change".Careful what you write!

[Peter Bond]

The library staff uses crack!?!? I had no idea.

[Craig Swartz]

I keep a pack of those little post-it flags/tabs in my case- brightly colored and visible in any light. Easy to remove.

On playing Bb on Bb, that can be a problem. Damn! Some of those parts just look like they ought to be either Eb or F by how they lie on the staff. Been playing too long, perhaps.

[trpthrld]

[poochie]

Pete , does'nt my explanation explain a lot!

[sandytpt]

I usually bracket and write "omit" if the music has been eliminated, or mark with "to m.xxx" at the beginning of the first measure of the cut. I use post-its to mark cuts in rental parts, shows, and things we have to clean up after the performances. Cover up the first measure or so of the cut and then the last. Write to m. xxx on the first post-it and Here on the second. Makes it easy to find the re-start.

[clintmclendontrumpet]

I totally agree, It kind of gets on my nerves if people consistently make mistakes that can be easily corrected by a pencil marking. I don't know if it is their ego, but just writing something is the basics! I learned it in 6th grade!

[Dale Proctor]

For some reason, there's an "unprofessional" stigma attached to marking parts. It's just the opposite - mark your trouble spots and whatever nuances the conductor wants - that's the professional way to do things. Thinking you can remember everything is a good way to do it wrong next week. If the music is rented or borrowed, be professional enough to erase your markings before you turn the music in.
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Brass Band of Huntsville
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"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away ." - Sir Thomas Beecham

[DWallace]

I mark my parts and keep a pencil in the folder. When you have 15 tunes in the folder and play about 10 of them in a concert I can't remember everything our conductor wants. I don't fingerings. Too confusing. I also try to erase my marking when turning in the folder.
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[Brian Moore]

I mark my parts in pencil as necessary - anything that the conductor wants that deviates or adds to what is printed. If I don't mark the part and forget to do whatever was asked for, that's my mistake, and I've wasted time for the rest of the orchestra. When I'm conducting, it infuriates me enormously if someone doesn't do something I've asked for because they couldn't be bothered to write it in. And if I play something wrong twice, that's not good enough either - so if writing something in can help erase that problem I'll do it.

And I have to admit I quite like seeing other people's pencil markings in parts. I played the Britten Four Sea Interludes a couple of years ago from rental parts, and someone had marked in "Budapest 1948" (I think) - I would guess that that was from the Hungarian première; so a little bit of history there, in pencil. And of course, in any case, you can't erase pencil markings on stage like you can do in a pit. Concert finishes, the music is collected, and your little bits of helpful graffiti go into the archive. If the next person to use the parts wants to erase my bid for posterity, that's up to them. I'll do the same for someone else when I see their markings in a part.

[ProAm]

Yeah, one of my cats marked some of my music for me once and I was not happy at all.

[Andy Del]

When I mark parts, I use the bog standard marks one expects - refer to the out of print book 'The Art of Music Copying' by Clinton Roemer for more information. All this circling, post it notes and guff can make it terribly awkward.

Just last week, this was brought home when I agreed to sit in on a rehearsal of Bruckner Symphony #4. The conductor has organised cuts in some places by covering the staves to be removed with paper and then photocopying them again. Result - long blanks of??? One can guess they are cuts, but there was nothing to indicate this. It only caused a few moments of concern for me over in trumpet world, but the clarinet part where the cut was wrong was a place of confusion, faithfully following a cut which could not be easily checked without the score. Result? A stopped rehearsal, tension, sighs from the trombone section, gags from the horns... thank goodness for Angry Birds on my phone!!!!

[weeweetrumpet]

No matter what key the piece is, I like to write in the Bb fingerings. In pen. But that's just how I roll.
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[Brian Moon]