 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: tetiana
Date: 2003-02-08 19:47
I'm tossing this one out there for a survey. When practising/learning a piece, do you:
1) indulge freely in penciling in all kinds of stuff on the music, circling problem notes, reminding yourself about sharps or flats, writing in fingering, writing in tonguing, bracketing passages that require a special heads-up etc?
2) or do you belong to the school of thought that a page of music ought to be pristine, with only the composer's (or editor's) ideas on it, that it must be treated with appropriate reverance and that for other things, like fingering and problems of technique you simply must train your mind and fingers to remember and that penciling in things makes you lazy?
I personally engage in quite excessive reminders on my music, (especially about fingerings) although I do it in pencil. (The thought of coloured markers has crossed my mind, but of course I've dismissed that immediately. Although must say I've seen other people's scores marked up in colour. Choristers, particularly altos, seem to have a fetish for highlighters, yellow, bilious green, even pink).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alex
Date: 2003-02-08 20:35
#1 absolutely. Always in pencil, should someone else ever use it. Although not so much in the way you described. True, I'll write in trouble accidentals and the occasional fingerings, but my music is mostly littered with other stuff...
Circling, adding, and changing of dynamics; Arrows indicating intonation problems and reminders; Arrows indicating subtle and not-so-subtle tempo changes, and energy pushes and pulls; My own personal energy and style reminder markings that resemble what the conductor would look like; if in an ensemble, who to listen to; analogies to what it should sound like ("chocolate", "angry", etc.); occasional beat reminders for nasty rhythmic sections. Etc.
After all, the listener isn't looking at your copy of the music!
-Alex
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tetiana
Date: 2003-02-08 20:47
Alex
Arrows, yessss!! Me too. I also use wavy lines where I know my tone might falter, eyeglasses, breath marks to remind me not to turn blue, vertical lines reminding me to count, in short, it's not pretty when I'm done.
I should mention that I'm marking up my own property (not an orchestral score). Occasionally when I'm playing in a group, I'll make a xerox of the part to work, suffer and doodle on
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alex
Date: 2003-02-08 20:52
Ah... Our director (college, mind you) encourages, or rather expects, that we mark up our parts (in pencil).
So you draw eyeglasses? I've seen a variety of eyeglasses on my parts, and have been quite bewildered by some of the more hastily-drawn ones
-Alex
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jbutler
Date: 2003-02-08 21:28
Rarely mark on orchestral and band scores. It's just something I really don't do. I do, however, mark personal music whenever necessary.
jbutler
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HAT
Date: 2003-02-08 21:59
Good god,
DON'T MARK UP MUSIC THAT DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU!!!!!!
Yeah, all that 'stuff' might help you, but it's a huge pain in the ass for whoever gets that part next.
Make yourself a copy if you must indulge in this kind of thing. Yeah, it's technically illegal but no one is going to prosecute you if you're a student.
Why circle key changes and things that are already marked for you?
Changing dynamics? What if the next person doesn't want them changed?
The original poster even described her own marking as 'excessive.'
I mark things that have a direct relation to the performance at hand. Such as a single breath mark (possibly an indication as well if the breath has to be abnormally large). Or places where the conductor is having a tempo 'indulgence' where it is not musically obvious.
I play rental music all the time in orchestras. I can always tell when a youth orchestra has had a set. . .it's usually almost unreadable. I find it absolutely infuriating. Someone else's inability to read music results in MY being unable to read what was once a decent part.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Marcia
Date: 2003-02-08 22:04
Definitely mark the music, in pencil. I have heard conductors say many time "Mark that in your music!" When I have music that someone else has marked I erase all the markings as many of them don't mean anything to me, and I find that some are not necessary. When finished, I have the marks that I put there, that have meaning to me.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tetiana
Date: 2003-02-08 22:17
HAT
Ahemm.... I'm reeling a bit from being told off so soundly! (I assume that you're replying to me as noone called "Good god' has so far answered this thread). I did mention didn't I ? that all the marking up I do is on my own, expensively purchased, wholly owned music and that I'm actually not brain dead when it comes to orchestral scores, which incidentally I only use a few times a year when playing at a music camp.
I like the part though where you assume that I'm a craven immature student and play in a youth orchestra. My oldest daughter played in a youth orchestra... until last yeat when she decided she was too old for it. As to being prosecuted, I love that remark, considering what I do for a living. But that's for another time.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brad
Date: 2003-02-08 22:47
tetiana,
I get what you are saying, you're asking: do some people not mark up music in deference to the composer, right? Well, although I have heard of some people who do this, I don't really think it is necessary. The copy of music that you have has probably been edited a lot by companies that often do things that are incorrect. So, I can't really see anyone who knows about music to refrain from marking it up for that reason. On the other hand--if you had a original, definitely don't mark that up!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Clair
Date: 2003-02-08 23:20
My band director requires that we mark our parts in crayon. No kidding. Hmmm....
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HAT
Date: 2003-02-09 00:30
tetiana,
My apologies.
This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time.
One can hardly go through a music school library and find parts that aren't defaced to the point of absurdity.
I was afraid some of the young people here might get the idea that it was GOOD to mark music not personally owned.
Self-owned music is subject to one's personal preferences, of course!u
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Alex
Date: 2003-02-09 00:52
You write things in pencil because pencil is quite easy to erase. I erase quite a bit from previous users on the pieces I use, and I write quite a bit in as well. I've also found previous users' markings to be insightful. I'm not saying to make a butchery of it, but it's often necessary to mark things. Granted, I'm a lot more free about marking my own pieces than in ensemble stuff.
When I look at a marking I made, it triggers something whereby I much better remember what I was thinking when I wrote it. An "Oh yeah, that's what it should sound like" moment, if you will. The markings all come from comments by the conductor or personal "I did it wrong, I should do it this way instead" situations.
Granted, back in high school I did see quite a few nastily marked pieces, with all kinds of colorful drawings off to the side. If it doesn't help with the music, naturally, don't write it in (and never in ink, regardless).
-Alex
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jim E.
Date: 2003-02-09 04:06
There's nothing worse than to open a choral score and find that a part other than your own has had every line highlighted in pink or yellow for a part other than your own. Fortunately, it is easy to trade with someone who sings the marked part.
Even rented/ borrowed scores and parts can be marked lightly in pencil IF the marks are erased before return. One choir I sing with actually has "erasser" parties sometime after the concert.
Hat, rental outfits usually withold part of the deposit if the music is returned defaced, I wonder if they might be charging for the damage, but sending the defaced music out again anyway.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob
Date: 2003-02-09 10:06
Of course, mark up your personal copy(or a copy of it!) as much as you like. But marking up anyone else's music is like writing in library books.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: John O'Janpa
Date: 2003-02-09 10:12
Ever since my cat knocked over my music stand, and cup of coffee, making instant antiques out of brand new music, I copy my music and mark it up as I see fit. When it's time to turn the music back in, I don't have to tell the conductor that my cat ate it, or pass on my confusing chicken scratches to the next musician. Technically this is probably illegal, but if you toss your copy at the time the original is returned, the copyright police would probably have little reason to come after you.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-02-09 13:43
I wonder if it is within the realm of copyright to make a 'working' copy for your own use, to mark as you see fit?
The Community band I play with has a full rank of clarinets; 1st, second and 3rd parts.
The 1st clarinet parts have a few, neat notes in tight pencil markings. The second charts are virtually illegible, for all the marginalia. The thirds (where I sit, to get the best view of the conductor you know) have virtually no addendae!
(Mine has 'sleep here' written over any rests longer than 16 measures...)
If you may make a working copy, that would be the appropriate forum for your notation. If it is the only copy, this sort of marking tends to attract more writing over time.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DougR
Date: 2003-02-09 17:31
I've had several rental clarinet parts that included not only the usual round of breath and phrasing marks, but also, at the end of the part, names (or initials) of clarinetists, orchestras & dates of performance, sometimes (depending on the part) going back to the mid-sixties. I resisted the impulse to add my initials etc., but oddly enough, although that kind of conduct is indecorous and probably highly inconsiderate, I also thought it was, as a piece of music sociology, fascinating.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jbutler
Date: 2003-02-09 20:17
Hat,
I agree. I've never understood any marking a key signature or the like. It's already on the music for gosh sake! Circles don't mean a thing, except OMITT in most cases, so why circle something? I agree that marking excessively on music is a pet peave of mine also. I used to know some students in college who would highlight almost every word in their textbooks also....WHY! I think that "post it" or "sticky notes" work much better if one really needs to remind themselves of something BEFORE playing the piece. They can be removed quite easily without damage to the music.
jbutler
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken
Date: 2003-02-09 21:40
Wherever and whenever practical, I concur with HAT's hand's-off ethic and conscientious stewardship of rented and institutionally owned sheet music. Certainly, if music is personal property and lawfully purchased defacing it is at one's discretion. I've found in general, commercial and concert band music (solos w/accompaniment) has more errant markings/scribble than orchestra. I believe, rehearsal markings (i.e. eyeglasses, meter slashes, tempos, articulations, dynamics, phrases) can be applied sparingly and in light pencil but dutifully erased before returning the part. However, more than a fair share of rehearsal markings originates from the "conductor" not the instrumentalist. By the nature of my own work, it's also common to get erratas with pages of conductor changes and cuts that must be written in ... primarily when proofing a new work. One exception to the rule is occasionally, there are "unrevised typos" previously noted or that turn-up that should be left as a courtesy/time saver to the next performer and ensemble.
My personal pet peeve is not bad copy but being saddled with composer's/arranger's pseudo lead sheets with all 3-4 clarinet parts on one. For me, it's a major challenge reading this form of divisi. Distinguishing lines, plus spaces plus notes on the lower voices riddled with multiple/stacked accidentals and excessive key/meter changes ... sometimes the parts are even written enharmonically that really rack the brain. v/r Ken
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-02-10 01:06
I'm also an advocate of minimal marking-up, ALWAYS in Soft pencil, as with BDWY musical scores, and to erase when thru!! I try to keep the markings to unexpected time changes, fermatas, tenutos, cuts [and other conductor directions], limited vamps, accidentals [or unobvious naturals, doubles if any] if I miss them several times, and yes, breath marks when a problem. I carry at least 2 #2 pencils AND an eraser to all rehearsals! Yes, HAT, at my first look , I erase all previous marks [if possible], and clean-up when thru EXCEPT for mistakes, found [likely re-found] in playing [more in manuscript than "printed" parts], pointing them out to the next player, to help. I also get "vehement" on this subject. Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mariz
Date: 2003-02-10 01:09
the older i get the more reminders i need to mark on my music
where i never used to mark it before!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ken
Date: 2003-02-11 02:32
Seen and enjoyed at the foot of the last page of Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius", a neatly pencilled:
"Is there anyone left alive?"
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-02-11 07:10
As a member of an opera orchestra, where we often do productions with only 1 or 2 rehearsals (sometimes none!), I find the markings of previous clarinetists invaluable. I can quickly look through my part, see which parts are marked as tricky, which instrument the next entry is with, suggested intonation corrections, most likely beat pattern of the conductor, etc. etc. I agree that excessive marking can be irritating, but my predecessors have helped me more than they know!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
