The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2015-12-03 22:43
Hey - quick question:
I heard that handwritten symphonic parts was due to a union agreement between whatever union governs manuscript artisans and major publishers. I've always wondered why we have so many sloppily written parts (not all parts, of course, but some are a nightmare). Any of you have an insight into this?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: rmk54
Date: 2015-12-03 23:54
This is entirely incorrect.
Back before computers it was very expensive to engrave music on copper plates, plus you could not easily make revisions.
Since serious (i.e. "classical") music does not generate a lot of income, publishers generally try to hold down expenses as much as possible.
BTW, copyists belong to the same union as other musicians, the AFM. (Actually this is not entirely correct as there is a sub-genre of copyists called autographers that ASAIK are not unionized).
Another problem today is that composers think that they can just purchase software and engrave their music themselves. This accounts for much of the bad computer-generated music I have seen.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: JasonOlney
Date: 2015-12-04 01:23
Thanks for the clarification. I had heard wrongly! That definitely explains why some of the parts I see are so...um...worn.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ed
Date: 2015-12-04 21:19
Not to divert the topic, but I agree with rmk about composers and notation software. I have been in various situations where there are parts that are poorly notated and difficult to read. Sending them out to someone who can clean them up would make it SO much better. Performance would be better and much less time would be wasted in rehearsals trying to figure out what is on the page.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
|