Proofreading

Proofreading is an essential part of music preparation, whether it’s engraving for publication, a recording session, or for performance.

It’s more than merely having an eye for detail. Good proofreading really boils down to having an efficient and methodical / systematic approach which allows every aspect of the music on every page to be examined  consistently and thoroughly.

I recommend the method advocated by William Holab and David Fetheroff in “The G. Schirmer/AMP Manual of Style and Usage” as a great starting point. Once you’ve learned how it works, you may modify the process somewhat, as I have, but the gist is, you want to specifically target groups of musical elements one at a time in a methodical manner to produce consistent and accurate results.

In the G. Schirmer system, the proofreader prints out a copy of the score or part and pencils the following letters at the top of the page, crossing each letter off as that task is complete:

P R D A M Pd T Ex

• “P” stands for Pitch, and includes things which affect pitch such as clef changes and accidentals.
• “R” is for Rhythmic elements, such as note values, rests, multirests and ties.
• “D” for Dynamics, including hairpins, and text markings such as cresc. and dim.
• “A” for Articulations (G. Schirmer includes dynamic markings in this group)
• “M” for Measure Numbers
• “Pd” – if you are proofreading Keyboard music, you’ll want a separate pass for Pedal Markings.
• “T” for Text such as titles, tempo marks and instrument labels.
• “Ex” for what G. Schirmer calls “extremities”, which is basically anything not covered above.

I use a red pencil with different colored highlighters for different rounds of proofing. If more than one person is involved in the editing process, a uniquely color coded markup for each person works very well.

Sibelius has two very useful software-based tools for proofreading: “Highlight” and “Comment”, which allow multiple proofreaders and editors working together to create color-coded errata / editorial markup across several rounds of edits.

For parts proofreading of commercial music, particularly film scoring sessions, where time is extremely tight, it’s accepted practice to print the score out for reference, but proof the parts on screen, making all corrections during this pass. If time permits, a second proofreader will review or spot check this work in a second pass, again, making corrections directly in the file if needed.

A more likely scenario for multiple proofreaders in a film scoring session, though, is to have two or more proofreaders “split” a cue, with one proofer reviewing the woodwind parts, and another reviewing the brass in order to meet the very short turnaround demands. All the more reason for a systematic approach to proofreading here.

Additional things to look for in parts:

1. Pitch – Check transposing parts carefully for pitch (commercial scores are almost always in concert pitch).
2. Layout – Good page turns are a must. Poor page turns can really bring a session to a halt, and require unnecessary pickups in recording.
3. Numbering – Check Bar Numbering and Page Numbering.  For recording sessions, where bar numbers appear on every bar, make sure no music element is obscured by a bar number.
4. Cues – Make sure all parts contain appropriate cues. This is especially important for recording sessions or performances with minimal rehearsal where the music is unfamiliar. In commercial music, entrances on the downbeat can be cued using text only to break multirests.
5. Headers – you’d be surprised in film score work how many times the wrong cue number or instrument name, usually left over from a previous score template, appears on the title page and / or header text. Carefully check the instrument name, title and header text of each part!

Simplify – Make sure each part is providing the necessary information in the most economical way for the musician.   For instance, with 16 bars of flute notes written in the staff with an 8va, the actual pitches will be easier for the player to read, and the long 8va line is an additional visual distraction.

For publishing, it is common practice to have more than one proofreader look at a piece. Particularly where the music is complex in nature, and with respect to each publisher’s requirements, regardless of experience, no proofreader will catch every detail of every note and bar of music. Being able to assign multiple experienced proofreaders to the same piece of music in several rounds of proofing may seem like something of a luxury, but each new pair of eyes on the music will discover new errors.

One last thought. If you have composed a piece of music, get someone else to proofread your work whenever possible. Any time you compose or arrange or orchestrate or engrave or copy something, the tendency is to see what you thought you wrote, not what you actually wrote. A good proofreader will find the things you intended to do, but didn’t.

You’ve been reading what I wrote – what did I miss?

~robert