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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:
- Pitch – Check transposing parts carefully for pitch (commercial scores are almost always in concert pitch).
- Layout – Good page turns are a must. Poor page turns can really bring a session to a halt, and require unnecessary pickups in recording.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Show Active Layer Only : What You See Is What You Edit in Finale
In Finale, sometimes it is desirable to copy only the material from one Layer (e.g. voice) to another location. However, while you can use use the settings in Edit > Edit Filter to control which elements are copied, all Filter settings apply to all visible Layers. But Finale has a very powerful feature hidden in the Document menu : “Show Active Layer Only”.
All you have to remember to use this feature is “If you don’t see it, it won’t get copied”. So, to copy only the music from Layer 2 onto the clipboard, make Layer 2 active, then select “Show Active Layer Only”.
Keep in mind that you can use this in connection with your settings in the Edit Filter to get very precise control of what gets copied to the Clipboard, for instance, copy just articulations attached to Layer 2…
Create a Divisi or Chorded Instrument from Two Separate Staves
In my post “Keep it Together in Finale or Sibelius : Score & Parts in the same file“, we looked at methods of exploding chorded or divisi parts in the score into individual lines that, would be hidden in the page view of the score, while still available as single line parts.
Often, just the opposite workflow is required: the score already contains individual instrument staves that need to be combined for the score. That is, rather than allocating the contents of a divisi or chorded staff into individual instrument staves, the requirement is to merge data from two or more independent staves into a single combined staff.
Let’s break it down.
On Location : Finale & Sibelius Rehearsal Marks
“From the top ?” . . .
Image source : “The Art of Music Engraving and Processing” by Ted Ross
“Thanks for the great rehearsal marks!” isn’t the type of compliment you’ll hear from musicians at a rehearsal. But even if they don’t always tell you, musicians really appreciate it when you make their job easier by providing clear location info in their parts.
Location info helps the musicians stay in sync. Entrance cues in parts are a good example. Different barline types help to define sections. Multi-measure rests that break logically with phrases can be a location aid. Bar numbers are particularly helpful when navigating linear scores. Key changes or tempo changes can also provide location info.
REHEARSAL MARKS
Rehearsal Marks allow the members of a band or orchestra of any size to quickly navigate to a specific point in the score together, in order to master more difficult passages in rehearsal. (It’s also easier for the conductor or bandleader to say “Take it from Letter M” than “Take it from bar 167″). Even after the piece has been mastered, Rehearsal Marks continue to provide location signposts for the players, helping them to stay oriented during performances or additional rehearsals.
Finale and Sibelius allow you to easily change the appearance of Rehearsal Marks to make them stand out in your score and parts.
Font, size and attributes can all be customized.
Both programs dynamically update rehearsal marks if you insert, move or delete them, automating the sequence of Rehearsal Marks correctly regardless of the order in which you enter them.
You can restart the Rehearsal Mark sequence at any point in the score. In Finale, choose Edit Rehearsal Mark Sequence from the Expressions menu. In Sibelius 7, choose the drop down menu for Rehearsal Mark in the Text Tab. In Sibelius 6, choose Rehearsal Mark from the Create Menu.
In both Finale and Sibelius, you can choose whether Rehearsal Marks are displayed as Rehearsal Letters, Rehearsal Numbers, or Bar Numbers.
Rehearsal marks are assigned to key shortcuts, which can be customized. Default shortcuts are “M” in Finale or “CNTRL-R” (windows) or “CMND-R” (mac) in Sibelius.
Both programs allow to you insert a non-sequential rehearsal mark if needed, and to hide measure numbers at the locations of the Rehearsal Marks.
Grand Pause ( G.P. ) Text in Sibelius – Symbols Method
Q: I’m trying to figure out a better mousetrap for dealing with Grand Pauses (GP) in Sibelius. When I use tempo text to create a grand pause in the score, it doesn’t center over bar rests in the score or the parts, so it requires a whole lot of tweaking in both places. I’m hoping there is a smarter, less laborious way to deal with this?
A: Good question. There is actually more than one approach we can take to address this question, in the absence of a true Sibelius feature to center text within a bar. In this tutorial, let’s take a look at the Symbols method:
Aleatoric Elements : From Boxed to Out of the Box Notation In Finale
Music that supplies only the pitches while directing the players to improvise the rhythms freely is a common (partly) aleatoric device which gives the composer a desired degree of control over the tonality, while retaining temporal freedom.
The notation is typically indicated by surrounding a series of specific pitches with a square or rectangular box, along with a box extender line to indicate that the pitches are to be improvised on for a specific number of beats or a given number of seconds. The exact duration of the “box” can also be indicated as a text duration (e.g. 00:06″ etc).
In ”Creating Aleatoric / Temporal Boxed Notation in Finale, Part 1” we looked at how to create these semi-aleatoric directives.
Sometimes, the reverse is desired: the rhythm is notated, but the specific pitches are left up to the player. A common convention for this is to show stems of different lengths (without noteheads) to show the relative pitch relationships:
This is quite simple to do in Finale:
Creating Aleatoric Temporal Boxed Notation in Finale
Q: I would like to use Finale to notate the contemporary avant-garde works I am composing. In a score with a number of instruments, How do I encapsulate a series within boxes or repeat bars for only one instrument, while the others keep playing and counting normally, without the repeat sign?
A: Finale is very flexible in this regard. Start by entering the notes for the series you would like boxed. They can be quarter notes, or duplets or tuplets of any value. The note values you choose will determine the initial series width within a bar of score, and the relative width within the part:
If you are using tuplets, it is common practice to hide their numbers. Select the tuplet tool. Click the first note of the tuplet, and then double-click the little selection box that appears in the center of the tuplet. When the dialog opens, change the appearance popup menu to “none”, and do this optionally for the shape setting as well, then ok the dialog:
If you have multiple boxed notations on different instruments down the score which use tuplets, use the Mass Edit tool to select all the affected staves in your selected region, then go to Utilities > Change > Tuplets . . . where you can hide the tuplet numbers globally for the selected area in one pass.
As of this writing, there are several systems for notating boxed notation. To keep it simple, I will walk through one of the more common conventions . . .
Finale 2012 (and earlier) Collision Avoidance Part 2 : Articulations
Q: How do you avoid collisions in Finale, i.e: dynamics, hairpins, accents, chord symbols, etc.? I end up manually moving a lot of stuff, and then I have to manually adjust each part as well.
A: I typically start with the smallest elements and work my way out to the big ones. It’s important to make as many placement adjustments as you can in the score, because in doing so, you are also updating their relative positions in the parts (location changes to articulations, text or shapes made in the parts are *not* reflected in the score). I covered collision avoidance of staff text, dynamics and lines in my post from 10/31/11, so let’s talk about articulations . . .
Show Bar Rests for Score and Parts Differently in Sibelius
Q: The conductor I am working with does not want bar rests in the conductor’s orchestral score, so I have Show Bar Rests turned off. However, when I go into the parts, the whole rests are hidden there as well. This makes little sense in the parts, where the player needs them. In Sibelius, how do I make these independent: “Show Bar Rests in Parts” and “Show Bar Rests in Score”?
A: Simply turn off rests in Engraving Rules of the score before you print, then toggle them back on for the parts.
Displaying Different Octaves In Score and Parts in Finale
Question: “I’m working on a Violin Concerto in Finale 2011. The violinist who is playing the concerto prefers to have all the high passages written out in pitch (rather than using ottava notation). However, I would like to use the ottava notation In the score. How to I show the notes at pitch in the part, and 8vb with the ottava lines in the score?”
Answer: You can create and use a Staff Style for this. Select the Staff Tool, then choose “Define Staff Styles” from the Staff Menu, or right-click to choose Define Staff Styles from the Contextual Menu. When the Staff Styles dialog comes up, select the Transposition button, and choose Chromatic, up an octave. OK the sub-dialog, then give your new Style a name (e.g. “Up an Octave). OK the main dialog.
At this point, you should have all the notes with the ottava lines already in your score.
If your score is Transposing, go into the Violin part, Choose the Staff Tool and then select the region to be changed. Now, in the Contextual Menu, choose “Apply Staff Style To Current Score or Part”, and select your new “Up an Octave Staff Style from the list.
If your score is displaying in Concert Pitch, stay in the score, and apply your Staff Style to both the score and the part (e.g. select it from the main contextual list).
For either Transposing or Concert Score, hide the ottava lines in the part. Now the part will be displayed as the player wants it, you won’t have the ledger lines in the score, and playback should be just as it always has been.
This same technique can also be applied to transposing instruments, as long as you remember to adjust the Transposition appropriately for the transposition as well as the octave (e.g. you will need to transpose by key signature for transposing instruments in a keyed piece.)
Gaps Before Codas for Score and Parts in Sibelius
“I would like to add a gap between bars for a Coda in my score and parts in Sibelius, but the gap is only showing up in the parts. How can I make the split system show up in the parts as well?”
In Sibelius 6, you must manually split the multirest in the same bar as the Split System in order for a Coda (e.g. System split) gap to show up in all the parts.
In Sibelius 7, the Split Multirest is automatically added when you select Split System, so normally, these will show up automatically in the parts this way.
However, note that in either Sibelius 6 or Sibelius 7, you also need to have “Keep gaps before codas (that have split multirests)” checked in the Layout Tab of the Multiple Part Appearance dialog for this to work properly.
In Sibelius 7, go to the Parts tab, Part Appearance and select the Layout tab. Check “Keep gaps before codas (that have split multirests)”
In Sibelius 6, select the Multi Part Appearance button in the Parts Window, and select the Layout tab. Check “Keep gaps before codas (that have split multirests)”
Creating a score which shows key signatures on some staves but not on others in Finale
There is a convention in Classical music to display certain parts chromatically, without a key signature, in a piece where the other instruments show the key signature – technically a mix of tonal and atonal staves, for lack of a better term. Timpani, Horn and even Trumpets are sometimes found notated chromatically this way.
Copeland, Stravinsky and Holst are three well known composers that have followed this convention for some of their works.
How does one create a score which shows key signatures on some staves but not on others in Finale 2011 and earlier?