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Thread: Writing on Sheet Music

  1. #11
    I usually print out my own sheet music, so I can make however I want it to, with pen, with colour pencils, highlighters etc
    "Never over complicate things. Accept "bad" days. Always enjoy yourself when playing, love the sound we can make on our instruments (because that's why we all started playing the Euph)"

    Euph: Yamaha 642II Neo - 千歌音
    Mouthpiece: K&G 4D, Denis Wick 5AL

    https://soundcloud.com/ashsparkle_chika
    https://www.youtube.com/user/AshTSparkle/

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Central North Carolina
    Posts
    2,369
    One of my major pet peeves is how way too many people approach writing on music in community bands I've played in. This is currently not a problem since the band I'm playing in has a completely digital library and EVERYONE prints of his or her own copies.

    So thanks to everyone who has acknowledged this issue and pointed out the proper way to do this on organization-owned sheet music if you must. So you don't EVER use ink and you ALWAYS mark lightly so it can be erased. Even then, however, way too many people hand in the music without ERASING their marks -- leaving it for the next player to do that. Thanks a lot. Then what happens is that the next player DOESN'T do that and at some point a couple of years later, the "librarian" discovers the need for additional copies of that part (never mind the copyright issues), and copies the part that has the pencil marks on it. So now they're INK marks and not erasable. Thanks even more for that.

    A special place in hell is reserved for those tuba players (usually BBb) who feel the need to write fingerings above or below the notes -- and in ink. Players of tubas in different keys will recognize how irritating this is -- like a euph player who's put treble clef fingerings over notes on a bass clef part.

    Otherwise, nowadays I mark up my music quite heavily -- trying to leave nothing to chance. And I do it with highlighters and pens in different colors: time and key signatures (when these change), repeats, some dynamic markings, insertions of conductor's wishes, and (since I'm pretty much exclusively playing a double-valve bass trombone in band recently) valve use and slide positions if these may be a bit unusual and facilitate a passage, notations for inserting/removing mutes, etc. Whatever ... If there's a chance I'll miss it or forget it (increasing with age), I mark it. It's the FIRST thing I do when I print my music from the digital copy.
    Gary Merrill
    Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
    Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
    Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
    1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
    Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
    1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)

  3. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by ghmerrill View Post
    A special place in hell is reserved for those tuba players (usually BBb) who feel the need to write fingerings above or below the notes -- and in ink. Players of tubas in different keys will recognize how irritating this is -- like a euph player who's put treble clef fingerings over notes on a bass clef part.
    Or the person who writes a bunch of non-compensating euphonium fingerings in ink. Sight reading a part cluttered with fingerings I couldn't use was fun.
    Adrian L. Quince
    Composer, Conductor, Euphoniumist
    www.adrianquince.com

    Kanstul 976 - SM4U

  4. #14
    Thank you for all the information!

    This clears up a lot about ensemble parts, but would anything be different with solo repertoire? For example, I listen to a recording of my solo piece/excerpt and the music doesn't have much written, but the soloist is adding crescendos, adding hairpins, making one passage more separated than another, using rubato, etc. Would it be appropriate to mark down the soloist's interpretation, or try and develop this on your own through studying the music without any extra markings?
    Natalie Colegrove
    @misseuphonium

  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by mscolegrove View Post
    Thank you for all the information!

    This clears up a lot about ensemble parts, but would anything be different with solo repertoire? For example, I listen to a recording of my solo piece/excerpt and the music doesn't have much written, but the soloist is adding crescendos, adding hairpins, making one passage more separated than another, using rubato, etc. Would it be appropriate to mark down the soloist's interpretation, or try and develop this on your own through studying the music without any extra markings?
    That's a multi-question post. Here are a couple thoughts.

    For solo music I write about as much as on ensemble parts, depending on the complexity of the piece. HOWEVER, I am much more likely to notate my breath strategy in solo music. For example, if a phrase is going to stress my air supply, I'll circle a breath mark in front of it. And to get me off to a running start, I often put another breath mark ahead of the previous phrase.

    As for another soloist's interpretation, that is a fantastic exercise and I use it and teach it. Learn to mimic others (and not just euphonium players) as a way to stretch your interpretative toolbox. Each of these exercises builds your abilities. But for performance, you generally want to use your own ideas (which are now broader as a result of the exercises). For example, I learned a lot by trying to phrase this song like its most famous performer, country singer Patsy Cline:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWltaKeU5oU

    That was not a technical challenge, but it took work to get the interpretation the way I wanted it.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Summerfield, Florida Sturgis, SD (summers)
    Posts
    1,867
    Quote Originally Posted by mscolegrove View Post
    Thank you for all the information!

    This clears up a lot about ensemble parts, but would anything be different with solo repertoire? For example, I listen to a recording of my solo piece/excerpt and the music doesn't have much written, but the soloist is adding crescendos, adding hairpins, making one passage more separated than another, using rubato, etc. Would it be appropriate to mark down the soloist's interpretation, or try and develop this on your own through studying the music without any extra markings?
    When I work on solo music (I usually play a solo with the our New Horizons Band each year - and this means for a whole semester of rehearsals, then 5-10 performances), I start usually by listening to several versions of the solo (maybe on euphonium, maybe on trumpet, maybe on trombone). I make notes on my solo part. I also make notes on the score to go over with the conductor. Score notes include tempo, tempo changes, ritardendo's, removing a 1st ending here or there, and many more possible things. I almost always change up things in the solos. Particularly the cadenzas. I might end up writing out the altered/new cadenza using music notation software.

    Then I go about doing like Dave for breath marks, this is near and dear to me as a former smoker. I sometimes have to make minor changes in a line or phrase to handle my partially diminished lung capacity. But no one will generally know this at all. If I have heard another soloist play a particular part of the solo one way that I really liked, I may "borrow" this, although I do try to generally make the changes my own creation. But my music definitely gets marked up. I make my own copy of the solo because of this.

    And, after all this marking, most of the time I play the solos from memory, but having those notes in the music helps me get everything sorted out initially and I commit the original music and my changes to memory. But I do use the music early on in the rehearsals.

    Needless to say, the band members have a lot of marks on their music as well.
    John Morgan
    The U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own) 1971-1976
    Adams E3 Custom Series Euphonium, 1956 B&H Imperial Euphonium,
    1973 F. E. Olds & Son Studio Model T-31 Baritone
    Adams TB1 Tenor Trombone, Yamaha YBL-822G Bass Trombone
    Year Round Except Summer:
    Kingdom of the Sun (KOS) Concert Band, Ocala, FL (Euphonium)
    KOS Brass Quintet (Trombone, Euphonium)
    Summer Only:
    Rapid City Municipal Band, Rapid City, SD (Euphonium)
    Rapid City New Horizons Band (Euphonium)

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