robertwhite

So, I just spent about 20 minutes erasing markings from my part to "Appalachian Spring" which we start rehearsing on Tuesday. It's a rental from Boosey&Hawkes, so I don't know who had it last - but man was there a lot of pencil!

Rather than just rant, though, I thought I'd share my ideas about which markings can be helpful and which are usually annoying and unnecessary. I hope others will put in their .02 as well since we all have different ideas about how to do things.

Some helpful markings:
- figure in top left corner indicating number of bars rest from previous page(e.g. -9- )
- indication of "V.S." in lower right corner if there's stuff to play immediately
after the page turn
- cues in small letters indicating when an instrument enters during extensive bars of rest (e.g. If the low brass come in at "G" after 100 bars rest, write "trb." under the staff). This isn't necessary if there's only a few bars rest.

Markings that aren't so helpful:
- fingerings (especially when they're Bb trumpet fingerings!). If you're playing in an orchestra, shouldn't you know the fingerings by now?
- writing things like "LOUD" above a printed indication of fff or "MUTE!" above con sordino, etc.
- lines indicating every beat and most of the subdivisions thereof.
- anything in heavy, dark pencil which obscures the staff/notes/key sig./etc.

I'm sure lots of people will say their teachers always told them to write stuff in, and I get that. But I guess I don't understand why stuff that's ALREADY IN THE PART has to be amplified with other markings.

uatrmpt

My teacher is an orchestral trumpet player and he would always get on to those of us in the studio for writing stuff on our parts. He said we couldn't read it when we're playing anyway, so we'd might as well just remember it. I still make some stylistic notes, but it broke my habit of marking every flat or sharp!

Brekelefuw

When playing difficult rhythmic parts, I have no problems writing in where the beats lie.
The only time I write fingerings in is if it is a tricky fingering passage and I opt to use alternate fingerings instead of the real ones to aleviate some of the trickiness, then I will write the alternates in to remind me.

Sometimes if a dynamic needs to be exagerated more than written, I will circle it or draw a pair of glasses near it to remind me.

I don't have any problems writing on my parts, although most of the music I play I don't need to write on. I can see it being annoying to have someone elses writing on a part. I have never had that problem unless I am subbing for someone though, because I always get my own copies of charts so I don't have to worry about losing them.

Tootsall

I'll agree with Robert White's suggestions 100%.... and make two more. Since different conductors will take tempo interpretations differently I'll use "eyeglasses" to mark where I need to be paying special attention to looking for rapid temp changes (either faster OR slower). I can generally see the conductor (depending on their stick style) with my peripheral vision but sometimes it's handy to give yourself a bit of warning that things are about to change. Eyeglass markings I'll remove when we're handing the parts back in.

The other marking I'll make is an "advance warning" when mute changes are coming up that are going to be "rapid". It gives me time to pick the right mute off the floor and tuck it behind my knee or put it on my lap. These markings I'll leave in. The exception is when there are several bars of rest before the mute is required then I won't bother marking at all but spend the rest "looking ahead".

MahlerBrass

Ok, I don't mean to get off track here, but I have a question concerning this matter for you pros out there. I was watching the MTT San Fran DVD of Tchaik 4, and in the behind the scenes stuff they talk about how the librarians mark all the parts to what the conductor wants for the orchestra, is this common? It'd be pretty nice to get your part with all the necessary marking to play the part according to what the conductor wants, but I was just curious if this was the norm, thanks!

Manny Laureano

When the conductor owns the set of parts, he'll often have anything that's different from what's in ink already marked to save rehearsal time, supposedly. Sometimes they'll have conducting patterns from mixed meter music marked as well.

ML

wiseone2

Ormandy called his librarian at all hours with his additions to scores. Philly's librarian would turn off his phone at night so the Maestro would not disturb him after 11PM.
Some conductors can go nuts when they have the power to change the music
How many guys have had to play souped-up Brahms or Beethoven? Raise your hands
Wilmer

joey

With regards to 'circling' passages-please don't. In many parts of the world, especially in commercial settings, this means to not play the circled passage.

I'm with Bob here. Mark what you need. If it's already on the page, you don't need it.

Joey

wiseone2

Any of you fellows remember when every player had his trademark that they put on the music to show they had been there?
Manny Klein's was sort of a caricature of his strongest feature, his Jimmy Durante-like nose. Pete Condoli's was a Superman kind of thing. Saul Caston's used his name in a very clever way. Some players just put their name on the music. Does this tagging still happen
Wilmer

robertwhite

Those are funny, Wilmer. It would be cool to come across an "artifact" like that!

In response to some of the above posts, I should reiterate that I was mainly talking about parts that will get used by other players eventually (in this case, rental music). I think it just comes down to having some consideration for the next guy who gets the chart!

Also, any marking that's neat and minimal probably won't cause any problems. I agree that advanced warning about mute switches and metric division indications can be very helpful and even totally necessary at times. It's these folks who treat the part like a damn coloring book that I'm taking issue with, I guess.