Score Layout

I really doubt that a real condutor prefers the "Over the note" way. (he will look at the left side of the staff, that's for sure)

Well I went to sheetmusic.com and browsed their bestseller list for music written in the last 50 years. I couldn't find ANY examples of the "percussion score" technique in conductor's scores by Alfred, Hal Leonard, or other publishers. I found that they all follow the "name over note" standard. About half included a variant of naming all the instruments to the left of the staff on page 1 only (which I like and will follow if I can figure out how to make Finale do it).

See for yourself (preview jpegs courtesy sheetmusic.com):

etc etc. Not just film, either - I also saw this in music for opera, musicals, orchestral suites, etc.

I suspect that the "standard" derives from the fact that a lot of old scores use it, including new editions of older music. This is logical because they use less varied percussion than a typical modern orchestral work for film or on the concert stage.

BTW I think the engraving differences between these 4 scores are pretty fascinating.

The bottom two are incorrect... the timpani should always be the top percussion instrument.

The Elfman piece has the trumpets above the horns in error.

The Shore piece has the piano above the percussion instead of above the strings.

Okay, as promised... two examples from my work showing how I notate percussion in the score.

PLEASE NOTE: I normally use 1-line staves for unpitched percussion, but since I'm still working on this particular score, I haven't converted it to the 1-line staff yet - that's one of the last things I do when I go through the score for final clean-up.

Example #1 - Percussion, first page of score

Example #2 - Percussion, a subsequent page of score

I like your system Flint. :) It's a good compromise between saving space and being specific.

The Shore piece has the piano above the percussion instead of above the strings.

Because it's actually a harp part, played on a piano synthesizer instrument...

The Elfman piece has the trumpets above the horns in error.

I have no excuse for this :O:D

The bottom two are incorrect... the timpani should always be the top percussion instrument.

The Elfman piece has the trumpets above the horns in error.

The Shore piece has the piano above the percussion instead of above the strings.

There are many "published" scores with errors, If you see something in a "formal" score that doen't convert the error in "official correct method"...

I've seen all kind of errors even in Bruckner, Mahler, Shostakovish, etc.. scores (those errors are to composer's fault of course)... I've seen scores with the name above the staves with small abbreviations which is wrong (and the left magin blank...:facepalm: what do you thing that magin is for ?) I've seen calling for Instruments they are not even exist, notes are impossible to play, slurs marking huge phrases can not be playad even with a "XL (extralarge) size" bow.... etc. etc...(that's the bow size SuperMan uses:P)

...But right now I feel this is becoming a useless discussion, you want to put the names over the note...oooooook, do it.... after all that's not the end of the world, that's not a terrible mistake....You could do it like flint-wwrr, the names at the left, but you keep using a single staff (to save space), then the Boxed text look good and catch the eye attention....

I would say that is time to thing in the music rather than the layout... surely you won't want a perfect score with horrible music in it.... relax, don't thing too much in how the score looks better and start the raising of you work.

We all wish you luck.:thumbsup:

(you can always edit the score if you change your mind)

Because it's actually a harp part, played on a piano synthesizer instrument...

Just a side note, you can't be seriously using Hal Leonard's school orchestra arrangements as the standard are you? I used to love Hal Leonard's editions as a freshman in high school. Now, that I have grown older and wiser about score editions, I loathe them. They are absolutely wrong on a huge number of engraving issues, the most grievous is, in fact, their use of percussion. The reason they do it the way they do, Weca, is so the student percussionists don't have to amalgamate all the percussion parts and figure out who will play what, it is already done for them in the score. In a professional (or even semi-pro) context, this is absolutely the wrong way to do it. I used to do it this way too; I have since abandoned it for the conventional separation of each instrument on their own staff. It is much clearer and much less hassle in performance because then the performer can decide what he wants to do.

There are many "published" scores with errors, If you see something in a "formal" score that doen't convert the error in "official correct method"...

Unless enough people do it "wrong". Then it starts becoming a standard, and thus the "official correct method". (Or at least one accepted option.)

Composers like Chaya Czernowin and Helmut Lachenmann who play with the idea of compound instruments don't use standard score order. If you're planning on slaving groups of non-familial instruments to each other, you might just group them by compound instrument.