What Is A Professional Score

what is a profressional score ?

The one looks like the ones you buy at a store ?

Personally I suck on slurs, can't simply get it pretty, I need a complete course in adding slurs :P

Oh thanks for that but its's been years I stopped writing in paper, I mean I suck even in Sibelius !!! :D

Ok...

Let's see, from my own experience.

A commercial (and professional score) will have the following features:

• It will have no clashing elements. No sharps clashing with sharps. No slurs touching text, no other elements touching each other. Both software (Finale and Sibelius) that I use have features to help you avoid that, but in complicated scores it's next to impossible to avoid it complete.
  

• It will have the right amount of cautionary accidentals. It's a debate topic for a lot of performers, but I find that, again, for more complicated music cautionary accidentals are a must! (A cautionary accidental is the accidental that shouldn't be there, in the next bar, but still we put it in case someone forgets what's going on.
  

• It will have all the necessary information about the performance. Some works require specific sittings for the performers. Other works require the use of a contrabass arco for playing the vibes (eg.). Some scores are in C and others are transposed! It's very important to indicate all those issues, along with any other useful information (what mallets will the percussionists require, the preparation of the piano (prepared piano, or amplified), the use of electronics, etc). Of course I'm talking about contemporary scores.
  

• The size and margins will be correct! Yes, letter size or A4 size papers suck big time! They look totally unprofessional! Now, in order to do that and actually print them you will need a very good large size printer... Otherwise to a professional printer! Normal piano score is 23,5x31 cm roughly... It's larger than A4, yet smaller than B4... Margins are roughly 2 cm in each side...
  
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• The colour of the paper will be 'broken-white' (with yellow elements. I'm unclear on how this is called in English). Black dots on white paper makes it hard to read and tire the eyes. A toned down background colour (yellow-ish) will work to the benefit of all.
  

• The person making the score (the composer in most cases today...?) will need to take special care for the turn of the pages. Some scores or parts even contain 3 paper sides for ease of use. A lot of quality scores will make sure that the last bar(s) of the right page will have a rest for the pianist/performer to turn them...
  

• The score WILL NEED TO BE PROOF READ by someone else, not the person making it! It's of untmost importance to get the score looked up by someone else. It's actually costly to do so, but it saves you tons of trouble!
  

• There will be measure numbers and/or rehearsal letters. Saves the trouble from the conductor to call out to the idiot playing the viola "Lets go to two bars prior to your phrase.. you moron!". Instead he will yell: "Take it again from G... you moron...". Easier! :D . In film scores it's customed to have measure numbers in EVERY BAR (underneath the full score).
  

• i. The slurs and accents and dynamics and articulations need to be clear and consistent. Don't forget to take off a mute if you put it 3 pages before. Otherwise the trumpet player will be still playing with the mute on... Remind the performers on what dynamic they are every once in a while. Don't expect anyone to have an elephants memory and keep remembering that in bar 120 it's FF (when the last time they saw a dynamic they were at bar 69!).
  

• Tempo markings go ABOVE the score, and ABOVE the strings sections, not in every section (although I've seen that happen), and not inside the staves or underneath them. Tempo markings should have a larger font than normal text. Not too large, but certainly not the same size as a mere cresc... note...
  

• Binding is also important (since we're talking about professional scores), though it's not easy to have many options in an amateur case. Professionally bound scores work great; the pages open, and stay open, etc... Any DOVER score fails at that account, whereas every HENLE score passes!
  

• Copyright notice! Copyright notice! Copyright notice! Copyright notice! Have I said it enough times?
  

Ultimately it's a score that THE OTHERS will view as professional! Not yourself! Because you can't be impartial to your own doings! Simple as that!

Hope this helps...

Sorry to bump this, but there's something else that needs mentioning:

Regardless of what you do, eventually something will hide itself in the score and there's almost no way to avoid getting at least one error in the scores! Reason is that you (the composer) knows the work best so you are very aware of how things should be, but you also wrote it down on paper, or machine. The proof reader will get 99% of the errors, but will miss something that he could never have thought it to be an error.

An example: I recently completed a series of 21 short works for piano. In No. 8 I have crotchet = 78. Which is fine and in the right place and all. Only that it should be half note = 78 (so the work right now shows you should play it at half the speed, ergo VERY slowly). I'm the only one who would be able to see that prior to printing (and I didn't...).

^^^Well said Nikolas, publish that! You said it all. Matter of fact, I'm going to print this out and give it to my students! :)

I second Nikolas' comment. Also I found a great book on notation Behind Bars publkished by a professional music publisher who has work with many contemporary composers - "Behind Bars"

http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Bars-Definitive-Guide-Notation/dp/0571514561

I didn't know we were throwing links around! :D

http://npcimaging.co...oks/TedRoss.htm

I got this from Nick, who was very nice to send it express and without much trouble and the CD ROM is great and so are the contents.

Another book that I don't even care to remember from Berkley Press was rubbish.

I'd like to get the Behind Bars book, but at 99$ right now and me being kinda broke (saving for other gigs) it's rather hard...

And a nice review there, Chris!

Nik and Maestro - I'll gladly send you a scan of a few pages from it.

Not nitty gritty as in finger charts Phil - more an overview and description of some additional techniques. For example the section on string harmonics covers ground given in Adler and Blatter but the presentation is far better and clearer. It offers basic info on winds - that is the fact you cannot just write ntoes and assume it will be legato and goes into the various articulations. The section on piano is invaluable for its description of pedals and proper indications. Also the bookes a great comparison between piano and harp writing.

In sum the instrumentation covers SOME of the basics and clarifies some areas better than Adler does. The main focus is notation. But the author realizes you have to cover areas of instrumentation to have a truly comprehensive guide to notation. So, don't expect a discussion of ranges of instruments and the various colors or weak and strong spots - rather some of the topics mentioned in the prior paragraph. I would say this along with a good instrumentation book and orchestration text and you are set as an arranger/composer. Of course the BIG exception is she does not get too into preparing lead sheets - just refers to it once in awhile.

^^Sure!