I try to put what information about the score that helps the player know and play the piece the easiest.
For instance, I may include:
• Chord symbols to invite improvisation
• The melodies of other parts so he can fit his part in better
• Brief written explanations of what’s happening during “rest” sections on that part.
I very often, on drum parts, just use the piano-conductor score for the drummer when I want the drummer to invent his own rhythms.
I sometimes make a “piano-conductor” part that I can use to rehearse which includes all the main parts – cued (written usually in a smaller size as a grid – but not meant to be played) in such a way that the part can be completely written on a double stave system (with the occasional exception of needing to add a third staff to the system). This makes it handier to use than the full score, which has more staves per system and more pages to turn.
I leave space on the manuscript paper of a part to add things in as changes and additives usually happen. For example, if there are several bars with no notes but I predict that notes might be added later, I leave the bars blank instead of putting rest signs in them so that the space can be used to put new handwritten notes in.
I lay out each written line so as not to squeeze notes and bars into too small a space – but leave more space than is needed and leave extra lines if possible.
I only use ink for the final copying of a part. Otherwise, pencil works best in all situations.
All efforts are geared towards easy readability – and thus a high level of communication from the composer to the player. 2
Chick Corea 1988 (revised 2 Aug. 93) (again Mar. 98) (and again Feb. 2001)
GLOSSARY
Accidentals – sharps, flats, or natural signs used to raise, lower or return a note to its intended pitch.
Accompaniment – supporting part.
Altered Notes – notes whose pitches are raised or lowered from the original scale.
Arpeggio – the notes of a chord played in succession (harp-like); a broken chord.
Augmented – referring to an interval, increased by one half step from a major or perfect interval.
Bar – a measure; the space between two bar lines.
Bar Line – a line drawn from the top to the bottom of a staff to denote the division of the meter in a piece of music.
Bass Clef – an F clef on the fourth line of the staff, used for bass and baritone voices, the left hand of the piano and lower-pitched instruments.
Beats – the basic pulse measurements in music.
Chord – the sounding of two or more notes simultaneously.
Comping – providing accompaniment for a soloist; an improvised arrangement that backs up a soloist.
Degrees – the tones (or notes) of a scale.
Diminished – referring to an interval, made smaller by a half step.
Dominant Seventh – in a major scale, if you play four-note chords built in thirds, the chord starting on the fifth scale degree is called the dominant seventh chord.
Duration – the length of a note or rest.
Embellishment – improvised addition.
Expression Mark – a word, phrase or sign indicating how a composition is to be performed.
Fifth – the interval of five diatonic scale degrees.
Flat – the symbol (b) placed before the head of a note that lowers its pitch one-half tone.
Gig – a job for a musician.
Grace Notes – a note or notes of short duration, which slide or trip into the next major note; a kind of embellishment.
page 36 A Work In Progress ... On Being a Musician by Chick Corea
Grand Staff – a double stave used for keyboard writing with a G clef as the top staff and a bass clef as the bottom staff.
Key Signature – the sharps or flats written on the staff at the beginning of a piece to indicate the key.
Major Seventh Chord – a major triad with an additional major seventh.
Measure – the space between two bar lines.
Middle C – The “C” near the middle of the keyboard.
Motif – a short melodic pattern or musical idea that recurs.
Notation – a means for representing musical sounds; written music indicating pitch, duration and rhythm.
Note – a symbol used to express the pitch and duration of musical tones.
Orchestration – the arranging of music for instruments and voices.
Part – the music for an individual voice or instrument.
Passing Tone – a note that is a transition between two more important notes.
Phrasing – the grouping and articulation or expression of a group of notes.
Pitch – the word used to indicate the relative highness or lowness of a tone or its frequency.
Register – a specific area of the range or compass of a voice, instrument or composition.
Rest – a symbol used to indicate relative periods of silence.
Rhythm – the motion of music.
Root – the fundamental note of a chord or scale.
Score – a manuscript or printed representation of a musical work that shows all the parts of an ensemble arranged vertically with time moving horizontally.
Sharp – the notation (#) placed before the head of a note that raises its pitch one-half tone.
Staff (stave) – a set of lines serving as a guide for writing notes and indicating their relative position.
System – two or more music staves joined together by a line or a brace in a score to show that the written notes on the joined staves are moving together.
Third – an interval of three diatonic scale degrees.
Timbre – the color or tonal quality of a sound.
Transcription – the written notation taken from a recording.
Treble Clef – the G clef falling on the second line of the staff, used for the right hand part of keyboard instruments, the vocal soprano part and the higher melody instruments.
Voice – one of the parts in music that has more than one part.
Voicing – the arrangement of notes’ voices in a vertical structure or chord.
Whole Tone Scale – a scale composed of whole tone steps.
1 The book Art by L. Ron Hubbard has been a great reference for me on the action of art as a communication in its many aspects.
2 In the past 10 years I’ve begun to use computer sequencing notation as well. Logic has long since been my tool for quickly recording ideas and making demos of compositions in progress, and Sibelius has become my tool for creating a finished score – when I have time to do that myself.