Instrumental Ensembles

Patricia Sedor, in her article entitled Music Scores writes: During the eighteenth century, the expansion of the orchestra and the changes in musical style similarly led to increased sophistication in the design of orchestral scores. The layout of staves often followed the standard outline, although some composers (e.g. Spontini, Schubert and Schumann) at times departed radically from it and used one of the earlier eighteenth-century formats. Wagner, preceded by Spontini, Berlioz and others, placed the horns between the clarinets and the bassoons. There was no fixed place for instruments like the harp, the bass clarinet and (in France) the saxophone, or for the rarer instruments. Such complexities of score notation naturally prompted calls for its reform which still persist. In particular, the idea that transposing instruments should be written at sounding pitch has been hard to relinquish. However, the development of atonality has led to the rejection of transposing notation (other than the usual octave transpositions) in many scores. There are conventions that you should observe when laying out music in full score or as individual parts. Some have been mentioned earlier. all staves have a clef sign followed by a key signature; a time signature is only shown in the first bar of the work, except if and where it is changed; if the time signature changes while the piece is in progress it does so only at the beginning of a bar; each line of a score should be marked with the full or abbreviated name of the instrument playing it; with single parts, the instrument need only be named at the top of the page; braces group the lines of instruments like the piano (2 lines), organ (2 or 3 lines) or harp (2 lines); in orchestral scores, braces group lines played by related instruments - e.g. flute(s) and piccolo; bar lines are drawn through the instrumental lines belonging to those in the same section; to conserve space, instruments of the same kind may be placed on the same line (e.g. when parts divide); solo parts in concertos are normally placed immediately above the strings; nowadays, choral lines also appear just above the strings; two dark oblique lines may be placed between each line of the stave in full score; parts for instruments, not required for extended periods, may be removed from the full score; the parts will include sufficient multi-bar rests during extended periods of silence. We have illustrated, on the right hand side of this page, a full or open score for orchestra. The convention is that higher-pitched instruments or voices are usually placed higher on the page than lower-pitched parts. So, in orchestral scores, the groupings are by instrumental 'family': woodwinds on top of the page, and below them, in descending order, brass, percussion, harp and keyboards, soloists (instrumental or vocal), voices, and strings. Within each family, the arrangement is still from top to bottom by pitch, so that in the strings, for example, the violins are at the top and the double basses at the bottom. In conductors' scores today, music for transposing instruments continues to be written in transposed form, just as in the players' parts; but a few publishers, especially of modern music, provide conductors with music which is all at concert pitch. The advantage of the latter practice is that it makes the pitch relationships of the entire score easier for the conductor to see. The advantage of traditional practice is that it facilitates spoken communication in rehearsal since conductor and player are looking at the same notation. We give below a number of formats commonly met with. Orchestral Layout - Summary Flutes (Fl or Fls) Oboes (Ob or Obs) Clarinets (Cl or Cls) Bassoons (Bsn or Bsns) Horns (Hn or Hns) Trumpets (Tpt or Tpts) Trombones (Trb or Trbs) Tuba (Tuba) Timpani (Timp) Percussion (Perc) Other Instruments Violins I (Vlns) Violins II Viola (Vla) Violoncellos (Vcl) Double Bass (DB) Brass Quintet Score Layout - Summary Trumpet I Trumpet II Horn Trombone Tuba Band Score Layout - Summary Flutes (Fl or Fls) Oboes (Ob or Obs) Bassoons (Bsn or Bsns) Clarinets (Cl or Cls) Saxophones (AS, or TS, or BS) Cornets (Cor) Trumpets (Tpt or Tpts) Horns (Hn or Hns) Trombones (Trb or Trbs) Euphoniums (Euph) Tubas (Tubas) Timpani (Timp) Percussion (Perc) Woodwind Quartet Score Layout - Summary Flute Oboe Clarinet Horn Bassoon References: Suggestions for preparing orchestral scores and parts Music scores

Solos & Parts

Performers are generally happier to read from their own part and do not need to work from a full or open score. It is not unusual, in complex works, to include cues from other parts in the playing part, particular when there are extended periods of silence. These extracts will be printed using a smaller type face, placed on or above the playing line. Performers sometimes add further cues by hand (using a pencil) where these give confidence during a performance.

Short, condensed or close scores are those with a smaller number of staves than in the full or open score. Each staff bears one or more lines, each line often identifiable because the note tails for a particular line are set up or down throughout the piece. An example of a condensed format is the reduction of a four-staff string quartet score to a two-staff 'treble and bass' piano-like form.

If, as an exercise, you are asked to expand a close score back to its full or open form, remember to adopt the usual layout for the instruments required; transposing parts if the instruments require them and the correct clef (alto clef for viola, tenor clef for tenor voice, and so on) where appropriate.

Keyboards

We have illustrated the layout for a SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choir with a three line organ part (2 line keyboard part - 1 line pedal part). When vocal lines include 'spoken' rather than sung text, the untuned percussion symbol (the note-head is a small x) can be used.

The examples below, the introductory bars of Irving Berlin's 'Blue Skies' and Bach's Fugue BWV 948 show how a composer can show inner parts within a keyboard score. 'Blue Skies' begins with an upper melody, and inner series of chords and a bass line. The inner chords have their tails flipped down to distinguish them from the melody above which has its tails pointing up.By bar 7 there are now four distinct lines. In addition, the second line is divided on the second beat and on the first quaver (eighth note) of the third beat. The composer wishes to make the four parts clear, hoping that the performer will do the same. In the Fugue, Bach makes clear the three independent fugal voices by writing three distinct lines.

Percussion

Tuned percussion parts use a five line stave. Some instruments, e.g. marimbas and harps, use a keyboard layout. Untuned percussion (the four lines at the top of the score below) may use the five line stave with standard note-heads (where each line or space refers to a different untuned percussion instrument in a set) or a single line with a special clef sign and note heads in the form of small x's, a symbol used to show a note of no predetermined pitch on one particular untuned percussion instrument.

How to Write Parts for Transposing Instruments

In many modern works, transposing instruments, that is those where the player reads one note but sounds a different note, may be written, in the score, as they are heard rather than as they are read. The individual parts, however, would still be set out with the standard transposition. By notating the whole score at concert pitch, give or take octave transpositions, it is much easier to 'see' the harmonic and melodic detail. Pre-twentieth-century scores are written with the transposing parts as they are read.

Transposed parts are commonly used for brass and some woodwind instruments, for example:

Bb trumpet
French horn (F)
Alto saxophone (Eb)
Tenor saxophone (Bb)
Cor anglais (F)
Bb clarinet
A clarinet

Before writing for a transposing instrument you need to know its key, any octave shifts in the transposition and the clef the player expects to read.

One example shows their advantage. Clarinets come in different sizes but all have the same fingering system. If a player reads a part that prompts for the fingering rather than for the note, changing between instruments is much easier.

So what happens is this.

All clarinet parts read as though the key note (the lowest B flat on a clarinet in B flat, or the lowest A on a clarinet in A) is middle C. The part is transposed relative to instruments that play the note they read (called 'concert pitch') in order that the correct note is sounded. Note that although the B flat clarinet is called 'B flat', on the modern instrument, in fact, its lowest note is the D below middle C which is written as an E in the transposed part.

The same convention is used by many but not all brass players so that, as they move from one member of the brass instrument family to another, they have to learn only one note read - fingering convention. It is the way the part is transposed that takes care of the fingering - note heard relationship.

So, what is the correct recipe?

Let us write a transposed part for Bb trumpet, that is, a part the Bb trumpet will play from.

The Bb trumpet part is transposed a whole tone above concert/sounding pitch.

If the composer/arranger wants the trumpet to sound a B flat he or she must write a C in the trumpet player's part.

Let us begin with a concert/sounding pitch part in the full score and produce a part for the trumpeter to play from, i.e. a transposed part.

First remember to transpose the key signature up a tone above concert/sounding pitch.

Note: the key signature is that one tone higher than the key signature shown on the concert/sounding pitch line in the score.

Eb concert transposes up one tone to F (i.e. Eb + one semitone = E; E + one semitone = F)
C concert transposes up one tone to D (i.e. C + one semitone = C#; C# + one semitone = D)
D concert transposes up one tone to E (i.e. D + one semitone = D#; D# + one semitone = E)
and so on ....

One can write out a table to help keep track of the correct adjustment.

We can examine another example, the baritone saxophone which is scored in the full score in bass clef but whose extracted transposing part is written up a diatonic 13th (diatonic 6th and an octave) to the treble clef.

First one raises the part in the bass clef by one octave, then by a further 6th and converts the line into treble clef.

We have mentioned above that you should not forget to adjust the key signature too. However, key signatures are often omitted for the French horn - the instrument most often requiring transposition! Parts for other instruments, such as the trumpet and A clarinet, are sometimes written without key signatures as well. The absence of a key signature can thus indicate either a key of C major (or A minor) or an omitted key signature. One has to determine the correct key signature from another (non-transposing) part or from the score.

As with the trumpet part above, it helps to set out a table showing the concert/sounding key and the note up to which it must be transposed on the player's part.

Let us summarise what we have said above by showing below an example of how a chord might be written in a score and what notes the listener would actually hear in each case. The only non-transposing instruments are the flute and the oboe.

One of our readers asked an interesting question:

"I have a B flat clarinet part that I would like to play on a clarinet in A. How do I transpose the part so that the notes my instrument sounds reproduce the notes the B flat clarinet sounded on the original transposed part?".

We thank Charles Edward Crawford for clarifying the following explanation of the answer to this question.

Let us begin by reviewing how the parts for B flat and A clarinets are written.

All clarinet parts read as though the key note is C. This is the note both a B flat and an A clarinet player will read but where the former sounds a B flat and the latter sounds an A. If the part is transposed relative to instruments that play what they read, the correct note is heard.

To play the keynote B flat in B flat major, a B flat clarinet part notates a C in a part bearing a key signature with no flats or sharps, the key signature for the key of C major.

To play the keynote A in A major, an A clarinet part notates a C in a part bearing a key signature with no sharps or flats, the key signature for the key of C major.

To play the keynote B flat in B flat major, an A clarinet part notates a D flat in the key of D flat major, that is with five flats.

Thus to write a transposing part for an A clarinet that was originally to sound in B flat major, but read as in C major, for B flat clarinet, the keynote C in the transposing part (which represents the B flat that is heard) will be rewritten for an A clarinet as a D flat (but will sound as a B flat) and five flats must be added to the key signature.

If we wanted to move the other way (from a part for clarinet in A to a part for clarinet in B flat), the shifts would be the reverse, the part would be written one semitone lower and the key signature would be shifted by the equivalent of 5 sharps.

Graham Nasby's How to Sight-transpose Clarinet Parts discusses how to transpose parts at sight. He writes, "many orchestra clarinet parts are often not written for Bb clarinet, and you may not have the required A, D, C, etc. clarinet. Also some passages may be present great technical problems which one does not have time to master, so one will transpose the part onto a differently pitched instrument to make the fingerings easier. The main reason for sight-transposing is that not all of us happen to own a complete set of pitched clarinets, so we have make do by tranposing as we play."

Reference:

Sounding Range of Orchestral Instruments

We show the approximate sounding ranges of the main orchestral instruments below.

We have provide more complete information in lesson 29.

You will find examples of transposing parts in the scores listed under instrumental ensembles.

Chart of Sounding Range and Clefs Used

The table below shows general information about the performing ranges of particular instruments. There are variations in the type and manufacture of instruments as well as the ability of different performers. More specific information can be found in Norman Del Mar's Anatomy of the Orchestra; Gardner Read's Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices; Kent Kennan's The Technique of Orchestration; and Philip J. Lang's Scoring for the Band. If you are writing or arranging music, the best resource, in a particular case, would be the instrumentalist(s) who will be expected to perform it.