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Old Apr 28 2008, 8:55 PM
nikolas nikolas is offline

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With a fast look I had in my break:

1. The score looks tiny! I know that this will be hard work, and probably your conductor prefered the full score, but maybe condensed would be better? I mean half the orchestra is not playing half the time, you could just delete the staves which don't play. It will save loads of space and also provide an opportunity to enlarge your page %. If you are printing in A4 pages, I'd say don't go bellow 50% or even 55%. I printed off a page and it is tiny! Your supervisor and examiners will have trouble looking at such pages.

It won't be easy, but... I think it will be worth it.

2. Some things are do cramped that collide with each other. page 11, for example, the trumpets. They are simply too close together.

If you do change page %, you WILL HAVE TO move bars here and there. Don't worry about page turning anymore. There's not the time factor, so if you did take it into account, forget it totally for the "study score".

3. As you said about spelling, etc, this I can't check, it's 43 pages of a tiny score. But forget about parts as well! The study score needs to be complete and provide a helpful insight to the conductor and the composer, or examiners, not be ready for the parts. The parts come later (in this came they came early! )

4. I don't see very much reason to have the "Fantasy for piano and orchestra" on the top of every page. It's not such an amazing title either way (!) but really...

5. You highlight some bar numbers but not others. However you still have bar numbers on each page and each system and each section. I would propose changing the bar umbers in squares, into A, B, C... rehearsal letters instead. But this is up to you.

6. Score is in C, or not? (I know it's transposed, don't worry). I always write score in C, since my music is far from tonal, so I'm not sure if the score needs a comment "score transposed" or anything like that... :-/ Anyone else on this?

7. Some truplet numbers (harp bar 5 for exampl), are mingled with noteheads, etc and you can't make them out. Move them accordingly.

8. Colliding elements. Too many to list. (example bar 26, F. Hrns. the mf is right on the barline. Move it). Even noteheads and accidentals collide with each other some times (bar 20-25, piano, for example).

9. bar 50, trumpets, et all: Detach the 2 truplets in the end. It looks confusing this way. 5 notes beamed together and 2 truplets. Or even better make this whole 5 beam + 1 rest a 6plet, not 2 3plets.

10. harp, bar 95. This is the first time that you provided pedal information, I think (not 100% sure). I would prefer to avoid it. After all this time, and half the piece gone, just put the 7 pitches down in 32nds, extend the beam slightly with the special tools and then start the glissando lines...

11. I usually, and personally, put a straight line for glissando, and not a wavy one. Not sure which one is best. And I usually write down something like gliss.

12. At current page %, all tempo indications cannot be read. At my (simple and smallish) 17" screen that is. If I remember correctly the default is Times New Romans, 14, bold. Othewise you can't make them stand out enough, I think.

13. bar 130, piano. The accents, while in default position there, by Finale, are on the wrong place (because you moved the notes to the other staff). Move the accents above the notes and outside the staff.

14. bar 196, piano. The legato slurs is colliding with the notes.

I really can't find anything else, without going into more specifics, which would be a nightmare at my current busy position.

I hope this helped.
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