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Topic: yet another plea for variable staff sizes in the same piece (Read 4319 times) previous topic - next topic

yet another plea for variable staff sizes in the same piece

Just thought it was time to bring up this topic again.

I am currently preparing parts for a piece for brass quintet and piano that will be performed in early October. Ideally, the pianist should have a complete score in front of her but still have only a minimal number of page turns to deal with. This would normally be done in printed music by keeping the piano part full-sized and showing the brass parts in reduced staff metrics above it. We can't do this in NWC, because the program only allows a single staff/note size per file.

Different metrics on different staves in the same system are also nice for descants, cues, ossia, and probably lots of other uses that don't come immediately to mind.

I am creating a piano reduction of the brass parts that will appear above the pianist's part in gray instead of black print. That works, in terms of reducing the number of page turns and allowing the pianist to focus on her own part except when taking cues from the brass or helping the brass stay together in rehearsal. But it's a lot of extra work, and it looks wonky. It would be really nice to be able to simply specify a different metric for the brass parts.

Cheers,

Bill

Re: yet another plea for variable staff sizes in the same piece

Reply #1 –
Concur. When I absolutely must have this I use Lilypond (two pieces, so far). One alternative is to merge all the brass parts on to one Treble Clef staff, delete notes and shift others up/down an octave until the pianist is left with a sense of what the brass is doing. I'd rather see that than multiple staves in different Keys and/or Clefs. Putting the name of the lead instrument at strategic points also helps.

With singers, I've found that just the lyrics above or below the Grand Staff works for many songs. It doesn't work for me if the song is not in English (or some approximation thereof).
Registered user since 1996

Re: yet another plea for variable staff sizes in the same piece

Reply #2 –
Thanks for the comments, Rick. Good to know how this looks from a pianist's standpoint.

What I am currently producing is a complete piano reduction - treble and bass staves, all notes at concert pitch instead of in brass transposition, notes shifted an octave if necessary to get them in the range of a hand. It could be played on a second piano to aid the pianist's practice, although I don't think that will be necessary. The single-staff reduction you suggest, however, sounds as though it might be better. I'll query the pianist and see what she thinks.

Cheers,

Bill

Re: yet another plea for variable staff sizes in the same piece

Reply #3 –
Quote from: William Ashworth –
It could be played on a second piano to aid the pianist's practice, although I don't think that will be necessary.
Agreed. What might help is a MIDI or mp3 of the brass with several sounding "count-in" measures so she can start it on the computer and not have to race too fast to the piano.
Registered user since 1996