Score Part Copying Guide

Score & Part Copying Guidelines Jazz Arranging MUJZ 261 McGill University

1. Notes and Rests need to be LEGIBLE! Use big round noteheads. The eighth note rests should touch the middle two lines of  the staff. The quarter note rest should touch all four spaces. Halfnote rests sit on top of the center line and the Whole-note rest hangs above the center line.

2. Always show the metric center of the bar  Instead write this

3. Since quarter-notes can be played both long or short ALWAYS indicate the articulation. For basic arranging you only need to use two indications:

4. Avoid Avoid writing eigth-notes ON the beat to indicate a short rhythmic value.

Short

Long

Difficult to read

5. Slashes in the middle of the bar indicates that the  player continues to play time while while rhythmic figures with stems indicates stop time. (Rhythmic notation the stems alway go down)

6. Sometimes for comping instruments you can use rhythmic notation and indicate the top note of  the voicing. (use parentheses)

(top note of voicing)

7. Drum parts can indicate either time with slashes or stop time (usually in a shout chorus)

8. Often the drum parts will indicate some of the rhythmic figures of the band while the drummer  continues to play time. Drumers are comfortable with seeing this and will encorporate the rhythmic figures into the time feel of the music.

2

9. Other articulations for horns:

Ghost

  Shake Bending effect (mainly for brass)

(player starts note  below and bends up) Rise (mostly for brass, hard for saxes) Grace note

Short fall Long fall

.  g l i s s

Closed and open for plungers or hand (trumpets, trombones)

10. DO NOT use repeats within repeats. If there is a large repeated phrase which contains short repeated phrases within it, the short phrases must be written out. Otherwise the repeat indications become unclear. 11.You must use bar numbers and rehearsal markings. You can indicate bar numbers at the beginnings of each system. This is mandatory for your music to be rehearsed quickly and efficiently. 12. When using rehearsal letters, repeats, or DS. CODA always keep the parts consistent with each other. When rehearsing the music it will become quickly difficult for the musicians to find their place. 13. Use key signatures on each system. This is a good habit to get into especially if you write in condensed score. If you don't have much experience copying parts its easy to forget the key signature especially when there are a lot of accidentals in the bar as in the case of block chords.