At 1:14 PM +0100 2/22/08, shirling & neueweise wrote:
"From a copyist, composers generally [expect] their score to be
copied exactly as they gave it, no more and no less."
i won't say where this came from other than to mention it is from a
composer and was sent to an experienced and diligent copyist i know.
I think that in order to answer your implied question we really have
to go back to the days of hand copying, from Bach (and before)
through the 1960s and 1970s when copy services in many musical
centers were doing constant good business because of the high demand
for their services. Since I was working from the West Coast in the
'60s, my choice was Cameo Music, 1527 1/2 Vine Street, Hollywood.
(Lord; why do I even remember the address?!!!)
i know there are copyists that also feel this way, but i've always
felt that the copyist's most important role is to improve the
performers' relation with the music, which means in some cases
slight editing and corrections (notational standards, obvious
typos/errors etc.)
I don't think it is possible to lay down any hard and fast rule. It
depends entirely on the relationship between the composer (or
arranger, of course) and the copyist (still thinking mainly about the
pre-computer days). It depends on whether the composer produces a
complete, readable, full score with every detail in place or a sketch
which invites the copyist to function also as orchestrator or perhaps
co-orchestrator. But it is up to the composer/arranger to make the
decision whether to hire you as an editor or just as a copyist, and
the fee you ask should reflect the difference. If you're told "as
is," you produce "as is." And "obvious typos/errors" go way back to
monks using feathers!!! No copyist is free from errors.
and in others actually arguing points with the composer that you
know to be true, because you have spoken to dozens upon dozens of
composers, performers, copyists and musicologists and have gleaned
and considered various perspectives on notation standards,
tendencies, alterations etc. and have a braod understanding of what
the norms are and when it is pertinent to break them and when it is
not.
This is not nearly as clear cut. If the agreement between composer
and copyist permits this kind of relationship, terrific. Then you're
being hired because of your expertise as well as your hand. And of
course "the norms" are quite different in different parts of the
music business, especially between jazz vs. classical, concert music
vs. Broadway or film scores, show music that will never have a
complete rehearsal, or avant guard and therefore notationally
challenging music. In that case, yes, I think you owe the composer
your feedback on "the way it's being done and the way it's expected
to be." But we all know where the buck stops!
further, in my view -- as a composer and as a copyist -- the
composer is not always the person who "knows best" about their
scores exactly because of the fact that they have spent so many
months on the composition that they cannot distance themselves from
things that actually hinder a proper rendition of the score by a
performer who has not spent the same kind of obsessive focus (tunnel
vision?) on the score. (this is not a comment on performer
disengagement, that is another discussion altogether).
This strikes me as being a weak justification for taking over as
co-composer. You imply that you, who get the score cold and have
spent NO time studying or analyzing it, have a clearer idea of the
composer's intentions than the composer him- or herself, and I simply
don't buy into that.
But never forget that you're talking about a free, unregulated
marketplace. If you have your standards and make them clear to
potential clients, and if you get hired BECAUSE those standards are
accepted and respected, you'll get work. If you put down your client
and try to browbeat him or her into changing their habits you'll
probably never hear from that particular client again.
And yes, I'm perfectly aware that computer engraving is a whole new
ballgame from hand copying. Back in the day, every copyist had his
own hand, and composer/arrangers would choose a copyist because they
liked his product and got the results they wanted. (Or, in the case
of Broadway books from the Golden Age, apparently because he was
somebody's brother-in-law!) Today every "copyist" tries to look like
publisher engravings, and there's much less room for individualism.
And that's just the way it is. (But PLEASE don't put bar numbers
every 5 bars!)
John
--
John R. Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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