1) It’s pretty much evenly split. I prefer Bassoons below clarinets, but others prefer them below oboes. If your bassoons only play with the oboes creating a double reed mini ensemble, then you might want bassoons below. If you bassoon parts are pretty independent from oboes, but mostly double the bass clarinet and bari sax, then you might want to put them below clarinets and above saxes.
2) Trumpets above horns in band scores. (Though there certainly are exceptions in the standard literature). And cornets above trumpets (though again, there are exceptions). 3) Yes, Double Bass below Tuba and above Timp/Percussion. You didn’t ask, but some people are sticklers to putting mallet percussion at the very bottom, below the drums and other non-pitched percussion. But, if you’re composing for a specific amount of players at their own “station”, then mallets can go with whichever part it’s assigned to. Wind Ensemble vs Band shouldn’t have much effect on the score order. If you’re writing one to a part, like an orchestra wind section, then you might want to stick with orchestra order, particularly if you think that orchestras would be interested in performing this more than a band. I like doubled parts, especially in the clarinets and trumpets. The clarinet section can take on the role of the string section (particularly with your cadre of low clarinets available—but I would advise to cue any alto clarinet solos in another instrument as a back up, since most bands seem not to use that instrument). Having those parts doubled gives some extra meat to the sound. The doubled cornet parts areahold over from the early days of transcribing orchestra rep for winds. The cornets would play the violin melodies while the trumpets would just play the original orchestral trumpet part. Having the full section of clarinets and cornets can allow for divisi opportunities, which could come in handy. Yes, it’s true that the majority of band scores don’t remove empty staves. It’s very much quicker to prepare a score without staves being removed. Ryan > On Aug 6, 2018, at 10:01 AM, David Froom <dfr...@smcm.edu> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I’m really hoping to enlist someone who regularly writes for band to give me > some advice. > > I’m writing this for a top notch, professional group. Some questions: > > For score order, there seem to be some variations from orchestral standard. > But different sources say different things. Here are my questions: > > 1) Some say bassoons go between Ob/Eng Horn and Clarinets. Others say they go > below clarinets. Which is more standard these days for professional bands? > > 2) Some say the trumpets above the horns, others say this is changing these > days to standard orchestral (horns above trumpets because they often mingle > with the saxophones). Which is more standard these days for professional > bands? > > 3) Double bass, I’m told, goes below the tuba, but above piano — then timp > plus percussion on the bottom. Is this standard these days for professional > bands? My orchestral instincts want it at the very bottom. > > The group I’m writing for could be full band or wind ensemble (my choice), so > as many as Eb clarinet, 12 Bb clarinets (4 to each of three parts), 2-3 low > clarinets (bass, contra, alto), 6 cornets (2 to each of three parts) plus 2 > trumpets — though any of the cornet players could play trumpet, picc trumpet, > or flugelhorn. Then 2 euphoniums, 3 tubas. > > I’m leaning towards asking for one to a part (clarinets as Eb, 2 Bb, alto cl, > bass cl); 3-6 trumpets, 1 euphonium, 1 tuba. Can anyone advise as to why I > should go with all the doubled parts? Thinking as someone coming from the > orchestra world, all those extra clarinets, trumpets, euphoniums/tubas seem > to be a strange and troublesome counterbalance to the rest of the group (pic, > 3 fl, 2 ob, eh, 2 bn, cbn, sax quartet, 4 horns, 3 trb, btrb). > > And does band vs wind ensemble change any of the score order? > > Final question: According to Gould in "Behind Bars,” people do NOT remove > empty staves! She grants that timp/percussion can be removed from the page if > they aren’t playing, but everyone else stays, doesn’t have empty staves > removed from any of the pages. Is this really true!!!??? > > Thanks very much in advance! > > David Froom > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > > To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: > finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu https://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale To unsubscribe from finale send a message to: finale-unsubscr...@shsu.edu
