At 6:01 PM -0400 6/13/02, Darcy James Argue wrote: >Hi all, > >I have recently been commissioned to write some arrangements for a >group which will be performing with various Pops orchestras, and we >are in the process of hammering out the details of the contract. >One sticking point seems to be the issue of bowings and *fingerings* >for the strings -- the contractor seems to think it is necessary to >take money out of the budget (money that would otherwise go to me) >to hire someone to put bowings and string fingerings on the string >parts. I think I can probably convince him that I am perfectly >capable of putting in the bowings myself (knowing full well that no >matter _who_ does the bowings they will most likely be totally >ignored and the various concertmasters will put in their own >bowings). But the fingerings thing strikes me as completely >bizarre. I have never heard of anyone putting fingerings into >orchestral string parts -- in fact it strikes me that string players >would likely be insulted by this. The contractor tells me this is >actually standard procedure for Pops work -- rehearsal time is so >limited that fingerings need to be specified in the parts. I have a >hard time believing this. Has anyone out there ever heard of this? > >- Darcy
Bowings, well, normally it's the job of the section leaders (who get the parts well ahead of time for that very purpose) to mark in section bowings, then the librarian transfers them to all the parts in the section. They get paid extra money for that. For pops concerts, I suppose if time is short and everyone wants to maximise the rehearsal time, pre-marked bowings would come in handy, but it would take an experienced first chair player to do it effectively, and the expense shouldn't come out of YOUR pocket. I can assure you that nobody who is not a violinist him/herself marks in bowings on their arrangements. If the contractor/producer/conductor wants the extra help (I think I would if it was me conducting), it's not up to you to be out-of-pocket because of his whim. Guys like Mancini were pretty raw in the string bowing department (have you seen his book? He says he ran the parts by his favourite concert master, who marked them up for him. I don't know who paid for that! Don Sebesky says the same thing.) I like to do the same thing when it's my session, though I take a stab at proper bowings myself beforehand. Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
