All of this discussion has confirmed my sense that there is some room
for choice on this. I will report in when I hear about what the
convention is among the arrangers who do this for the Army Field Band
and Soldier's Chorus.
Chuck
On Sep 10, 2006, at 9:45 AM, John Howell wrote:
At 8:45 PM -0500 9/9/06, Richard Smith wrote:
This is interesting. I have never considered putting choir
anyplace except at the bottom, like an orchestra without strings.
I'm interested to hear your reasons for other positions.
Well, I can give you the logic that makes sense to me, but I can't
give you an appeal to authority. (Gee, this may be a case where we
actually get to make up our own minds!!)
Since orchestral scores have been around for a lot longer than
concert band scores, and since I've spent more time with them, they
are going to be my model. And typically, in orchestral scores if
there is a featured line or lines, such as a vocal soloist, a
violin soloist, a piano soloist, or a chorus, it is centered or
just below center on the page, where you can follow it and still
have the rest of the score in your peripheral vision. And
conventionally that is between the percussion (if any) and the
strings, a bit below center.
Now, there are two ways to think about this convention, and I think
that's why there are different ideas on this. You can think of it
as (more or less) centering the featured line, or you can think of
it as placing that line above the strings. The problem arises when
you then try to transfer the logic to a concert band score. Since
there are no strings, one kind of logic suggests that "above the
strings" equals "below the winds and percussion," and that puts the
chorus/soloist at the bottom of the score. But then you lose the
centered placement that makes for better score reading. So the
other kind of logic suggests "keep the featured lines centered on
the page," which is what I almost automatically do. In this I
agree completely with David Bailey.
I can think of no orchestral score in which the featured lines are
placed at the bottom of the page. And similarly, I can think of no
orchestral score where the featured lines are placed at the top of
the page. (I'm sure someone can quote exceptions, but in my
experience they would be exceptions and not the rule.)
Putting the chorus at the top of the score reasons not from
orchestral convention but from octavo convention where the piano
accompaniment is placed below the vocal lines, and reasons that
since the piano part is often a reduction of the orchestration, the
vocal lines should be at the top, but I'm not convinced because the
full orchestral layout IS an existing convention.
Of more interest is the score order when obbligato instruments are
added to the vocal lines and piano accompaniment in a choral
octavo. I automatically put them above the vocal lines, and if
there were added rhythm section lines I would place them below the
piano, and again, I think my instinct is informed by orchestral
practice.
Bottom line: Do what makes sense to you, and hope that it also
makes sense to the conductors who will use your score. Beyond that
it's like the question of making transposed or concert pitch
scores: there is no single right answer for every one and every
situation.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
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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Chuck Israels
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