Lesson 25: Score Formats

A musical score is a copy of a piece of music that shows all of the instrumental parts together, giving a view of the entire piece. Conductors often work from scores, because they are able to see everyone's part at the same time. There are different kinds of score that are quite common. For example, a close score, also called short score or condensed score, is a score that has two or more instrumental or vocal parts on each staff. (The three names close, short, and condensed are synonymous, and can be used interchangeably.) The two-stave format is a commonly used short score type, and looks very much like a piano score. ('Stave' is the plural form of the word 'staff') When using two staves, the top staff uses the treble clef and the bottom staff uses the bass clef, unless the instruments being written for are all of one or the other clef:

Notice that each staff of the short score has notes that have their stems pointing upward, and notes with stems pointing downward. The stem direction seems to break the rule that notes above the middle line must point their stem downward, and notes below the middle line must point their stem upward. In two-stave short score, the understanding is that in the top staff, notes with stems upward are to be sung or played by the soprano voice(s) (or instruments) and notes with the stems downward are to be sung or played by the alto voice(s) (or instruments). In the bottom staff, notes with the stems pointing upward are to be sung or played by the tenor voice(s) (or instruments) and notes with the stems downward are to be sung or played by the bass voice(s) (or instruments). It is much more common for voices to perform from a score like this rather than instruments. Instrumentalists prefer to see simply their own part on the page. Vocalists rely more on seeing their notes in relation to the other existing parts- it makes it a little easier to sing in tune.

It is possible to have more than two staves in a short or close score. If you are writing, just as an example, for a full orchestra, but wish to conserve space, you may choose to use a short score format of, let's say, four staves: first staff for woodwinds, second staff for brass, third staff for strings, and the fourth staff for percussion. Sometimes composers will use multiple staves in this fashion, but will use the upper staves for the high notes and the lower staves for the low notes, then indicate with small lettering which instruments play which notes. Here is an example of such a score:

It will probably be obvious right away that there are benefits and disadvantages to using such a score format. The main advantage is that you are able to see the notes of a medium-sized orchestra at a glance. As you get better at recognizing chords, you can perceive the general tonality of the piece quickly using this type of score.

The main disadvantage in using close score for orchestra is that it becomes rather difficult to narrow down which instrument is playing which notes. So if you detect problems in a rehearsal situation, it can be a frustrating trying to determine which instrument is at fault. Often, publishers will choose to provide both a full score (see below) and a short score with each orchestral or concert band publication. This is very useful, because it allows the conductor to work from a full score in rehearsals, then provide the option of switching to a short score for performance. The short score usually will require less frequent page turns, because more music can be fit onto one page. As you can see, you also have to be a bit "creative" with your use of stem directions if you have three or more parts on a staff! And because several instruments are on one staff, it is not possible to show the proper transposition of a transposing instrument such as Clarinet or Bb-trumpet.

For fairly straightforward music, a short score is ideal- it shows everyone's part in a concise format. But it is sometimes desirable to show each part on its own staff. Let's go back to the excerpt at the beginning of this lesson. Since it was intended for four players, a score showing each part on its own staff would require four staves. A score that shows each part on its own staff is called open score or full score. (The two terms open and full are synonymous, and can be used interchangeably.) There are many different types of open score, depending on the number and type of instruments for which you are writing. For example, here is the excerpt given above, rewritten in open score for string quartet:

You can see that all of the notes of the short score excerpt have been given their own staff, according to stem direction. In the top staff of the short score, the stems up have been given to Violin I, and stems down to Violin II. The viola (an instrument shaped like a violin, but slightly bigger and tuned a perfect 5th lower) gets the notes that were the stems up notes of the bass staff of the short score. The cello is given the stems down notes. With the open score format, the conductor can see each player's part clearly, because each part is on its own staff.

If the excerpt was intended for voices, a modern vocal score, also called modern choral score is frequently used. Here it is:

It looks like the string quartet score, except that the tenor line has been given a "vocal tenor clef", a clef that looks like a treble clef with an '8' beneath it. You will have seen this before, in Lesson 24, and it means to sing the notes an octave lower than treble clef.

There are many, many types of both close and open scores, and so it is not feasible to list them all. This lesson is simply intended to give you an idea of how the various score formats work. The quiz for this lesson will require you to transcribe music from one score format to another. Here are the formats you will be required to know:

SHORT (CLOSE) SCORE:

FULL (OPEN) SCORE for String Quartet:

FULL (OPEN) SCORE for Choir:

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