Composers often write in a way which is easy to input into the computer.
#Jazz score professional
It looks more professional to show you have thought about every note.
#Jazz score full
There is a belief that a score full of information is somehow better than one with minimal indications.This is either due to lack of experience, lack of trust in the performers, or failure to think about what you are writing. Composers either do not know the default interpretation or do not trust that it will happen, so they state or clarify the obvious.I go into depth on the subject in my post Over-Notation Nation. I see three reasons why people over-notate or incorrectly notate their scores. Take a look at this piece I put together highlighting many of the issues I see in scores. But do you need accents on every note in a shout chorus?Īll of these assumptions are moot if the notation is not correct for our genre. What do I need to “make” them play? If you want a long quarter note, you need to put a tenuto on it (unless the tune is a ballad). It is all about thinking through what they will play with no extra indications. While it is common to dot your quarter notes, if you forget one or two, I will put money on the band still playing them short. The length of the lead trumpet note is proportional to its height.If the dynamic is forte or more, the notes will be played with accents.Here are the things that I feel are the foundation of the jazz default: What happens if you add a staccato, a tenuto, an accent, or a cap?
In a nutshell, what does a player or section do when they see a naked note, with no articulation? If you can learn to think about this default reaction correctly, you will find many situations where you do not need to add any articulation. On my blog, deBreved, I talk a lot about my concept of the Orchestral Default. If you notate in a way that exploits this default, you will save yourself a lot of time and the players will know exactly what you mean, you do not need all the extra information. A lot of these extra indications are instructing players to perform in a way that is already covered by standard jazz, or what I call the Jazz Default.
I see a lot of things that do not need to be on the page, or are written in ways that are way more complicated than necessary. I get a lot of scores sent to me by composers and arrangers both young and old. Thank you to Makemusic for their sponsorship. This post and its companion, Jazz Notation – Drums and Chords, present the material from my talk on January 11, 2014, at the Jazz Education Network Conference in Dallas, Texas.
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