Sheet music
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Sheet music means “printed music”. The music that musicians have in front of them when they play is sheet music (a “sheet” is a sheet of paper, so it really means: “music written down on paper”).
Usually people just say “music” if it is obvious that they are talking about sheet music:
George went to his piano lesson. When he opened his music bag he saw that he had forgotten to put his music in it.
Most other European languages use the word for “note” in this meaning, but in English the “notes” are the actual little dots on the paper which stand for the sounds:
George was playing from the music, but it was hard to read because some of the notes were badly printed.
The full word “sheet music” can be used to make it clear that it is printed music:
The music shop sold CDs and sheet music.
Sheet music can be published as a separate copy for one piece or song, or it can be a collection of pieces in a larger book.
If, for example, there is a piece of music for violin and piano, then the pianist will play from the main book. This will have the piano music written, as usual, on two staves. Above those two staves, printed slightly smaller, will be another stave with the violin part. The violinist will play from a separate part which will just have the violin music. This means that the pianist can always see what the violin should be playing, but not the other way round. The violinist may need to look at the piano part sometimes to see how to fit in. It would be difficult for the violinist to play from music with both parts because he would need to turn the pages too often.
[edit] Score
A score is sheet music with a piece written for several instruments where the music parts for each instrument are written above one another on separate staves. A conductor can see from the score what each instrument should be playing and how it fits together. Each player will only have their own part (the notes that they play) in front of them (from time to time, if they have long rests, they may have bits of other instruments’ parts printed in small print to help them know where the music has got to. These are called cues.)
An orchestral score or full score shows exactly what all the instruments of the orchestra play. If it is a large orchestra the page has to be very tall. The conductor needs one to conduct from.
A miniature score or pocket score is like an orchestral score but much smaller. It will not be big enough for a conductor to conduct from because the print will be too small, but it will be good enough for studying, and it will be much cheaper than a large, orchestral score.
In an orchestral score the order in which the instrumental lines are printed will be: woodwind at the top (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and any other special woodwind), brass (trumpet, trombone, tuba, French horn), percussion and strings (violin, viola, cello and double bass). If there is a choir or solo singers their part is written near the bottom, above the cello stave. The bar lines will usually join up the staves of each family. This makes it easier to find the instruments than if they had been drawn all the way down the page.
A vocal score or piano score is the music for a piece for choir and singers (e.g. an opera) in which all the instrumental parts are printed on two staves so that it can be played on a piano. Some notes will, of course, have to be left out to make it possible to play with just two hands.
A short score means a score where an orchestral piece has been written on three or four staves only. It is something between a piano score and a full score. A composer may write a piece in short score when composing it, and write out an orchestral score later. Short scores are not usually published, they are just working copies while the piece is being composed.
See also:
- note (music)
- music printing