(a series of articles about how new musicals come to pass)
Preproduction: the period of time during when work is done on a show prior to the first rehearsal.
The copyist as artist. Not only is his penmanship beautiful, but so is his style and ability to present a lot of complex material in a clear, incontrovertible, and attractive way.
The copyist as musician. He knows music, how instruments transpose, all about notation and special notation, about chord symbols, about the instruments themselves.
The copyist as copy editor. Because of time pressures an orchestrator will resort to a form of shorthand which players have rarely seen. It's up to the copyist to "translate this shorthand." And in his rush to get things done in the impossibly short amount of time the orchestrator may, yes, make a mistake or two. Copyists will often uncover wrong notes, notes out of an instrument's range, and a variety of other notational errors.
The copyist as civic engineer. When a musician has to take his hands away from his instrument to turn a page -- surprise! -- the music stops. It's up to the copyist to figure out a way to lay out the music on the page so that a period of rest occurs around a page turn. This sounds deceptively simple, but many times there will be insufficient or no rests in a number, so the copyist must figure out how to make the impossible possible.
The copyists as organizational master. Copyists must constantly be on top of thousands of details. Did the latest draft of the latest version of the fourth section of number 13 come in from the orchestrator? Did the last set of changes to the third horn part get added to the conductor's book? Who's copying the wind parts for the Finale? Generally the supervising copyist will maintain a list of all the numbers of the show with areas for each stage of the process:
With everything about the show in constant metamorphosis it's very important (and very difficult) to keep track of a show's twenty-five or fifty numbers and musical cues. (And bear in mind that many of the larger Broadway copying houses will do more than one project at a time. Sometimes a supervisor can get spread pretty thin.)
Some parts of the music preparation process are considered "library work." This consists of the actual feeding of the original copy into a machine for reproduction, taping the separate pages of a number into an accordion-pleated book, adding the songs order number, and organizing all of the final copies. This ordering of the final copies is what is normally referred to as "librarianing" the materials. To speed the process of distributing the music it is usually placed in some kind of order, usually based on the order of the orchestrator's score -- generally reeds/woodwinds, brass (horns first), percussion and drums, guitar(s), keyboard(s) (sometimes 3 or more), harp, and strings. As more numbers are completed they are added to each part's pile and ordered according to show order. When the time comes for the first orchestra rehearsal, the completed "books" (as complete as they may be) for each instrument are placed in some sort of binder and all loaded into a rolling case. The librarian then places the books on the players' stands, ready for them when they arrive. When the final rehearsal is over, the librarian will pack up the books for transportation to the pit where they will be distributed to the stands. Similar librianing processes occurs as additional music is completed, changes are made, and when a show goes on the road. A final bit of librarianing occurs when a show closes: the librarian collects the music from the stands and transports it somewhere for archiving (which is why it is possible to "discover" orchestrations that have been archived and forgotten for many years).
As we all know, until a show is actually frozen for the final preview, shows are in a state of flux. Changes may be made daily, with numbers being altered, rewritten, dropped, added to. Obviously this must be reflected in the orchestra books. When the change is a small one it can be made with some correction tape (a paper tape preprinted with staff lines). But when the changes are larger -- as in the case of an entire number being transposed -- the music will need to be recopied. Of course if a book's been left in the possession of a musician for any length of time it will be covered with inscrutable, scrawled, pencilled-in notations inserted by the player and these must be transferred by the copyist to the new music in pencil. (The timing of this is important: the original set of books must be available to the players for rehearsal and performance. During previews you'll often see several copyists rushing about the pit copying things from an old part to the new one almost up to the time the lights go down.) The notations are always done in pencil because, as always, even the changes are subject to change. And because even the sequence of numbers is subject to change, the songs are rarely (if ever) numbered according to order "in ink" (e.g., "#1. Overture," "#2. Opening," "#2a. Segue to Scene 1," etc.). Usually there will be a box drawn in one of the upper corners where the song's number will be written in pencil.
If a cast album is recorded, the copyists are again needed. A cast recording is rarely an exact duplicate of what is performed nightly. Usually some cuts and changes are made, and -- when a particularly magnanimous producer feels like springing for it -- additional instruments may be added to augment the sound. This of course requires updating the orchestra books. The supervising copyist will also be on hand for the recording session to handle any minor fixes, changes and problems.
Once a show is open and running successfully, there's still more work for the copyist. Remember what I said about orchestra rehearsals costing money? Well, when a show goes on the road, it's likely there will be an orchestra rehearsal in every city. And depending on the schedule, that could mean a rehearsal as often as twice a week or more. So before the tour goes out, the copyists are called in to do some renovations. Once again changes are made, the music is freshly printed, and the players' notes (at least those that will be important to other players) are transferred.
And if a show is published a final set of changes is made, any players' notes of importance are done in ink for the first time, and the music is printed again.
To be continued.
See you at the theatre!
Originally published at Suite101.com Theatre, 10/14/97
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