" Sheet music can be used as a record of, a guide to, or a means to perform, a
song or piece of music. Sheet music enables instrumental performers who are able to read
music notation (a pianist,
orchestral instrument players, a
jazz band, etc.) or singers to perform a song or piece. Music students use sheet music to learn about different styles and genres of music. The intended purpose of an edition of sheet music affects its design and layout. If sheet music is intended for study purposes, as in a
music history class, the notes and staff can be made smaller and the editor does not have to be worried about page turns. For a performance score, however, the notes have to be readable from a
music stand and the editor has to avoid excessive page turns and ensure that any page turns are placed after a rest or pause (if possible). Also, a score or part in a thick bound book will not stay open, so a performance score or part needs to be in a thinner binding or use a binding format which will lie open on a music stand. In
classical music, authoritative musical information about a piece can be gained by studying the written
sketches and early versions of compositions that the composer might have retained, as well as the final autograph score and personal markings on proofs and printed scores. Comprehending sheet music requires a special form of literacy: the ability to read
music notation. An ability to read or write music is not a requirement to compose music. There have been a number of
composers and
songwriters who have been capable of producing music without the capacity themselves to read or write in musical notation, as long as an
amanuensis of some sort is available to write down the
melodies they think of. Examples include the blind 18th-century composer
John Stanley and the 20th-century songwriters
Lionel Bart,
Irving Berlin and
Paul McCartney. As well, in
traditional music styles such as the
blues and
folk music, there are many prolific songwriters who could not read music, and instead played and sang music "by ear". The skill of
sight reading is the ability of a musician to perform an unfamiliar work of music upon viewing the sheet music for the first time. Sight reading ability is expected of professional musicians and serious amateurs who play classical music, jazz and related forms. An even more refined skill is the ability to look at a new piece of music and hear most or all of the sounds (
melodies,
harmonies,
timbres, etc.) in one's head without having to play the piece or hear it played or sung. Skilled composers and conductors have this ability, with
Beethoven being a noted historical example. 's score and
baton|left Classical musicians playing
orchestral works,
chamber music,
sonatas and singing
choral works ordinarily have the sheet music in front of them on a
music stand when performing (or held in front of them in a music folder, in the case of a
choir), with the exception of solo instrumental performances of solo pieces,
concertos, or solo vocal pieces (
art songs,
opera arias, etc.), where memorization is expected. In
jazz, which is mostly
improvised, sheet music (called a
lead sheet in this context) is used to give basic indications of
melodies,
chord changes, and
arrangements. Even when a jazz band has a lead sheet, chord chart or arranged music, many elements of a performance are improvised. Handwritten or printed music is less important in other traditions of musical practice. However, in genres such as
traditional music and
folk music, singers and instrumentalists typically learn songs "by ear" or from having a song or tune taught to them by another person. Although much
popular music is published in notation of some sort, it is quite common for people to
learn a song by ear. This is also the case in most forms of Western
folk music, where songs and dances are passed down by oral – and aural – tradition. Music of other cultures, both folk and classical, is often transmitted orally, though some non-Western cultures developed their own forms of
musical notation and sheet music as well. Although sheet music is often thought of as being a platform for new music and an aid to composition (i.e., the composer "writes" the music down), it can also serve as a visual record of music that already exists. Scholars and others have made transcriptions to render Western and non-Western music in readable form for study, analysis and re-creative performance. This has been done not only with folk or traditional music (e.g.,
Bartók's volumes of
Magyar and
Romanian folk music), but also with sound recordings of improvisations by musicians (e.g.,
jazz piano) and performances that may only partially be based on notation. An exhaustive example of the latter in recent times is the collection
The Beatles: Complete Scores (London: Wise Publications, 1993), which seeks to transcribe into
staves and
tablature all the songs as recorded by
the Beatles in instrumental and vocal detail. ==Types== Modern sheet music may come in different formats. If a piece is composed for just one instrument or voice (such as a piece for a solo instrument or for
a cappella solo voice), the whole work may be written or printed as one piece of sheet music. If an instrumental piece is intended to be performed by more than one person, each performer will usually have a separate piece of sheet music, called a
part, to play from. This is especially the case in the publication of works requiring more than four performers, though invariably a full score is published as well. The sung parts in a vocal work are not usually issued separately in modern practice, although this was historically the case, especially before music printing made sheet music widely available. Sheet music can be issued as individual pieces or works (for example, a popular song or a
Beethoven sonata), in collections (for example works by one or several composers), as pieces performed by a given artist, etc. When the separate instrumental and vocal parts of a musical work are printed together, the resulting sheet music is called a
score. Conventionally, a score consists of
musical notation with each instrumental or vocal part in vertical alignment (meaning that concurrent events in the notation for each part are arranged in parallel). The term
score has also been used to refer to sheet music written for only one performer. The distinction between
score and
part applies when there is more than one part needed for performance. Scores come in various formats. 's
Der 100. Psalm for
choir,
orchestra and
organ Full scores, variants, and condensations A
full score is a large book showing the music of all instruments or voices in a composition lined up in a fixed order. It is large enough for a
conductor to be able to read while directing
orchestra or
opera rehearsals and performances. In addition to their practical use for conductors leading ensembles, full scores are also used by
musicologists,
music theorists,
composers and music students who are studying a given work. A
miniature score is like a full score but much reduced in size. It is too small for use in a performance by a conductor, but handy for studying a piece of music, whether it be for a large ensemble or a solo performer. A miniature score may contain some introductory remarks. A
study score is sometimes the same size as, and often indistinguishable from, a miniature score, except in name. Some study scores are
octavo size and are thus somewhere between full and miniature score sizes. A study score, especially when part of an anthology for academic study, may include extra comments about the music and markings for learning purposes. A
piano score (or
piano reduction) is a more or less literal
transcription for piano of a piece intended for many performing parts, especially orchestral works; this can include purely instrumental sections within large vocal works (see
vocal score immediately below). Such arrangements are made for either piano solo (two hands) or piano
duet (one or two pianos, four hands). Extra small staves are sometimes added at certain points in piano scores for two hands to make the presentation more complete, though it is usually impractical or impossible to include them while playing. As with vocal score (below), it takes considerable skill to reduce an orchestral score to such smaller forms because the reduction needs to be not only playable on the keyboard but also thorough enough in its presentation of the intended
harmonies,
textures,
figurations, etc. Sometimes markings are included to show which instruments are playing at given points. While piano scores are usually not meant for performance outside of study and pleasure (
Franz Liszt's
concert transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies being one group of notable exceptions),
ballets get the most practical benefit from piano scores because with one or two pianists they allow the ballet to do many rehearsals at a much lower cost, before an
orchestra has to be hired for the final rehearsals. Piano scores can also be used to train beginning conductors, who can conduct a pianist playing a piano reduction of a symphony; this is much less costly than conducting a full orchestra. Piano scores of operas do not include separate staves for the vocal parts, but they may add the sung text and stage directions above the music. A
part is an extraction from the full score of a particular instrument. It is used by orchestral players in performance, where the full score would be too cumbersome. However, in practice, it can be a substantial document if the work is lengthy, and a particular instrument is playing for much of its duration. 's opera
William Ratcliff. |left
Vocal scores A
vocal score (or, more properly, piano-vocal score) is a reduction of the full score of a vocal work (e.g.,
opera,
musical,
oratorio,
cantata, etc.) to show the vocal parts (solo and
choral) on their
staves and the orchestral parts in a
piano reduction (usually for two hands) underneath the vocal parts; the purely orchestral sections of the score are also reduced for piano. If a portion of the work is
a cappella, a piano reduction of the vocal parts is often added to aid in
rehearsal (this often is the case with a cappella religious sheet music). Piano-vocal scores serve as a convenient way for vocal soloists and choristers to learn the music and rehearse separately from the orchestra. The vocal score of a
musical typically does not include the spoken dialogue, except for cues. Piano-vocal scores are used to provide piano accompaniment for the performance of operas, musicals and oratorios by amateur groups and some small-scale professional groups. This may be done by a single piano player or by two piano players. With some 2000s-era musicals, keyboardists may play
synthesizers instead of piano. The related but less common
choral score contains the choral parts with reduced accompaniment. The comparable
organ score exists as well, usually in association with church music for voices and orchestra, such as arrangements (by later hands) of
Handel's
Messiah. It is like the piano-vocal score in that it includes staves for the vocal parts and reduces the orchestral parts to be performed by one person. Unlike the vocal score, the organ score is sometimes intended by the arranger to substitute for the orchestra in performance if necessary. A collection of songs from a given
musical is usually printed under the label
vocal selections. This is different from the vocal score from the same show in that it does not present the complete music, and the piano accompaniment is usually simplified and includes the melody line.
Other types A
short score is a reduction of a work for many instruments to just a few staves. Rather than composing directly in full score, many composers work out some type of short score while they are composing and later expand the complete orchestration. An opera, for instance, may be written first in a short score, then in full score, then reduced to a vocal score for rehearsal. Short scores are often not published; they may be more common for some ensembles (e.g., band) than in others. Because of their preliminary nature, short scores are the principal reference point for composers who wish to complete another's unfinished work (e.g. Movements 2 through 5 of
Gustav Mahler's
10th Symphony or the third act of
Alban Berg's opera
Lulu). An
open score is a score of a
polyphonic piece showing each voice on a separate staff. In Renaissance or Baroque keyboard pieces, open scores of four staves were sometimes used instead of the more modern convention of one staff per hand. It is also sometimes synonymous with full score (which may have more than one part per staff). In a
close score, all voice parts are represented on the two major staffs (treble and bass staffs). Scores from the Baroque period (1600–1750) are very often in the form of a
bass line in the bass clef and the melodies played by instrument or sung on an upper stave (or staves) in the treble clef. The bass line typically had figures written above the bass notes indicating which intervals above the bass (e.g., chords) should be played, an approach called
figured bass. The figures indicate which intervals the
harpsichordist,
pipe organist or
lute player should play above each bass note. musicians would improvise chord voicings and a bassline using the chord symbols. The lead instruments, such as sax or trumpet, would improvise ornaments to make the melody more interesting, and then improvise a solo part.
Popular music A
lead sheet specifies only the melody, lyrics and harmony, using one staff with
chord symbols placed above and lyrics below. It is commonly used in
popular music and in
jazz to capture the essential elements of song without specifying the details of how the song should be arranged or performed. A
chord chart (or simply, chart) contains little or no melodic information at all but provides fundamental harmonic information. Some chord charts also indicate the rhythm that should be played, particularly if there is a
syncopated series of "hits" that the arranger wants all of the rhythm section to perform. Otherwise, chord charts either leave the rhythm blank or indicate slashes for each beat. This is the most common kind of written music used by professional
session musicians playing
jazz or other forms of
popular music and is intended for the
rhythm section (usually containing piano, guitar, bass and drums) to improvise their
accompaniment and for any
improvising soloists (e.g.,
saxophone players or
trumpet players) to use as a reference point for their extemporized lines. A
fake book is a collection of
jazz songs and tunes with just the basic elements of the music provided. There are two types of fake books: (1) collections of lead sheets, which include the melody, chords, and lyrics (if present), and (2) collections of songs and tunes with only the chords. Fake books that contain only the chords are used by
rhythm section performers (notably chord-playing musicians such as
electric guitarists and
piano players and the bassist) to help guide their improvisation of
accompaniment parts for the song. Fake books with only the chords can also be used by lead instruments (e.g.,
saxophone or
trumpet) as a guide to their improvised solo performances. Since the melody is not included in chord-only fake books, lead instrument players are expected to know the melody. A
tablature (or tab) is a special type of musical score – most typically for a solo instrument – which shows where to play the pitches on the given instrument rather than which pitches to produce, with rhythm indicated as well. Tablature is widely used for guitar and electric bass songs and pieces in popular music genres such as
rock music and
heavy metal music. This type of notation was first used in the late
Middle Ages, and it has been used for keyboard (e.g.,
pipe organ) and for fretted string instruments (lute, guitar).
Song sheets Song sheets are the printed lyrics without musical notation. Academic studies of American music call these sheets
songsters.
Broadside song sheets, often of popular ballads, were sold in New England in the early nineteenth century and sold for a
penny. Over the first half of the 20th century, lyrics to songs were printed and sold individually, in collections on newspaper-sized sheets, combined into booklets, and in magazines. Song sheets typically included photographs of famous entertainers associated with the song, as well as attributions to musical theater and films. Song sheets were recognized as competition to sheet music by the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1930, when a representative said, "Thousands now learn the popular melodies from the radio, the publishers state. With the lyrics available for five or ten cents and the strain known, impulse to buy sheet music is eliminated." While sheet music for a song might cost thirty or thirty-five cents, a song sheet typically sold for a nickel or a dime. Choral societies would buy a single copy of the sheet music for the pianist and then multiple song sheets for the singers. When the lyrics are printed without permission from the
copyright owner, the song sheets are called bootleg song sheets. Song-sheet bootlegging was seen as a minor problem in Chicago in the early 1890s, but became a significant issue from 1929 through the 1930s. The first publishers and distributors of bootleg song sheets were charged with criminal copyright infringement in February, 1930. Through the efforts of the
Music Publishers' Protective Association and law enforcement, as well as the advent of legal song sheet magazines, song-sheet bootlegging ended in the early 1940s. The first legitimate song sheet magazines began in 1934, and
Lyle Engels
Song Hits which was first published in 1937 was successful for decades. Song sheet magazines included advertisements, gossip columns, record reviews, and promotional biographies of celebrities. == History ==