Eight Trips Through a Score

Being a great strings/orchestra director begins with preparing scores and this is especially true with high
school ensembles. This is my eight trips through a score.

First
Learn a little about the piece. Ask some questions and have some answers.
• What is the piece? e.g. Strings or orchestra? What kind of an orchestra? Overture, Waltz, Symphony?
• Who wrote the piece? This obvious answer is the composer but there are many questions here. Who
was the composer? When in the composer’s life was it written? What is the style?
• Why was it written?
• What is the style?

Second
Know the instrumentation. Does it use traditional string assignments or are there third violins, second cellos,
etc.? Are the basses playing the same part as the cellos? (Specifically, do they have written low Ds and Cs?)
What winds and percussion are needed? Do you need A clarinets? Are there transposed parts? How many
percussionists do you need? Do you actually have all of the percussion instruments? Do you have players the
players and if not, will it still sound ok without that part played?

Third
Annotate chord changes. Do not worry about using functional harmony analysis, but know what the chord is
where the chords change.

Fourth
Annotate transpositions in the score. Especially prominent chordal sections where you will need to ask
students to play specific notes of the chord.

Fifth
Annotate bowings into the score and then into the string parts. Have a “master” copy that does not get passed
out to students so that you always have a clean part to make copies. See, Bowings Guidelines for additional
instruction.

Sixth
Annotate entrances into the score. This is especially important in the winds.

Seventh
Annotate musicality. Dynamics, articulations, breath marks, conducting patterns that change, etc. Translate
terms.

Eighth
Annotate section breaks and practice with recordings. Pay attention to anything that you missed or sections
that need special attention.