Page Turns

[Mark]

Dear Music Editor,

Fs;lkfjsalkdfjalskdfjalskj YOU!

[MN_TimTuba]

When I encounter an awkward page turn, with a smaller tuba like my 2341 I just extend my left arm a little further and play left handed while I flip the page with my right hand. Give it a try, it's kind of fun.
Tim

[Thomas]

The ease of page turns is the big (but otherwise maybe only) ergonomic advantage of a 3+1 BBb with a playing stand. Especially in outdoor conditions with the need to manage magnets.

[bloke]

If there's an impossible page turn, look part-way back up the page, find a place with several measures rest, cut the page horizontally at that point (paying careful attention to not cut through a staff on the backside of the same page) and do a half page turn and then another half page turn later.

[cjk]

Photocopy a page?

[bloke]

As long as you're not cutting through a staff on the back side, cutting in this manner, turning during the rest, playing the rest of the page, and then turning the rest of the pagewhen some more rests occur on the next page... is a strategy that doesn't require printing/taping.

As far as "defacing" anything is concerned...I wouldn't be concerned, as long as it isn't rental, and - well - you're not the one who did the inconsiderate engraving job. You actually improved the engraving job - via your scissors - by making a bad page turn not bad.

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[Grumpikins]

I wholeheartedly agree with the original post. And secondly, music being bound in the manner of reading books with the print going right into the crease of the binding. Absolute garbage!

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[the elephant]

I will take the time to enter parts into Finale to work out spacing, accidentals, misprints, and — importantly — page turns. My orchestra uses a LOT of rental pieces, and much of it is simply terrible to have to work from. It is frequently unreadable or filled with misprints. And sometimes we get parts that have impossible page turns, and in many cases, you cannot alter rental parts or the orchestra is heavily fined.

Our library is very large, but the tuba parts are generally very old and too badly torn up cut or even mark up with a pencil.

I am pretty fast in Finale, and it is easier for me to make a readable part than it is to make a bad part readable.

If it is just a page turn I will ask our music librarian for a copy to make things easier, if this is practicable. (Sometimes it isn't.)

Sometimes if it is just a short bit after the page turn and then a few bars of rest I will hand draw a staff at the bottom of the previous page and write in the part by hand, including the multimeasure rest bracket.

There are lots of ways you can fix this situation.

Just note that tuba parts have this happen more than others. It is a known issue, and it is because the tuba part is usually very short, and it saves money if it can be crammed onto as few sheets of paper as possible. After all, only one person bitches about it, and to be bluntly honest, NO ONE CARES that your part is crap. NO ONE! However, the bobbleheads in the wire choir give birth every time there is a difficult to read quarter rest, and rehearsal stops so this musical disaster can be fixed, while everyone talks and wastes very costly time. What this comes down to is this: 100% of the time tuba players will have to fix their own parts when there are issues. Not even the engraver GAS about such a tiny part used by only one player.

Have fun!

[ronr]

the bobbleheads in the wire choir give birth every time there is a difficult to read quarter rest, and rehearsal stops so this musical disaster can be fixed, while everyone talks and wastes very costly time.

This is wonderful. As a newly returned member to the wire choir I can vouch for this!

[bloke]

Rental originals are always sitting on my stand at the first rehearsal, but PDFs of them are also sent to me a couple of weeks ahead. I don't encounter bad page turns very often frankly, but when I see one in a PDF that's a rental, I'll print it out and get the scissors.

Most engravers are pretty darn good about page turns.

When they weren't, often there's only a measure or two before rests on the next page, and I can pencil in that measure or two in the bottom margin.

Music isn't a piece of paper with black marks. Music is sound, and the less I need to stare at that piece of paper in front of me, that's sort of indicates to myself that I'm more familiar with the music, and I'm not focusing so completely on the piece of paper. If the violinists only studied their parts enough to be able to completely read them every time they played them, I just don't think they could do that - considering how much they have to play. This is NOT a very good analogy, but I don't look at a driver's manual and flip through the pages - to the applicable sections - every time I get in the car and drive somewhere. I show up for reading rehearsals more prepared or less prepared based on how hectic my life is or how lazy I allow myself to become, but that's on me. When I'm at home working on etudes, solos, or unfamiliar orchestral excerpts, the ones that I screw up are the ones whereby I don't remember what comes next without looking at that piece of paper, and am having to concentrate too much on specific spots on a piece of paper to even be able to read ahead. The most important and applicable comment in this thread was made by Wade, who pointed out that no one else gives a crap regarding how difficult the tuba part is to read while playing.

[Mark]

There are lots of ways you can fix this situation.

And I have used most of them. My original post was to say that if the editor had been doing their job, I wouldn't have to waste time fixing page turns.

[Mark]

the bobbleheads in the wire choir give birth every time there is a difficult to read quarter rest, and rehearsal stops so this musical disaster can be fixed, while everyone talks and wastes very costly time.

This is wonderful. As a newly returned member to the wire choir I can vouch for this!

Again, the editor should have handled this. If it slipped by the editor, then the concert master and section principals should have handled it. Stop wasting my time.

[bloke]

"After all, I have EIGHTY NOTES to play in this symphony - EACH INDIVIDUAL ONE of which must be perfected by Saturday night. I can't be trifled by issues such as this !!!"