Full band sheet music

[Hope209]

This is sort of a dumb question....but is there such a thing as full band sheet music that you can buy? I went to see Evita last night and I was just curious how the musicians (3 keyboardists, bassist, guitarist and a drummer) got the music. I mean Evita is a pretty big musical, but in music stores I've never seen full band sheet music. Just wondering

[rackdude]

Theres sheet music stores online

also, you might be able to contact the publisher of the musical

they would have sheet music

but please don't buy it for evita, please, that was a horrible movie

[underworld]

you wouldn't likely buy the full arrangement for something like Evita in a regular music store. there are plenty of catalogs and online retailers though. most large productions, especially "broadway" style ones like Evita have full scores available. it's not unlike a normal orchestral score, except the instrumentation may be different. when you buy the full set of music, you get the score (which may all be in the key of C, or may be in the key of each instrument), plus you usually get individual "parts". so, if the score calls for piano, 5pc drum set, bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 2 trumpets, trombone, 2 alto sax, 2 tenor sax, flute, and so on, each individual instrument would have their own "part".

what you find in most music stores is normally not full scoring. instead you find piano reductions, guitar reductions, fake books, and other arrangements.

[Hope209]

Haha, no its not for evita. I'm actually trying to get the full band score for the musical Rent for my cousin for Christmas. I've tried searching online but all major sites like sheet music plus just have piano/vocal/concert band stuff. I once got him a real orchestral score for the Star Wars theme but it wasnt from a big retailer. Any idea of where else I could look for like a real broadway score for Rent? Appreciate the help

[resound]

Some recent productions like Rent might still be in "rental", e.g. you rent the full compliment of parts from the publisher and do not buy them outright. That's how they make their $.

[underworld]

It turns out my vocal coach had some insight on this. apparently you cannot just "buy" the full score for something like Rent or Cats or Evita or whatever. Instead, if you intend to produce a licensed musical, such as Rent, you are required to obtain a license. Apparently a local arts school recently did a production of Seussical: The Musical, and not only had to license the production, but also had to pay a fee to the licensor (I believe they charged for tickets).

In any case, the following site should help you out a bit:

FAQ: How to License a Musical: Music Theatre International - MTI - Musical Theatre

As you'll read (and someone else pointed out), you will "rent" the score and parts for "Rent" from this company to use in your production.

Best of luck!

[Beermaster]

Beat me to the post ! - ( my bloody post yesterday stalled out before sending )

When orchestras want to perform a work ( thats still in copyright - 70 years past the death of the composer - or a new arrangement of a previous copyrighted work ) - they 'hire' the score and parts form the publishers. ( these are often the same exact parts hired out every time with pencil markings etc ha ha ! )

Yep so as was said above - you pay for a license to perform the work then you get the scores. Obviously original arrangements that are out of copyright can be bought from any good music shop ( like full scores to Mahler symphonies or say the Opera carmen ) - You'll also find new 'other' arrangements of film scores for say say Amateur orchestras or concert bands for sale but these will never be the original version used in the film and will nearly always be dumbed down and simplified.

Beer

[travisbrown]

Sometimes publishers will publish the scores, or reasonable facsimiles. We did an awful lot of musical and movie scores in high school band.

There are lots of looking-for-work music school keyboardists who will transcribe parts for cheap, if you wanted a particular arrangement. These services hover around the internet too.

[Beermaster]

The problem with these guys who transcribe stuff from the original recordings is that its only ever an approximation of the original score and never exact ( unless its a small ensemble sound )

I've done quite a bit of this myself and I've also played a lot of 'Take Downs' over the years - playing the original arrangements is alwasy different.

[travisbrown]

Originally Posted by Beermaster

The problem with these guys who transcribe stuff from the original recordings is that its only ever an approximation of the original score and never exact ( unless its a small ensemble sound )

I've done quite a bit of this myself and I've also played a lot of 'Take Downs' over the years - playing the original arrangements is alwasy different.

True, some scores are harder to transcribe than others. But it's only an approximation if it's an approximation.

If you have a good transcriptionist and can hear the parts, it can be exact. I played with 60 piece contemporary orchestra for a couple years (rhythm section, strings, brass, woodwinds, piano, percussion). The director hired a music college kid (who was a stunning pianist) to transcribe some pieces from recordings. He was good and they were exact - some of them were probably 15 to 25 part scores. He'd obviously done a lot of transcription and scoring in college.

If you can hear it, you can write it down.

[the1Hub]

http://www.mtishows.com/show_home.asp?id=000281

[crescalona]

Originally Posted by Hope209

This is sort of a dumb question....but is there such a thing as full band sheet music that you can buy? I went to see Evita last night and I was just curious how the musicians (3 keyboardists, bassist, guitarist and a drummer) got the music. I mean Evita is a pretty big musical, but in music stores I've never seen full band sheet music. Just wondering

I can write any sheet music for you (including full band)
Request to crescalona@yahoo.com

[crescalona]

Originally Posted by Hope209

Haha, no its not for evita. I'm actually trying to get the full band score for the musical Rent for my cousin for Christmas. I've tried searching online but all major sites like sheet music plus just have piano/vocal/concert band stuff. I once got him a real orchestral score for the Star Wars theme but it wasnt from a big retailer. Any idea of where else I could look for like a real broadway score for Rent? Appreciate the help

I can write it for you
Request it to crescalona@yahoo.com