Recently I got to play an extremely fun big band show where every chart we performed was composed by someone in the band. We performed a couple of my own compositions as well as many by some of the best big band writers in my area. All in all, it was a very rewarding musical experience, but there were some issues with a lot of the parts we played that took away valuable rehearsal time and at times during the performance the music suffered.

Coincidentally, a friend recently posted on social media about struggling to get his charts to sound the way he envisioned. The ensuing discussion seemed to focus largely on the notation software that was being used, but in my opinion that’s putting the cart before the horse. I feel that most composers and arrangers who are finding their music isn’t being performed well is due to the music not being notated well. Even experienced composers and arrangers often underestimate the time and effort they need to take to make sure that the musicians are getting all the information they need to play the music correctly without cluttering up their sheet music.

While it’s best to teach students by describing what to do, rather than what not to do, I pulled some real-world examples of music that have notation problems so that I could demonstrate how I would prefer to to notate the same thing. Some of this music is drawn from my own music, but some are from other composers. I’ve made all the same errors I’m going to complain about here and will make some of them again. This list is by no means definitive, but are common mistakes that deserve an arranger’s attention prior to the first rehearsal.

Not Notating the Style

All the musicians need to know from the beginning what the style (and tempo) of the composition is. There’s a big difference between swing and straight 8th note feel. If your musicians are going to get a look at the music in advance and rehearse in advance they need to know what style to play in and how fast to practice it.

At the show I mentioned above we took time out of our rehearsal so one composer could inform the rhythm section about sections that were straight 8th note and swing 8th note feels. That should have been marked in the parts already. And all the musicians should have that indicated, not just the rhythm section.

Here’s an example of how I like to notate drum parts. The groove is clearly notated so the drummer knows whether to play in 2 or 4. The second measure shows a hit the band makes while the fourth measure indicates that the drummer should play that exact rhythm. I gave the drummer a cue of who is playing at letter E to make the part easier to follow.

All the musicians should know when the style changes, not just the rhythm section.

Not Notating Articulations Correctly

I’ve found this to be a more serious issue with rhythm section players who are writing for horns, but even horn players often don’t notate the articulations correctly. Here are some examples.

The above image is from a chart where the current feel is swing 8th notes. The trouble the musicians will run into here is whether to play the quarter notes long or short. In a swing context, quarter notes are usually played short, butwe ended up settling on playing them long in this passage. I always notate an articulation on quarter notes in a jazz chart because there is that question of long or short quarter notes. For short notes you can mark them staccato (short, not particularly accented) or use the “roof-top” accent (short and accented). For long quarter notes I would use a tenuto (dash) marking, but I also will often also put a slur or phrase marking over the passage.

In this example there are two things I would correct. First, I would eliminate the tie across the bar line and put an 8th rest on the downbeat of the second measure. It is marked to be played short, but there is a visual discrepancy that players will get in this situation. Tied notes like this tend to be misinterpreted as long.

The tie across the middle of the second measure is perfect, since it’s indicated to be played full value. The only thing I would change about this passage is to pull the tenuto marking up above the staff. Depending on the software you’re using, that may be as simple as checking a box somewhere. When articulations are written inside the staff it can be easy to miss it as part of the tie.

Here’s another example of quarter notes that need articulations. The one accent we get is inconsistent and I get the impression that the lack of articulations here were the arranger’s oversight.

Successive quarter notes on the offbeat like this can be problematic for the musicians to play if the articulations aren’t indicated. It seems to be almost as common for this sort of rhythm (in a swing context) to be played with long quarter notes as with short quarter notes. Arrangers need to help their musicians understand what is wanted.

Depending on the answer to the question, long or short, I might also prefer to notate them as 8th note offbeats instead. Or make the middle off beat two 8ths tied together so that the middle of the measure is visually indicated.

From the same chart, the above excerpt has the quarter note articulated with accents. This implies they should be played long, but I would prefer a double articulation here instead, a tenuto marking with an accent above it. It makes the length of those quarter note unambiguous.

I would also change the accidentals at the end of the above excerpt, for what it’s worth. The musician is going to be thinking in flats the measure before, best to stick with an implied flat key there for the individual musician, even if the underlying chord or key center implies sharps.

The main problem with the above excerpt is that the first measure is missing an 8th note. It turns out there should be an 8th note rest at the beginning of this measure, but when I first read through this chart I assumed there was a dotted quarter note on the 3rd beat. It’s really easy for arrangers to miss stuff like this in their parts, you have to take the time to go through each part carefully and even then things slip by.

Legato or staccato? The fact that the offbeats are written as ties across the barline suggest long, but with limited rehearsal times (or sight reading on the gig) the arranger should let the musicians know.

The above image is an excerpt from a ballad. I wanted to show this as one example of how we can be clearer with how the passage should be articulated. There are tenuto marks above the quarter nots as well as a slur to indicate the passage should be played legato.

This is an example of what I’m guessing is the arranger notating the parts for the computer playback, not for a real musician. I know from playing this chart many times that the articulations for the first two measures are “short, long, short.” It would read much better to write the first beat as a quarter note with a roof-top or a staccato, the second beat with a tenuto, and the 3rd beat again with the roof-top or staccato marking. If you want a staccato quarter note use an articulation, don’t notate as an 8th note followed by an 8th rest.

Here’s how I would like to see that passage.

Here’s another example with the same issue. I’m sure that when the computer plays back this passage it sounds fine, but the last note in the excerpt below should have been written as a quarter note with a roof-top or staccato marking above.

Here’s how I would notate the above.

Above is another example of the accents on quarter note without any indication of full value or staccato length to the quarter notes. My reasoning at the time was that if I put in roof-top accents they would get played shorter than I wanted in this particular passage. I wanted these quarter notes played a bit longer, but not full value. In retrospect I probably should have written them as roof-top accents and then indicated with text above that these notes should be played “fat.”

Again, I believe that arrangers should ALWAYS mark quarter note articulations for jazz-style charts. There’s too much room for different interpretations otherwise and it will make your music sound sloppy if everyone doesn’t play it the same way.

Not Writing Horns Idiomatically

The above excerpt from a trombone part isn’t unplayable high, but it is unnecessarily so. In this particular passage there were trumpets also playing the exact same notes. In the context of this passage I believe that this particular line sounds much better on trumpet and this trombone part should have either been dropped down an octave, revoiced so that the part was covering different notes in the chord in a range more comfortable on trombone, or left out. This composer did suggest to brass to play some of the lines down an octave if we wanted, so I think he had been informed that his writing for brass is a bit too high for comfort.

A lot of the notation software today will give you warnings if you exceed the range of the instrument. Finale has a setting so that you can check ranges for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players. If you don’t happen to play that instrument or know its capabilities well enough this can help you avoid writing passages like above.

One of the best things a composer and arranger can do is to ask a friend or colleague to play a passage for you so that you can hear what it sounds like. Often times less experienced arrangers will write something for an instrument that is technically possible to play, but because of the range, dynamic, tempo, etc. it will sound rough or not appropriate for the desired musical effect.

Taking “methods” classes in college (Woodwind Methods, Strings Methods, etc.) for music education majors is a great way for composers and arrangers to learn how to write more idiomatically for the various instruments. Perhaps even more so than the orchestration classes I’ve taken.

When I was a grad student we had Bill Prince visit and play as a guest artist for a jazz festival. The charts he sent for us to play were all written by him. Because he plays all the instruments very well he understands each of those instruments and what they can play. None of his parts were difficult to play, but his charts all sounded great.

Study the capabilities of the instruments you’re writing for and write your parts accordingly.

Not Proofing Parts Carefully

It’s very easy to miss little stuff in your parts. I don’t always do so, but sometimes after I have the parts printed I’ll actually play through every part myself. I almost always find something I missed this way.

Here is another example of the arranger missing some stuff that needed better proofing before the parts were printed. In the first ending there is that last 16th note. I know from playing this chart and from other sections in this part that this was a copy and paste mistake. The lick just before the first ending is played in other parts of the chart and then the 16th note is followed by a note on the downbeat. The arranger copied and pasted the lick, but forgot to take out the 16th note in this particular context. When you copy and paste using notation software be aware of things like this.

The notation above isn’t too bad, but you need to make sure all elements on the page are not overlapping each other. The tempo and style change above got placed overlapping with the rehearsal letter. This will happen commonly with chord symbols, which can make it difficult or impossible for the musician to tell what chord to play.

Be sure to space your parts out so that you don’t end up with accidentals overlapping noteheads like above. Is the downbeat of count three a sharp or a natural? What if the light isn’t too good or the musician’s eyesight isn’t so clear?

Think carefully about how you notate accidentals. It’s typically best to notate all flats or all sharps (or naturals, when needed), rather than mixing them. A general rule of thumb is if the line ascends you will want to use charts and if the line descends use flats. But sometimes it’s better to notate an ascending line with flats, if it follows a particular scale using flats, for example.

It’s absolutely not necessary for the notated pitch in a horn part to match what is considered correct for the chord. Avoid this:

The trombone part above is an Eb and then a measure later a D#. Best to keep the notated pitch consistent. Here’s another example of what to avoid.

The A# above should be notated as a Bb. Doing so keeps the whole phrase with flats, making it much easier to read.

This trombone part needs a courtesy accidental on the F# on count 4. The trombonists who have played this chart before remember, but almost every time a new player sight reads this chart that accidental gets missed.

I should have marked a rehearsal marking at the double bar above. I meant to, I just forgot and it got left out. This particular excerpt is a solo section that can be opened for more soloists and indications for backgrounds at different times. A rehearsal letter there allows the music director to be clearer on when players should cover background figures in the rehearsal or just by calling an audible on the show.

Confusing Rhythmic Notation

Consider the above excerpt again and notice the off beat quarter notes are written so that the middle of the measure is obscured. In 4/4 meter it is best to notate the rhythms to break up the middle of the measure clearly.

This example shows how I prefer to both rhythmically notate off beat figures as well as the articulations I like to use. It is unambiguous that the quarter notes should be played short and accented, with the roof-top accents. The second measure of the example clearly divides the measure into half and clearly shows the upbeats. Compare the following three measure, ALL would be played the same, but the last measure is easier to sight read.

The first measure is harder to read because all the short quarter notes fall on the offbeats and it is harder to tell where the middle of the measure is. You could notate it like this:

But that also is harder to sight read than the 3rd measure above. The tie across the middle of the measure does break up the middle of the measure rhythmically, which is better than notating as a quarter note. But ties like that will tend to get played too long on a quick read, even if the articulation marking is correct. If you want full value quarter notes it would be find, but I would still mark tentuto articulations above all the quarter notes because it will otherwise not be clear.

The second measure and third measure are both the same, excepting the beaming. I rarely see beams across rests as it shows in the second measure above (especially in jazz notation) and feel that beaming across rests like this is harder to read than if you notate it like the third measure.

The above excerpt is confusing because what we see above isn’t 3 and 1/2 beats of rest followed by the two 16th notes. Those 16th notes before A are pickups. Most of the band in this chart have a measure of rest before A. When the pickups aren’t written correctly it can lead to much confusion from the band and make for a sloppy start to your chart. Arrangers need to correctly notate pickup beats so that the rests are eliminated from the parts. Parts that don’t cover the pickup beats should have the specific pickup notated as a rest, but not the additional rests. See the following example.

Poorly Notated Rhythm Section Parts

Horn players should take some time to study rhythm section parts and be sure to give those musicians all the information they need to be able to sight read the chart well. Very often these parts are just a sea of slash notation without much information. Rhythm section players need to have dynamics, cues, rhythmic hits, articulations, style changes, etc. written clearly into their parts.

The above image is a longer excerpt from a drum part that shows some examples of decent notation, but there are also some things that need to be fixed. One thing I tried to do is make it obvious how the phrases line up, each system of music is 8 measure long and is easy to follow. Letter J and K above I could have put the numbers of measures played above to make it even more obvious that it is an 8 measure phrase.

The spacing of the above excerpt needs cleaning up. The rehearsal letters and measure numbers overlap for K and L, making it harder to tell what they say. Also notice that the dynamic marking for the measure before L should be pushed up a bit off the hits on the system below. The spacing with some of the measures is odd so that the slash notation ended up being spaced strangely.

Something I’ve seen other arrangers do for drum parts is to have something that looks a bit like a multi-measure rest with indication to play time for that number of measure. It’s a bit awkward to put that together in Finale, the software I use, but I have done that in the past and really should do so more often. It goes a long way to making a drum part easier to read and fewer pages.

Again, the hits the drummer needs to know about are notated up on the top of the staff, but I also notated some hits on the bottom of the staff. The hits on the bottom happen in the low end of the horns, so I notated them that way to make it clearer to the drummer that the hits in those spots happens between different ranges. Here’s another example from a different chart.

When I write specific notes and rhythms on a piano (or guitar) part I will usually also provide chord symbols for them. The musician might not play the exact voicing I want, but with the chord symbols provided they can more easily play the top note of the voicing and then play the rhythm you want. Another way of writing this, if you want your musician to come up with their own voicings, is to simply write the top note of the voicing and chord symbols with the text “T.N.O.V.” above.

But in the above example I wanted the pianist to play exactly what was written because it matches what the trombone section is playing later (and also at the same time in different parts of the chart).

Three problems with this excerpt. There is a dynamic marking missing at J and while it may seem obvious when you consider what happens before it and what the rest of the band is doing, but it is supposed to be soft. In retrospect I would notate the 3rd measure so that the quarter not is instead an 8th note followed by a rest. In this particular section the rhythm section drops out and the horns play without them, which in retrospect I might have notated with “rhythm out” written above the first measure.

Learn Accepted Notation Practice

Entire books have been written on notation and music engraving, but you don’t need to purchase an expensive book to improve your abilities at notating your music. Studying published scores and parts is helpful here. There are also many excellent internet resources to help less experienced composers and arrangers learn how to properly notate your music.

Laying out your scores and individual parts is probably one of the more tedious parts of being a composer and arranger, but it’s a skill that is more than worth the effort it takes. Be aware that it will take longer than you anticipate, so you really can’t just print out your parts when the composing and arranging work is done and expect that the musicians are going to do your music justice. Poorly written sheet music will sound worse with musicians sight reading. It takes valuable rehearsal time to make corrections to parts or for musicians to ask questions because their parts aren’t clear.

No matter how wonderful and creative your original music is, it won’t sound good if the musicians don’t fully understand how it is supposed to be played on their first read through. This is even more important if the musicians need to sight read the music on the gig or if they have limited rehearsal time to learn it.