Warning:

1999 Region I AGO Convention
Worcester, Massachusetts June 27-30, 1999

Rehearsal Tips

Warning:
This Music may be (Scotch) taped for training or quality purposes.

Marking organ scores for different pipe organ instruments

If you play the same literature for weddings, funerals, or recitals on multiple instruments, you’re probably frustrated with marking and re-marking your scores for registration and manual changes for each instrument. If it’s a complicated piece, older marks may confuse you in the heat of the performance moment. I use several techniques to help organize the markings and keep my scores from suffering from eraser burn.

For points in the music where you always need a marking, place "magic" scotch tape (the kind that is invisible but has a slightly matte finish that you can write on) over a clean part of the score where you need to mark. The tape is erasable, and it erases cleanly. If there is already an unsightly accumulated erasure smear, use white-out, and then place the tape over that and you have a fresh surface to write on.
An alternative to tape to write on, use cut-up portions of "yellow stickies" (post-it notes). These are attention-getters for your eyes, and are removable, and color-code-able.
For literature that you routinely play at several given instruments, use a color coding system either a larger dot symbol (in color) or the entire marking in color (one color for each venue: the Baptist church markings could be blue, Episcopal red, etc.).
For the case where you have registration duties split between yourself and one or more page turners (or a duet partner), color code the instructions (one color per person).
Another way I use color coding is in "reminder" markings for performance: the closer I get (time-wise) to the concert, the louder the color. For instance, I use black pencil until the week of the concert, green several days before, and RED the day before.
In choral and orchestral full scores, color coding helps me quickly identify the type of marks: entrances in red (the voice or instrument name followed by a slash), dynamics/phraing in green, etc.