"Broadway Style": always 4 measures per staff?
Posted: 05 Dec 2016, 11:40
Hello,
when playing in musical shows here in Germany, we usually get the sheet music from the US or UK publisher, which means that the music is written with 4 measures per staff. I vaguely remember that someone called that the "Broadway layout", maybe it was in one of the equally meaningful and entertaining Express music articles ?
It's quite obvious that changes could be done easily if there are so few measures in a line, and 4-bar-structures are easily recognized, but on the other hand, e.g. as a keyboard player, you toss around piles of paper. So my question to the big apple chaps: as revisions in today's times are mostly always done in the software, is there any reason to stick to the 4-measure-per-staff rule? More and more show music doesn't have the traditional 4-bar-structures anyway. Are Broadway copyists requested to stick to that format due to historical reasons? Thanks for enlighting me.
Harald
when playing in musical shows here in Germany, we usually get the sheet music from the US or UK publisher, which means that the music is written with 4 measures per staff. I vaguely remember that someone called that the "Broadway layout", maybe it was in one of the equally meaningful and entertaining Express music articles ?
It's quite obvious that changes could be done easily if there are so few measures in a line, and 4-bar-structures are easily recognized, but on the other hand, e.g. as a keyboard player, you toss around piles of paper. So my question to the big apple chaps: as revisions in today's times are mostly always done in the software, is there any reason to stick to the 4-measure-per-staff rule? More and more show music doesn't have the traditional 4-bar-structures anyway. Are Broadway copyists requested to stick to that format due to historical reasons? Thanks for enlighting me.
Harald