NOTATIO

I would certainly regard the first as correct. In Finale (using Speedy Entry) it is very easy to do as I would expect (screenshot). Is this really difficult in Sibelius?

In Elaine Gould speak I believe ‘rather than’ indicates a preference, while ‘and not’ is a rule (as far as is practical). I think I prefer most clef changes to be immediately before the notes to which they first apply, so FWIW it seems my preference in this, if not in too much else, may be different...

As so often, your advice, John, makes perfect sense. It looks fine (correct indeed) with the treble clef placed immediately before the first note on glockenspiel.

Does anyone on the forum have views on this subject? Looking at the percussion part (screenshot), I see I have not been consistent in where I have placed changes to the percussion clefs in relation to the instruction to change instrument. This is a tiny two minute miniature. When it was recorded soo...

It's usually thought best to place the new clef after a clef change immediately before the first music to which it applies. However, what about if there is also an instrument change? Might it then be appropriate to show the change at the same place as the indication to change instrument (in my habit...

Thank you both for your responses. What John suggests in the part and on the trombone stave in the score, but with the addition of a footnote in the score only to inform the conductor: something like that?

The screenshot is of a bar in a 1997 piece of mine, originally typeset by I'm not quite sure whom. I hope to redo this according to the currently generally accepted ‘engraving’ rules (although it's 90 pages, so I need to make sure I don't have something more important to do - I was 80 less than a we...

Heavens! Even to me (and I'm less fussy about looks than many - most? - on this forum) they look - er - not nice.

Just for completeness here's a scan of a tiny bit of the melodrama in my 1960s piece mentioned above, which illustrates how I notated that (not sure why I used all those unnecessary naturals, although it wasn't that unusual at the time). It occurs soon after 10 mins 55 secs into the clip linked abov...

My most extended foray into melodrama (in its meaning of speech accompanied by music) was a 15 minute section in my first opera, written in the 1960s, which included parts for two non-singing actors. Here I did write the spoken parts on their own staves as OCTO suggests above. Some barlines were del...