Recently I’ve changed my pencil-and-paper sketching template to a completely unmarked 14-stave sketchpad.
Until now, I had been using this template for several years, as a way to write a fully-orchestrated cue in a sketch format.
I’ve come to find it a little inflexible to predetermine what instrument groups go on what staves. I often find myself copying what the high strings play to what the high woodwinds play (a problem of redundancy); conversely, I often have to cram complex divisi string writing into just 3 staves (the opposite problem).
So now I write freely on completely unmarked manuscript paper, which I feel is more true to the way we hear music anyway: a dance of musical participants, each with their own entrance and exit. The character, volume and range of the “participant” will define its orchestration, in most cases almost effortlessly.
The only inconvenience is that it’s slightly messier to draw your own barlines, so I’m considering making a template with the barlines already drawn, but with no other markings.
Here are some recent examples of my new way of sketching:
>>> Download Score: Way Too Much Adventure.pdf
>>> Download Score: A Mouse With a Cape.pdf
What do you think? What format do you use for your orchestral sketches?