Large Orchestral Manuscript Paper
- Thread starter skibbiddy bop
- Start date
mikeh-375
old school
I have bespoke 38 stave ms. I simply made a template in Sibelius and took it to a printers. I chose the size (60cmX 42cm) and quality/thickness of paper (very important) and had a few hundred printed off double sided. It was not as expensive as you might imagine it to be and is worth investigating.
I chose not to dictate the orchestral layout in the margin as things change during the course of a piece, but could easily have. What was important was to have a decent margin and enough space between staves for markings and ledger lines etc.
I chose not to dictate the orchestral layout in the margin as things change during the course of a piece, but could easily have. What was important was to have a decent margin and enough space between staves for markings and ledger lines etc.
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jbuhler
Senior Member
Make sure it’s archival quality paper. I’ve been going through my old papers, and the difference between things I did with archival quality paper (most of my music) and notes and written prose materials done with standard paper are telling. The standard paper is all yellowing, and some is falling apart. The music paper is all in great condition. One challenge with big paper is finding a way to store it. @MikeH-375’s solution of having your own printed seems good. Just make sure the printer also uses good ink.
skibbiddy bop
New Member
I’m in Australia, but I can have stuff shipped here.
d.healey
Libre Wave
This UK company made some custom score pads for me - https://leafgraphpaper.com/
Anders Wall
55°36'48.6"N 13°07'14.2"E
+1 for the diy way.
Contact a few places that print and ask them for a sample/quote.
Might sound silly but I asked for my logo to be printed on the sheets. Yeah, definitely silly, yet they are really cool
Mine are 4x2 staffs and a single grand staff with some space for notes and such.
Best of luck,
/Anders
Contact a few places that print and ask them for a sample/quote.
Might sound silly but I asked for my logo to be printed on the sheets. Yeah, definitely silly, yet they are really cool
Mine are 4x2 staffs and a single grand staff with some space for notes and such.
Best of luck,
/Anders
Gene Pool
Fact-based Member
The DIY solution mentioned by several above is best; heed their recommendations for paper quality, choice, weight, etc.
If you can't do that, the score sheet in your example is that old Judy Green paper everyone used to buy from her tiny little shop on Cahuenga. She's deceased now, but you can still buy the paper:
____________________
EDIT: I should add that if you have your own printed, and if you design it to have a left margin that is wider than the right margin, make sure they understand that you DO NOT WANT IT TO BE CENTERED. It happened to me twice, at different printers in different states despite my clear and unmistakable instructions, which is why I just bought my own large format printer so I can do my own as needs be.
If you can't do that, the score sheet in your example is that old Judy Green paper everyone used to buy from her tiny little shop on Cahuenga. She's deceased now, but you can still buy the paper:
____________________
EDIT: I should add that if you have your own printed, and if you design it to have a left margin that is wider than the right margin, make sure they understand that you DO NOT WANT IT TO BE CENTERED. It happened to me twice, at different printers in different states despite my clear and unmistakable instructions, which is why I just bought my own large format printer so I can do my own as needs be.
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d.healey
Libre Wave
You'd think a printers would have a nicer layout for their site. That sqished picture of Judy Green is atrocious.
mikeh-375
old school
It happened to me too GeneP. As a result, I got abut 300 sheets free .....result.
skibbiddy bop
New Member
I ended up going the DIY route. The staves turned out too small the first time I printed, but I tried again after removing a couple of unnecessary staves, reducing the space between staves, and removing excessive blank space at the top, and got a result that's working for me.
Thanks for the guidance everyone.
Thanks for the guidance everyone.
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Jaden_Tennant
New Member
I realize this is an old post, but I was wondering if you would be able to share the file you created to have printed? I don't have Sibelius and am trying a renewable way to start writing music and would love to just get paper printedI have bespoke 38 stave ms. I simply made a template in Sibelius and took it to a printers. I chose the size (60cmX 42cm) and quality/thickness of paper (very important) and had a few hundred printed off double sided. It was not as expensive as you might imagine it to be and is worth investigating.
I chose not to dictate the orchestral layout in the margin as things change during the course of a piece, but could easily have. What was important was to have a decent margin and enough space between staves for markings and ledger lines etc.
mikeh-375
old school
hey Jaden, I found this which is what I think I used (it was many years ago). Talk to the printers to see what they need file wise and to discuss your needs too. Iirc, I exported the file as a pdf from sibelius for them. The weight of paper is important with large size ms. I went for a medium or perhaps heavy weight, can't remember and make sure you get involved with the colour too.
The site doesn't allow .sib files so I added a .pdf to the name of the file. Just delete that bit from the name of the file and the Sibelius file should be restored....it's a 40 blank stave ms.(no barlines either - a complete blank canvas).
edit...hang on ,you don't have Sibelius!!!!!!!
OK here's a pdf instead....
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Jaden_Tennant
New Member
Thank you!! That is super helpful!
Matt Godbey
Active Member
Expanding this idea a little bit, do you guys use mechanical pencils when the staves are this small? They seem to work better for me than a number 02 or something I have to sharpen.
BTW, I print my own paper on an inkjet. Am going to look into perhaps printing on some thicker, cotton paper. I don't have to print of many at a time.
M.
BTW, I print my own paper on an inkjet. Am going to look into perhaps printing on some thicker, cotton paper. I don't have to print of many at a time.
M.
mikeh-375
old school
I use a mechanical pencil for manuscript writing, a .07 lead. These days, I use a mix of digital stylus with Sibelius and Staffpad on a Surface Studio and a manuscript pad beside me for jotting things down quickly.
JohnG
Senior Member
sounds good @mikeh-375
Wonder how easy it would be to go back and forth from DAW to iPad using a notation program (I have Sibelius Ultimate). So in other words you could create it on one an use Apple Pencil to mark up the other? That would make adding dynamics, slurs and so on a lot faster for the way I work.
I'm still getting over having given up on Finale and switched to Sibelius after many years, so the muscle memory is not equivalent in Sib.
mikeh-375
old school
Worth testing that John. The digital stylus works well with Sibelius on my set-up and one can indeed draw/re-shape slurs once they have been inserted as one might with a pencil although not freely as hand-wrtitten. It'd be great if that one day we could scrawl all over Sibelius and have it interpret, translate and insert things the way Staffpad does.
I'm a Mac boy through and through (my DAW is Mac) but I'm really impressed with the Surface Studio and what makes it really neat for composing is the split screen facility - I can have Sib and Staffpad on screen and flit between the two at will as staffpad uses a stylus too.
Never tried Finale but I can appreciate the hassle involved in switching.
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