Re-printing of music with mistakes.

[Moy]

Just a thought.
Why is it if a car has a major fault it is recalled and either repaired or even replaced, yet when we have testpieces that have been found to be full of mistakes they still are sold in the same condition??????

I think think they should at least reprint for all future sales......does this happen? should it happen???
Your thoughts please.

 

[Di]

Good point, if you have a set with faults on and the publishers feel it necessary to print an "errata" list, you should be able to return your copies and have them replaced with correct prints.

 

[Australian Euphonium]

Could publishers have a band-in-residence sort of system or similar...

probably way off-track on this idea but maybe it would be feasible in some cases. I guess seeing as probably nearly all new test pieces are comissions for specific contests or premieres it probabaly wouldnt work. Oh well....just a crazy thought!

 

[Will the Sec]

Could publishers have a band-in-residence sort of system or similar...

Wem, Harrogate, spring to mind....

I've tried stuff at Fulham. Believe me though, hearing a band sight read a piece, or even play it for the third or fourth time is NO guarantee that there are no wrong notes. I know of players (me included) who inadvertantly play what SHOULD be there, their musicality taking over, rather than what is actually on the music. (Vide Dimensions - was playing a certain pattern for years, and only spotted that I was playing a wrong note when the band I was depping for started a debate about it!)

The best method of proof reading is to get someone else to do it!

In principle though, Moy, I agree, . If it's wrong, it should be replaced.

 

[Brian Bowen]

Just a thought.
Why is it if a car has a major fault it is recalled and either repaired or even replaced, yet when we have testpieces that have been found to be full of mistakes they still are sold in the same condition??????

I think think they should at least reprint for all future sales......does this happen? should it happen???
Your thoughts please.

The car analogy doesn't quite work here. Recalls usually involve fixing a particular problem rather than giving you a completely new car in exchange. It's unlikely any publisher would ask you to return your set for them to paste over errors and then return the set to you!

However, your basic point is valid. Reputable publishers may well keep a record of errors discovered after publication so that they can be corrected for the earliest reprint, the timing of which depends on the initial print run. Unfortunately, there are few bands willing to buy new music compared with many other types of publishing. Traditionally, print runs used to be whatever was the minimum to break even (the more printed then lower the unit cost); that may well have been in the region of 500 sets in the past. It could be some time, if at all, before a reprint was required. Nowadays, low-run printing and binding is economically possible with the use of modern laser printers, and modern binding techniques. Some publishers may even print just one band set to satisfy an order.

I don't know who publishes the recent Bram Gay arr. of "Les Preludes" (as has been mentioned in another thread), but I would expect it to have been produced using modern printing methods, so maybe the publishers are careless or penniless.

 

[brasscrest]

In older music, when the printing was done with plates (or stones, if lithographed), correcting a mistake meant cutting an entirely new plate - very expensive. Also, printing runs had to be of a certain size to be economically feasible. So, even if many years have passed, the music may not have been actually reprinted.

This may still apply to commercially produced, high-volume publications (of any kind).

Many publishers are now printing on demand - so there is no excuse for continuing to print with a known error.

Also, purchasing pre-printed parts is going to rapidly become a thing of the past, as soon as copyright law and distribution ideas catch up with technology. Within 15 years, you'll either buy a CD or download the parts in PDF or Sibelius or Finale or some format that hasn't been invented yet and print your own parts. And when flat-screen technology gets inexpensive enough, you'll have a music stand that incorporates a screen, with the parts generated from a central console controlled by the conductor. So you'll buy a piece on CD, the conductor will put it in his console, and each player will select a part to display. No paper, no lost parts, no page turns, no clef or transposition issues.

 

[GJG]

And when flat-screen technology gets inexpensive enough, you'll have a music stand that incorporates a screen, with the parts generated from a central console controlled by the conductor. So you'll buy a piece on CD, the conductor will put it in his console, and each player will select a part to display. No paper, no lost parts, no page turns, no clef or transposition issues.

In case anyone thinks this is science-fiction, you might be interested to learn that Harry Connick Jr. has been operating exactly such a system with his Big Band (both in the studio and on tour) for around five years now.

Here is a link to more info. for anyone interested:

http://www.harryconnickjr.com/connick/pbuild/linkbuilder.cfm?selection=dn9.9.9

G.

 

[Brian Bowen]

In older music, when the printing was done with plates (or stones, if lithographed), correcting a mistake meant cutting an entirely new plate - very expensive.

If I'm not mistaken, lithography is still the method of choice for substantial print runs but less likely for short-run band music.

And when flat-screen technology gets inexpensive enough, you'll have a music stand that incorporates a screen, with the parts generated from a central console controlled by the conductor. So you'll buy a piece on CD, the conductor will put it in his console, and each player will select a part to display. No paper, no lost parts, no page turns, no clef or transposition issues.

I can't see this method being much use to amateurs who take their music home to practice!

 

[brasscrest]

I can't see this method being much use to amateurs who take their music home to practice!

Practice parts could easily be printed, or distributed to a similar home system (all you'd need is a decent resolution monitor) as a part of the software. As stated in the post above, such systems are already in use by some people. They're just too expensive for most groups now.

The point being (in getting back to the topic of this thread) that mistakes would be corrected without less cost to the publisher, because there is no physical inventory.

 

[Brian Bowen]

Practice parts could easily be printed, or distributed to a similar home system (all you'd need is a decent resolution monitor) as a part of the software. As stated in the post above, such systems are already in use by some people. They're just too expensive for most groups now.

The point being (in getting back to the topic of this thread) that mistakes would be corrected without less cost to the publisher, because there is no physical inventory.

You say practice parts could easily be printed -- so paper is involved :? . I'm sorry, but this sounds more like another gizmo for the tech minded or specialist (e.g. studio) musician than a real advance for most musicians. How does one mark it for tricky fingering, personal bowing (strings), phrasing, conductor's interpretation, et al, for an actual performance without having hard copy and a good old pencil (which, incidentally, professional musicians wouldn't be without)? I guess I've been too much involved in music published for posterity. :roll: