Part

A part in music is very much analogous to a part in a play
- In a play, one person plays one part throughout
- The part may not be on stage all the time
- The part may be on stage at different times, with different other parts
A musical part normally consists of all the notes (and rests) on a single stave which is intended for a single type of instrument or voice.
- It is common for many individuals to be playing or singing the same part, for example the three clarinets in an orchestra, all the basses in a choir, or the two female singers in a folk band, so they will all be reading the same line on similar copies.
However, it is also quite common for more than one part to be written on one stave.
- Two is common (e.g. soprano and alto in a choir, first and second oboes in an orchestra, bass drum and snare drum in a drum part), three or more is very rare, simply because it gets too confusing.
- When there are two parts sharing the same stave, one part is written with the stems of the notes pointing upwards, and the other with the stems pointing downwards. The part which is generally higher in pitch and therefore higher on the stave (e.g. first oboe, soprano) has the stems upwards, the lower one has the stems downwards:
- There are two problems with this:
  1. It can look confusing when the parts cross over (i.e. the lower part goes above the upper part), but each part still keeps its tails going in the same direction (see the end of the first bar in the the example below), so it is clear which part is which. This is probably the main reason why it is important for the stems of notes to be drawn on the correct side.
  2. Some types of note, depending on their note lengths, may not have stems, so it is then not possible to differentiate which note is intended for which part, except by assuming that the top note is played by the top part. If there is any confusion, a straight line is usually drawn between notes of the same part:

When there are several parts in a piece of music, they can be written in two ways, "open score" or "short score". Four staves for choir

"Open Score" is when each part is written on a separate stave (see example on the right). Braces are used at the left-hand end of the set of staves which are to be played and heard simultaneously. This set of staves is sometimes called a "line of music" or sometimes a "system". A choir or orchestra can then be asked to look at the third bar on the second line/system on page 2, and they will all be looking at the same place, but at different staves within the line/system.
"Short Score" is when there is more than one part per stave.
A choir of four parts can usually sing from two staves,
with two parts per stave (see example below).

In short score, the stems of the soprano and tenor parts go upwards,
the stems of the alto and bass parts go downwards.
Even in Open Score, you can have two parts written on one stave, for example, two soprano parts on the top line of the Open Score example (above right).
Open Score is usually easier to read for the individuals playing or singing. Short Score is easier for a rehearsal pianist or accompanist who needs to be able to play all the parts at once (although some pianists are very good at reading four parts from Open Score!).

Mail me
Copyright and disclaimer
Content and structure of these pages
Return to top