| cept of sheet music appears, at first glance, to be a | | | | literal transcription of a composition so that it may be |
| simple on: music printed on large unbound sheets of | | | | played by one or more pianos (without the involvement |
| paper. "Music," in this instance, refers to musical | | | | of any other instruments). These scores are used for |
| notation, a written system of symbols representing | | | | piano solos and piano duets and are often |
| music. As far as it goes, this is a perfectly accurate | | | | transcriptions of entire orchestral works. Needless to |
| definition of sheet music. However, there are actually | | | | say, it is very difficult to express the music of an entire |
| several different subcategories of sheet music. If, for | | | | orchestra in the music of a single instrument, the result |
| example, an instrumental piece is intended to be | | | | being that while there are a few exceptions, piano |
| performed by more than one person, each performer | | | | scores are performed mostly for study and pleasure. |
| is given a separate piece of sheet music called a | | | | A "vocal score" is similar to a piano score in that it |
| "part." However, if the various instrumental (and often | | | | reduces the full score of a vocal work, such as a |
| vocal) parts are printed together, then the sheet music | | | | musical or opera. Vocal scores are often |
| is called a "score." And within the category of score, | | | | accompanied by piano scores, as piano music is highly |
| there is a wide variety of possible sheet music | | | | useful to a singer during rehearsal. Indeed, rehearsal is |
| incarnations. | | | | the most common use for a vocal score, during which |
| The term "full score" is used to refer to a large book | | | | time the sheet music allows the performers to learn |
| containing all of the music for all of the instruments and | | | | their parts separately from the instrumental ensemble. |
| voices in a composition. Such books are most often | | | | A "short score" is, to some extent the opposite of the |
| used by conductors, who need them to accurately | | | | piano and vocal scores. Granted, it is a reduction of a |
| and successfully direct performances. Similarly, a | | | | work intended for many instruments. However, in |
| "miniature score" also contains all the music of a piece, | | | | many instances, short score are actually created prior |
| but its greatly reduced size makes it impractical for | | | | to full scores. Composers utilize short scores during the |
| use while conducting. It is more likely to be used by an | | | | process of composing, using them to create a basic |
| individual who is studying a given composition. A "study | | | | outline or sketch of a work that later, can be |
| score" may also be used for this purpose. Indeed, this | | | | expanded for a complete orchestra. |
| score is often indistinguishable from a miniature score, | | | | Finally, a "lead sheet" and a "chord chart" are essential |
| but a study score is specifically intended for academic | | | | two parts of the same whole. The former specifies |
| study and will sometimes contain extra comments for | | | | only the melody, lyrics and harmony of the music, while |
| the edification of the reader. | | | | the latter provides detailed harmonic and rhythmic |
| A "piano score," as one might expect, is basically the | | | | information. |