I am, on the counsel of my composition teacher, going on a rigorous diet of analyzing Bach chorales. I am to write out one by hand every day, in four voices, then analyze the voice leading and chords, as well as sing each part individually and play all four parts on the piano.
I am going to need staff paper in spades. I have an email in to him and thought I would ask here as well. What would be your pick for this task? What are your picks for other tasks and why?
I also have a little paperback book about 4”x6” that was a freebie when I ordered something else from J. Butz Verlag; that’s been great at the console to sketch out themes and improvisations.
And then here are various sizes and formats for printing oneself. This has saved me many times when I just need to quickly write out a psalm or convert a bad source into something usable.
My favorite is Archives 12-staff paper in a spiral-bound notebook. Heavy paper, won't tear out of the spiral binding; writing on the other side doesn't bleed through. Ivory color, so easier on the eyes than plain white paper. Durable, functional, high-quality.
1. Consider if you want to use grand staff or if if you want to write the parts out individually.
2. The reason I note that is that the text is not irrelevant to the analysis, though composition teachers often treat it as if the music were entirely independent. At least have the texts available when you consider perhaps puzzling choices made by Bach.
Whether you compose or copy your music to manuscript paper, or you use a computer program, I think it is wise to print everything out in case those little ones and zeros disappear into the cyberverse at some point in time which are unretrievable..Of course this is all directly related to how much you value your music Or how much others value your music.
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