By Vince Corozine (ASCAP)
The ability to write simplified parts or to edit existing parts that are too demanding for the student, are valuable skills for a school music director to acquire. Often the limited technical ability of certain students will necessitate that a simplified part be written in order to assist the student with the music to be played.
Here are a few suggestions for writing simplified parts. Each part should:
Blend well with the ensemble.
Make sense melodically. The more singable the line, the easier it will for the student to learn.
Be rhythmically appealing, and in some way be related to the melody.
Reflect the spirit of the composition, in style and substance.
Be technically playable, and keep each instrument in its strongest sounding register.
Follow the principles of good voice leading.
Fill in or reinforce the basic harmony. (The safest notes to double in tonal music are the first, fourth, and fifth of the major scale key.)
Make a musical contribution to the composition.
