BBCG Knowledge
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Practical big-band knowledge, gathered in one place. Use these sections to identify and care for charts, create useful files, organize music libraries, prepare for performances, and work with arranging and notation.
Managing Charts
Identify, evaluate, complete, and maintain the music your band uses.
Chart Identification
Use BBCG arranger-handwriting samples and research to help identify unattributed manuscript charts.
Missing Parts
Learn how to request legitimate replacement parts while respecting publishers, arrangers, and the BBCG Do-Not-Trade policy.
Scans and PDFs
Turn printed or digital music into clear, orderly files musicians can actually use.
BBCG Procedures
Browse our currently available preparation and file-handling procedures.
Creating PDFs
Create usable PDF files from notation software or scans.
Combining PDFs
Put the score and parts into one properly ordered file.
Cleaning Scans
Music Libraries
Build a library that makes music easy to find, maintain, and return to the right place.
How To Remove Masking Tape From Pages
...I have the chart but it is in bad shape. The problem is it looks like the chart was used and taped over many years ago and you remember how the old tape turned yellow? Well somebody tried to copy it and the yellow tape caused problems and it's a mess.
— John C, August 2012
In response, Dean C posted this:
Guys, the use of masking tape will eventually yellow and present a problem; Answer: get Energine Spot Remover; take a rag, use your finger, dip it in the Spot Remover, gently rub the masking tape, let it sit for a few seconds; gently peel the tape off; may need to re-apply; it will remove it (I got this from a Librarian at my university) who also turned me on to library book tape, non corosive, will not age or yellow. If you have the masking tape on the front, try a small strip, it may take the notes with it, but the tape will come off.
— Dean C
Thanks, Dean, for a great pointer!
How To Tape Pages
Read the material below, for sure! But before you read that, watch this video on “Binding Short Booklets”, which also shows you how to tape pages. You will probably find the entire video of interest, but if all you want is how to TAPE pages, jump to about 7:22 in the video.
We have all tried to read music that had pages badly taped together. Either it's folded and won't unfold, or the tape covers things you need to read, or the adhesive oozes out from beneath the tape and sticks to other things it shouldn't, or it gets old and turns yellow and cracks, or it comes undone and creates a big mess. Witness the item above. When taping pages together, it is critical to use the right kind of tape.
There are several kinds of tape that have been recommended by group members. Here's a discussion of the two that garnered the best reviews so far.
In a discussion in May 2015, some members (including Al L and Bob D) recommended Micropore #1530-0 1/2"x360" hypoallergenic medical tape.
I used to use Scotch tape (or the Staples version), but saw too many tape failures. For the last few years I've been using 1" 3M Micropore surgical tape, which seems to deal better with folding and unfolding — it's thin but durable and it stays flat.
Micropore seems to have more fold cycles in it than Scotch tape.
— Bob D
I recently found this tape in a local Walgreen's — it took about 20 minutes of searching, but I finally identified it because it had “Micropore” printed on the INSIDE of the spool. It is also available from Amazon.
More recently (May 2016), Jon B recommended Filmoplast P. In a posting, Jon said:
Parts with multiple sheets are spliced with Filmoplast® P by Neschen (comes in 50m x 2 cm rolls).
This is also THE ONLY type of tape that should EVER be used to repair or splice sheets.
It is museum quality restoration film and works fabulously for this purpose.
— Jon B, May 2016
I have not yet tried this, but plan on trying it soon. It is available from Amazon with free Prime shipping, for about $20, 3/4" x 164 ft. Twenty-three customer reviews give it 4 out of 5 stars. The low-rating reviewers seem to have gotten a bad batch of it.
If you go to Amazon and look up Filmoplast P, you will also see other kinds of tape intended to repair paper and books, such as Transparent Mending Tissue, Lineco Document Repair Tape, and Scotch Book tape. I would be interested to hear reports from group members who have used these.
How I Taped Sheets Together
I did this on a 49-page concert band score, so it was a sizeable project, using 25 sheets of paper printed on both sides.
I cleared a space at the table and set out the pages, a cutting board, the (1" Micropore) tape, and a single-edge razor blade.
I would line up two pages for taping, pull off enough tape to cover the entire seam, and carefully place it down the seam, starting a wee fraction down from the top. I would gently press it down the seam until I got to the bottom, where I would pick up the razor blade and gently slice the tape a wee fraction above the bottom. It took a bit of practice to slice gently enough to cut the tape without cutting the paper beneath.
At first, I tried taping them in order, but it quickly became apparent that one stack would be higher than the other stack, resulting in uneven alignment. So I would tape two pages together, place them aside, then tape the next two pages. Then I would join the two-page stacks together into a four-page stack and set that aside. I'd repeat that, then join the four-page stacks into an eight-page stack. I repeated this process until the project was done.
The results were quite satisfactory, except for a minor issue, where the spine of the bound score was fatter than the rest of the pages. Even so, the spine was much slimmer than if I had used a plastic comb or wire spiral binding.
Directory Tools
Create a shareable list of charts on Mac, Windows, or Linux.
Gigs and Gear
Apply shared experience to rehearsals, performances, personnel, and equipment.
Playing Swing
BBCG material about playing swing music is included with the group’s completed projects.
Stock Instrumentation
Here's a question that comes up not infrequently on the forum — what's the stock instrumentation of a big band? Arnie has put together a good answer discussion for us on this topic.
Subject: Stock chart instrumentation (1920–present day)
In the 20's and early 30's, the standard instrumentation was for “theater orchestra” — 2 or 3 saxes, Fl, Cl, 2 tpts, 1 tbn, piano, banjo, bass, drums, and violins. From time to time you'd also find additional string parts (Violins B, C, Viola, Cello). These charts were “usually” voiced so that they would sound “okay” when played with a minimum of 1 Alto Sax, 1 Tenor Sax, 1 Trumpet and rhythm. It was also not uncommon to find a C melody sax part included. (This was often, but not always, a transposed copy of the Tenor Sax part.)
Starting in approx 1936, “stocks” were published for 4 saxes (sometimes AATT, and sometimes AATB), 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, and 4 rhythm (PGBD), with an occasional banjo part instead of the guitar. At this point, the fewest horns needed for an “acceptable” sound increased to 3 saxes (AAT) and 1 trumpet. These arrangements were often distributed by the publisher free of charge to working dance bands.
In the mid-40's, the instrumentation was augmented again. A fifth sax and a third trombone were added to almost all stock charts, but these charts should still sound “okay” with AAT Saxes and 1 trumpet. You just need to make sure that any 1st trombone solos are cued either in the piano or one of the saxes. Violin parts were still being used (often as conductor parts), but the “Violin A-B-C” parts were becoming more rare. A single part was usually published, although it was still labeled “Violin A”, or “1st Violins” — which, of course, makes no sense.
Then in the mid-fifties, the “stage band” was born. This was the advent of the 5444 chart. The violins were dropped entirely, and there were occasionally parts for other miscellaneous “optional” instruments. Woodwind doubles were very rare in these arrangements, unless they were transcriptions of recordings.
Many older charts were re-published by the copyright holders with added parts (most of the 4th trumpet parts were uncomfortably low — but the bass trombones finally got some notes they enjoyed playing). Around this time, Stan Kenton added four mellophoniums to his band — as a result many school stage band charts were published with one or two optional French horn parts.
— Arnie
How To Construct Risers From Plywood and Plastic Buckets
A huge THANK YOU to Greg G for providing us with the plans to “Greg's Right-Size Risers.”
Of these risers, Greg says:
These risers really are very sturdy. Like walking on your living room floor. No bounce. It makes me wonder if a good quality half inch plywood would be enough? Maybe I'll try one panel to see.
I have not yet tried these on uneven ground. We do lots of outdoor gigs in the summer, so that is a concern. If you feel like joining the design-build club, that is something to ponder. Putting slabs of plywood under the buckets as shims is obvious, but may be slippy. Maybe drill holes in the bottom center of the bucket and the shims and insert a large spike as an anchor? Or have a carriage bolt attached to the shim sticking up through the bucket hole? Stack two buckets with hunks of wood in the bottom bucket to adjust height when more than a couple inches is required?
I'm also still working on a suitable cart. I was hoping to just attach swivel casters to the bottom of a lid panel and stack them all up, but ADA wheelchair guidelines call for 32 inch clear openings in doors. Assuming most performance venues will have wheelchair accessible doors and ramps, it would be nice to build transportation that fits. The lid panels are more like 34 inches wide with the disks sticking out. So, the panel cart should hold the lids on edge and stay at or under 30 inches wide, including the cart itself. All this is still in the design stages here at muppet labs.
Stay tuned.
— Greg G
You can download photographs and plans for non-commercial use.
Thanks for a great project, Greg!
How To Construct Music Stands for Swing Bands
This website gives you full instructions on how to construct music stands for your band, out of that corrugated plastic that many “For Sale By Owner” signs are made of. The material is called Coroplast©.
I (David) had a neighbor build a set of these stands for our swing band before I found this group, so I couldn't tell you about it then. I ordered black Coroplast from a company in New Jersey (I think). I found them on the internet, and they shipped the material to Mississippi by truck, charging only $35 for the delivery. The neighbor-builder put them together in about a week, and they've been serving admirably ever since. He even made four of the stands about 10" higher than the others for the trumpets, so they could see them better while standing. The higher ones are a bit wobbly, but not bad, and are certainly usable. We sealed the edges with black electrical tape, and you have to look twice to see it's there.
We heard from Henry Mason, the developer of these plans, in May 2013. He requested that anyone who builds these stands email him with any feedback; he would like to improve the plans and include feedback in his next version. THANKS, Henry!
In a February 2013 posting to the group, Greg G said this about these stands:
I made a set of stands exactly (well, almost exactly) like the ones in the link, and we love them.
We have 24 inch stands for all the horns when seated, and 40 inch stands for those standing. We tried 30 or 32 inch stands with a steeper angle, but the trombones didn't like them. They prefer to play over the top of the shorter 24 inch stands.
The 24 inch height makes best use of the corrugated plastic sheets, but also allows the audience to SEE and HEAR the musicians. One of my pet peeves is a band hiding behind tall music stands. Looks (and sounds) terrible. Get the right prescription bifocals and use the shorter stands.
I made a special top 32 inches wide for the bass player, who often has three pages of music and no hands to shuffle them. Same base, just a wider top.
The only thing I did differently than the plans is to run the strips glued to the front edge of the top for the entire width, rather than a short piece in the middle. It looks better, stacks better, and I had lots of strips left after making the 40 inch bases.
I made bags with buckle straps and loop handles of a tough black fabric that hold five stands each. That makes transport easy. You could also make boxes out of the corrugated plastic.
I found white duct tape works very well to clean up the appearance of the front edge of the stands, as well as the top edge of the shelf.
We hang banners with the band logo on the front, but are considering having the print shop that sold us the Coroplast print the logo directly on a sheet and then cut it apart to make a few more bases. That will look more professional.
— Greg G, February 2013
Electronic Music Displays
Software and hardware for displaying music electronically.
Arranging and Notation
Develop readable scores and parts while making sensible choices about notation, ranges, voicing, and software.
Notation Programs
Programs and practical choices for arranging, engraving, editing, and exporting music.
Arrangers
Information about arrangers and their work.
Computer Help
Practical computer guidance collected from BBCG members and the legacy website.
General Computer Pointers
I have tried a number of sites. Many are infested with advertising and confusing links screaming “DOWNLOAD NOW!” Many sites would not work, claiming such things as “Google does not want this video to be converted. Download our free software to convert this content.” I’m suspicious of sites like this, since you never can tell if their downloads contain something that will infect your computer.
The site(s) I’ve found that work as expected are listed below. Please let us know of others that work well also.
Computer Security for Musicians
In this section, you will find links to SAFE software download sites.
Tech Support Alert
This site originally started out to be a computer advice newsletter, with a side focus on the best free software for windows. Gizmo (the site owner) took a job with the Windows Secrets Newsletter, and the site became totally focused on reviews of the best free Windows software, complete with reviews and evaluations of their recommendations.
This is where I go when I need to find a specific piece of software, because I can trust nothing they recommend will be loaded with malware or adware, and I appreciate their reviews.
FileHippo
This site is dedicated to giving you links to download the latest versions of the best software. They provide download links from their own servers — without the usual irritating popups or stealth bloatware installs or spyware. They guarantee all downloads are free of malware. They also have older versions of programs, so if you install a newer version and don’t like it, you can go back to the older one.
This site does NOT provide reviews or ratings of the software, but they take care to make certain they only list the best software available in each category. If you already know what software you want, this is the place to get it. Since these are download links, you may get free software, shareware, trialware or product demos, but they do provide filters you can use to show only freeware, and to filter out beta products as well.
Backup and File-Safety Guidance
If you have ANY files at all that you can’t stand to lose, you simply MUST back up your files. If you’ve been a member of the Big Band Charts group for any length of time at all, you’ve already seen one or more members anguishing over lost files because their hard disk crashed, or because an elephant stepped on their laptop, or they accidentally dropped their computer off a cliff.
If you have suitable backups, then if you lose all your stuff, while it won’t be a picnic, at least you’ll be able to get it all back.
There are three basic kinds of backups. I’ll discuss them briefly here, then give some sources for each. We will NOT list here any backup methods that have not been tried and tested by a group member, unless we specifically say so, like “Not tested by a group member yet.”
The three main locations for backup are in-computer, in-house, and off-site. Also, there are full-system, partial system, and selected file backups.
IN-COMPUTER BACKUPS. This is the least secure of all. It consists in making copies of your file(s) to another directory on your hard drive. Use this only when trying something on a file, such as reformatting, cleanup, etc. It protects you against accidental file corruption. It does NOT protect you against hard disk failure.
IN-HOUSE BACKUPS. This means making backups of your files to external media, but still keeping it in your house. This DOES protect you against hard disk failure, but usually does not protect you against major disasters like fire, theft, or vandalism.
OFF-SITE BACKUPS are backups where your files are stored in a different location (a different building, frequently a different state) than your main files. This is the most secure type of backup, and if you are diligent about making backups, will protect you against anything.
FULL-SYSTEM BACKUPS back up everything on your hard drive, including the operating system and all your configuration settings. If you totally lose your computer or hard drive, you can get a new one, restore it from this backup, and within an hour or two be back up and running just as you were before the disaster. The downside of full-system backups is that they usually take a very long time to accomplish. People who do these usually schedule them for a time when they won’t be using their computer for several hours.
PARTIAL SYSTEM BACKUPS are also called “incremental” backups, because they only back up the files that have changed since the last backup. They are usually used in conjunction with full-system backups. Making a full system backup two to four times a year, and an incremental or partial backup once or twice a month in between, is usually sufficient to completely protect you against any disaster.
SELECTED FILE BACKUPS are exactly what the name implies. You pick which files to back up. It’s a bit more tedious to do this, but usually goes much quicker.
Backup Tools and Utilities
Carbonite. This is an OFF-SITE backup service that provides FULL and INCREMENTAL backups. You install a program on your computer, tell it what and when to back up, then it does a full backup of your computer to their online data center; whenever you change a file, it does an incremental backup so the new changes are saved. The data it sends over the internet is encrypted.
I can also heartily recommend a “cloud” storage option from Carbonite. It’s about $50.00 per year for the peace of mind knowing you can recover lost files. I can tell you first hand after a major computer meltdown that it was a huge relief to know that all of my files were safely stored with Carbonite and other than the time it took to recover them they were perfect.
I was also able to recover critical emails and other files that I thought would be lost.
Give it a look you won’t be sorry. By the way I don’t get reimbursed for this endorsement.
— Gary M
Acronis True Image. This is mainly BACKUP SOFTWARE intended for on-site backups, but they also offer an off-site backup service. It will do both full and incremental backups to the location of your choice — external hard disk or off-site cloud location.
This is the backup solution I use. When I got a brand new computer not long ago, I also bought a 2TB external hard drive. I got the new computer set up the way I wanted it — but with no software installed yet, then I did a full system backup. Next, I installed all my software (Finale, Adobe CS5.5, MS Office, various browsers, games, and viewers), and then did another full-system backup. Since then, I do incremental backups once a month.
This way, if my computer ever crashes or is somehow lost, I’ve got everything. If my hard disk bogs down and starts running like a snail, I can restore to the clean status I had right after the software installation, and it’ll be blazing fast again.
— David Miller
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