consensus on adding lyrics to harmony staves?
Hi All
I'm writing the full production score for a musical, and am unsure whether to add lyrics to harmony vocal staves? Obviously it adds a lot of space to the score, as there are at times 4 part harmonies.
I've searched online but cannot seem to find a consensus on this! And I don't have any scores of harmony rich musical theatre scores to refer to so would welcome some input.
At the moment, where a named character takes over the melody, then of course that singer gets her own stave with lyrics, but where the ensemble sings, (and I have at times ensembles 1, 2 etc) I'm unsure whether to add the lyrics on perhaps the 3rd stave, for reading clarity? Part of me thinks the lyric should only appear once, (because it is after all in the script / book, and so memorised not "read") but.... I don't know. Any thoughts welcome!
Comments
ah, I just downloaded a pdf score for Sweeney Todd - and the lyrics are on every singer's stave!
Can't really argue with Sondheim so I guess that saving on paper is not going to happen. Still interested to know what other's are doing on this though.
In reply to ah, I just downloaded a pdf… by [DELETED] 37205164
If they have separate staves, then we always include the full lyrics on each staff.
If you use a condensed form, then the lyrics are often limited to between the grand staff for unirhytmic sections.
In reply to If they have separate staves… by jeetee
Thanks jeetee - yes, I have since found other scores to reference, and this is how I should be doing it!