Stephen Schwartz gets done a lot, and Wicked is still really popular (pun not intended). So I decided to sit myself down and actually learn the whole show instead of sightreading songs like "The Wizard and I" once every couple of months. After pawing through my monstrosity of a filing cabinet*, I discovered I owned several different versions of the same song. Each of the versions had varying levels of readability, so I tracked down what I deemed to be the most pianist-friendly version: Wicked, no melody line in RH. This can easily be confused with Wicked, yes melody line in RH, but they are NOT the same.
For me, my life gets a lot easier when the publisher leaves the melody out of the RH, because I can focus on what to play instead of what to leave out. MT singers generally do not want to be doubled, anyway, so I usually avoid shadowing the singer's melody.
This project will take a week or so, so I'll probably have more comments on scores as I go.
*I am a CP geek. I save most photocopied music that is handed to me.
For me, my life gets a lot easier when the publisher leaves the melody out of the RH, because I can focus on what to play instead of what to leave out. MT singers generally do not want to be doubled, anyway, so I usually avoid shadowing the singer's melody.
This project will take a week or so, so I'll probably have more comments on scores as I go.
*I am a CP geek. I save most photocopied music that is handed to me.
1 comment:
Hi Billie
If it helps, I've posted the differences between the types of sheet music on my Schwartz site at http://www.musicalschwartz.com/wicked-piano-vocal.htm
In the full songbook, the one without the melody in the right hand is called "Vocal Selections."
I also have a full chapter about the score (chapter 20) in my book Schwartz biography Defying Gravity. http://www.defyinggravitythebook.com/
Enjoy
Carol
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