What’s the general CW for rastral size recommendations? I’m specifically wondering about orchestral parts, but am curious for other types of music too, like piano music and choral music, to be printed on US Letter size paper.
In another thread, I found a link to a MOLA document with recommendations (https://mola-inc.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files/mola3/MOLA-Guidelines-for-Music-Preparation.pdf) and I was surprised to see 7.0-7.5mm be the recommendation for orchestral parts (this corresponds to Dorico’s Size 2 or Size 3). I previously assumed this might be too big. But I’d like to see if anyone else has thoughts or recommendations here.
What are other people’s preferences for piano and choral music, while I’m asking the question?
For my use:
Piano, Orchestra parts and choral - 7mm, sometimes 6.5 for piano or organ
Large ensemble scores: as small as 4.5 but I often do scores for legal size paper (8x14).
What type of note spacing one uses can also make a difference as to what to make the rastral size.
Orchestral Parts: whenever possible Size 2 / 10 sp between systems, minimum size 3
Piano: Size 4 or even 3
Choral : Size 5 or even 4
Scores: As large as possible, minimum for A4/letter size 7 otherwise use A3/tabloid
7mm is typical for piano. 7.5 and larger for orchestral parts. Consider how far the stand is from most of the orchestral players. Professionally prepared orchestral materials also use paper sized larger than Letter/A4.
A lot of it depends on practicalities – how far away will the reader be from the page? A cellist or bassoonist is going to be further away than a pianist.
A singer with the score in their hand will be able to read much smaller staves.
And how many systems will fit nicely on the page at a readable size.
7.5mm is a good size for string players sharing stands, so that’s usually what I default to for non-keyboard instrumental parts. On letter or A4 paper 7mm is fine, but on 9” x 12” paper or larger 7.5mm has the best balance between legibility and information density. 7mm is fine for keyboards, and while I don’t do a lot of choral work I believe 6.5mm is considered the standard.
I’m taking part in the survey, even though my use of Dorico is quite specific, as it’s limited to large orchestral scores.
The size of staves: between 6 and 8 (4.5–3.5) depending on the number of instruments and the final result of the condensation.
But I only use A3 or B4 paper (120gr), which doesn’t match the printers you have, may be.
For the individual parts, you need to find a good balance for readability, bearing in mind that sometimes (often) musicians are quite far from their music stands and have only dim lighting (the “fosse d’orchestre” at the Opera, for example).