music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, a reduction is an arrangement or transcription of an existing score or

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

in which complexity is lessened to make

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...

, performance, or practice easier or clearer; the number of parts may be reduced or

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

may be simplified, such as through the use of

block chord A block chord is a chord or voicing built directly below the melody either on the strong beats or to create a four-part harmonized melody line in " locked-hands" rhythmic unison with the melody, as opposed to broken chords. This latter style, ...

Orchestral

An orchestral reduction is a sheet music arrangement of a work originally for full symphony

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

(such as a symphony, overture, or opera), rearranged for a single instrument (typically

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

or organ), a smaller orchestra, or a

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

with or without a keyboard (e.g. a string quartet). A reduction for solo piano is sometimes called a piano reduction or ''piano score''. During opera rehearsals, a

répétiteur A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare. Opera In opera, a is the perso ...

(piano player) will typically read from a piano reduction of the opera. When a choir is learning a work scored for choir and full orchestra, the initial rehearsals will usually be done with a pianist playing a piano reduction of the orchestra part. Before the advent of the phonograph, arrangements of orchestral works for solo piano or piano four hands were in common use for enjoyment at home. A reduction for a smaller orchestra or chamber ensemble may be used when not enough players are available, when a venue is too small to accommodate the full orchestra, to accompany less powerful voices, or to save money by hiring fewer players.

Piano

A piano reduction or piano transcription is sheet music for the

(a ''piano score'') that has been compressed and/or simplified so as to fit on a two-line staff and be playable on the piano. It is also considered a style of orchestration or music arrangement less well known as ''contraction scoring'', a subset of elastic scoring. The most notable example is Franz Liszt's transcriptions for solo piano of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's symphonies. According to Arnold Schoenberg, a piano reduction should "only be like the view of a sculpture from ''one'' viewpoint", and he advises that

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

and

thickness Thickness may refer to: * Thickness (graph theory) * Thickness (geology), the distance across a layer of rock * Thickness (meteorology), the difference in height between two atmospheric pressure levels * Thickness planer a woodworking machine ...

should largely be ignored, since "the attempt to make a useful object equally usable for a variety of purposes is usually the way to spoil it completely".

Sources

External links

Opus TranscribisticumEditions Poole
{{Authority control Musical notation Musical terminology Reduction Piano

Orchestral

Piano

See also

Sources

Further reading

External links