Score
A complete score that aligns every part bar by bar, one staff system under another
Related
A score aligns every part bar by bar, stacking groups of staves one above another so that a conductor can see, at a single moment, what everyone is doing.
It is not a binding of parts: time signatures, key signatures and rehearsal marks must agree before vertical alignment means anything. A score may print transposing instruments at sounding pitch, which is called a C score, or at their written pitch.
The common mistake is to treat a score as archive material. It is a working tool: follow melody across, read harmony and rhythm down, then carry those findings back to the parts.
Sources
- 总谱的构成与读法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Score"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.