Anne Dubrofsky came to be a music copyist quite by accident.
"I was using a computer notation program for my own use and had shared
some of my work with other musicians. As a result, when a music editor needed
a local music copyist, my name was offered."
From there, she says, her copyist business has grown.
"I work from home so I can determine my own hours, and it is only one of
many music services that I offer," says Dubrofsky. "My time is taken up by
teaching students, rehearsals and copyist activities. But I like to play back
the work when I have finished copying it. I also enjoy printing out the final
copy of a score I have worked on!
"But I don't care for the page turns for part scores. Those are hard.
Even harder is getting the layout to look just right, especially for those
page turns."
Dubrofsky finds that all of the work is worth it, though. "Hearing that
very first score that I engraved had been published was the most exciting
moment of my career. It really made it all worthwhile."
Being a music copyist has changed Dubrofsky's life in another way
that she never expected. "I have started to compose my own arrangements of
selected songs for my students. [That's] something which I had never
done previously, due to the tediousness of handwritten score writing," she
says.
"I have learned another set of skills, which assists me musically when
teaching and performing. It is a good career for someone with the necessary
background and who enjoys the fine detail work required. But you should be
prepared to starve in the beginning."
Breaking into the copyist market has not been easy for Dubrofsky. "You
had better have another source of income while you are building up a clientele.
Do a market survey in your town before embarking on this type of work. And
there are investments that must be made in a computer and music hardware,
so you have to be sure this is what you want to do."
Managing the logistics of the business is also an issue that Dubrofsky
spends a lot of time on. "I have made up a contract for clients so that they
know what my rates are, and what services I offer. But I also spend time checking
out websites of other music engravers to find out what they offer,
how much they charge, and study the market so that I know what a reasonable
fee is," she explains.
"There are a number of changes in the computer notation programs being
offered -- one has been upgraded quite nicely," notes Dubrofsky. "Another
is providing some stiff competition, and this is a good thing in my opinion.
It keeps the business interesting."
Interesting is not a problem for 16-year veteran music copyist Victor Sagerquist
of Los Angeles. "There have been many strange and exciting moments," he says.
"I remember getting one call from an orchestra manager once at 9:30 in
the morning. He was wondering if the librarian was going to show up soon with
the music for his session. It turned out that the session had been changed
from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m., and no one told us!
"I called the librarian and sent him over to the studio, and I made up
the books and sent them out via messenger. The session began a half an hour
late, but we got it done," he says.
"The most exciting moment I remember is when I was preparing the music
for the Academy Awards one year and going over to the Shrine Auditorium to
help shuffle the program order in the books before the dress rehearsal began,"
he recalls.
"When I finished, I sat in the front row and watched the dress rehearsal
-- which included a performance of a song sung by Madonna, about 20 feet from
where I was sitting. Pretty cool!"
Of course, Sagerquist doesn't get to spend all of his time doing cool
things. "My least favorite part of being a copyist is being the last person
to handle the music before the session deadline. Most composers use almost
all of the time allotted for composition, leaving us very little time to prepare
the parts for the session," he says.
"In the case of a rather large project, such as a feature movie involving
a 100-piece orchestra, we usually have to call as many as a dozen copyists,
two or three extra proofreaders, and a few people to print and bind parts
and scores -- just to keep up with it. A few times, the music has arrived
so late we had to work into the night or through the weekend."
But for all of the hard work, the career has paid off for Sagerquist. "It
has most definitely changed my life. Of course, it changed my financial standing,
too, but it also changed my self-image. I had no idea what I was going to
do with my degree in music. I was beginning to think it was about as practical
as a degree in basket weaving," he says.
"But I finally got my foot in the door, though I wouldn't recommend
it as a career for most people. It's a rocky road."