An American in Paris (Critical Edition - Clague) (Trumpet Parts)

This professionally re-engraved and transposed set of orchestral trumpet parts greatly eases learning and performance of the work.  Available as PDF download or hard copy (9" x 12"). You can buy the parts individually or as a package:

• Trumpet 1 in C
• Trumpet 2 in C
• Trumpet 3 in C (alt. B♭ part provided)

Notes from the Editor

Recently, Gershwin's "An American in Paris" entered the Public Domain. A few years ago, I edited the trumpet parts for the standard Campbell-Watson Revised edition to fix some of the standard issues I find with many publications.

The new Critical Edition published in 2017 (Mark Clague, Editor) is definitely a cleaner copy, easier to read, and has fixed some terminology. However, I felt that it could still be improved upon, so I created a new set of trumpet parts as a companion to the Critical Edition.

Key signatures have been removed in favor of showing all accidentals. This is especially convenient in particularly brutal sharp keys, especially when within those sections it switches to flat key tonalities.

I have created a set of parts for concert pitch Trumpets in C and also a Trumpet 3 part in B-flat due to range considerations.

Additionally, I found one error in the C.E. Trumpet 2 part. In measures 538-539, there should not be trills above those notes. Those should only occur in the Trumpet 1 part. I checked with the score of the C.E., and all three trumpet parts share the same material with the soprano saxophone section, which each have their own separate staff. The Sop. Saxophone 2 does not show a trill. The Trumpet 1 and 2 parts, however, share a staff in the score, and it is my suspicion that when they were extracted into separate parts, the engravers mistakenly left the trill in the Trumpet 2 part as well. Furthermore, the Campbell-Watson revised edition (correctly) does not show trills over those notes.

Please note that this set of parts is NOT compatible with the Campbell-Watson revised edition that most orchestras perform. The Critical Edition features the original orchestration by Gershwin and is significantly different. However, I do have a set of parts corresponding to the Campbell-Watson edition, also available on the Art of Sound Music website.

The Andrew Bishop Orchestral Editions explore the concept of how these orchestral masterworks would appear if they were composed today.  There are myriad differences in how music is currently published compared to when many of these works were originally engraved.  “Tradition” is usually the (poor) excuse I hear when the topic of updating these masterworks is discussed – most often in reference to transposition(s).  As a performer and teacher, I remain committed to the practice of honing vigorous transposition skills.  However, there are many of these original engravings set in keys that are truly antiquated, and make almost no sense whatsoever to keep perpetuating.  Transposition, however, is the least of the issues most of these original editions suffer from.  Paper is no longer a premium and scarce product, and therefore the practice of cramming as much material on a page is not necessary.  “Readability” was obviously not a concern with copyists of the times, and it is my opinion that the music suffered because of it.  Therefore, a ”Bish Edish” (as they are popularly referred to) features many upgrades, including:

• Judicious spacing throughout the engraving (not too cramped, not too open)
• Correct enharmonic spellings of notes.  This is an unfortunate byproduct of writing in asinine transpositions. 
• A careful reconsidering of cue usage.  
• Corrections of many inconsistencies between original parts and score, and even between parts themselves.
• The addition of measure numbers, including helpful ranges listed under multi-measure rests.
• Deleting key signatures and writing all parts utilizing accidentals only.
• All parts are formatted for standard Concert 9x12 paper, and is best printed on that size. 

Reading it on 8.5x11 is not ideal, but the compression percentage isn’t too significant.  Similarly, reading it off a larger tablet (e.g. iPad Pro) doesn’t present any significant issues.

In some instances, there are other upgrades specific to individual works that will be mentioned within the respective product.  If you happen to find something questionable that you would like to bring to my attention, please feel free to do so at:  trptshallsound@gmail.com.  If it is something that I need to correct, I will be happy to do so and make sure you receive a corrected part/parts.  If you have other works that you would like to have a custom edition made, please also reach out with that as well.  

Andrew Bishop, Editor