Buttwinick Musical Services

This post is an answer to a question a friend asked me the other day.

“A music copyist prepares written music for performance. A copyist gets the music written down on paper in a fashion that the musicians can easily read.”

Here are some of the jobs a copyist has:

Working from a score: A composer creates a score (music with all the instruments on it) and the copyist “extracts” each part of the score and prepares it for each instrument. E.g., he’ll take each individual part and make it look great for each player, such as the violin, viola, flute, etc.
Proofreading: A copyist has both the score and the individual parts, compares them and makes sure that everything is correct.
Transcribing: Someone has a recording and wants the music written down. The copyist listens to the music and writes it down in whatever form the client needs. (See my post on “The Seven Different Types of Written Music” and you’ll get the full picture.)
Copyrighting: The copyist listens to the song and writes down the melody, lyrics, chords and form. This “chart” is registered with the Library of Congress for copyright protection.

There are Music Preparation Houses in major cities. In Los Angeles there are mainly two or three large facilities that handle all the chart writing for the movie and TV networks. Freelance copyists are abundant and it’s largely a word-of-mouth business. I mainly get my copywork from people that I know, though occasionally I’ll advertise somewhere, like “Craigslist.com“, and get some new clients. I have some occasional overflow work from the main offices, but my clients mainly consist of original artists wanting their music transcribed and charted well, and singers wanting their songs put in their key and arranged the way they want.

The main two computer programs used in the business are “Finale” and “Sibelius.” Finale has been the standard for years, though Sibelius has become a tough competitor. (I’m a Sibelius guy.)

The main ways to start working as a copyist are:

• Become a copyist! Get one of these programs and learn them. There are demos and small versions you can start with before upgrading to the large, pro editions. There are also classes you can take. (I can take you on as a Sibelius student as well.)
• Introduce yourself to as many musicians and singer as you can. Make yourself known as a copyist and create some relationships.
• Run a free ad on Craigslist.

And of course… you need to be fluent with music notation, and transcribing if you’ll be getting into that. I’ve never met a copyist who doesn’t transcribe, though I know musicians who transcribe and aren’t copyists! (I’ll let you ponder that one.)

That’s the general idea!

You can see some of my copywork at my MySpace site in the pics section.

Hope that helps.

Happy notation to ya!

Marty B.
(818) 242-7551
My direct email