Rehearsal and Tempo Markings

Rehearsal Markings

Put rehearsal marks to demarcate sections of the arrangement. Common examples are a “verse” or “chorus” part of the piece, a significant key change, or a change in mood or flow of the piece.

In general, try to make your rehearsal markings more than 8 measures apart

Medley Piece Titles

Use a double bar line and a new rehearsal mark to mark the beginning of a new piece in the medley. If you want to include the titles of the pieces in a medley in your arrangement, use boxed System Text in order to make it appear on every staff.

Clef/Time/Key Changes

Make sure these changes start at the beginning of a measure, not in the middle of a bar.

In Sibelius, new scores will not have an explicitly labeled time signature, and will implicitly be in 4/4. Please explicitly add the 4/4 marking in.

Tempo

Tempo should be written in bpm (beats per minute), and the note used for the beat is determined by the time signature.

Tempo markings can also be accompanied by musical terms: