flute scoring question -

[rmr1]

hi - I'm a composer writing a piece for flute, clarinet and strings. The flute part doubles on piccolo; in order to save staff space, I'd like to combine the flute and piccolo part, identifying the line in the score as flute (doubles piccolo), and indicating in the score when it is to be played by flute or piccolo, with an added notation a few bars before of "prepare flute" or "prepare piccolo". Is this acceptable for players? Does anyone know any scores from the repertoire that does this or something similar so I can see it in practice? My biggest concern in using one line is the fact that piccolo sounding an octave higher, I wanted to make sure that when switching, the player would know to play the notes on the score for the instrument it is currently playing - in other words if there's an A4 on the score, and the player is using the piccolo, to play it as a piccolo plays an A4 (sounding an A5) - and not transpose it - this may seem an obvious thing but I wanted to make sure before doing this.

Alternatively, I can use two staves one for piccolo and one for flute and hide staves where I can.

If anyone can help with this I'd appreciate it, so I can make the part as clear as possible for players Thank you.

[pied_piper]

Your desire to put both parts on a single staff is very common. If the part is intended for a single player, put the flute and piccolo on a single staff and add text for the instrument changes as you indicated. The only caution is to be sure that you allow adequate time for the player to switch from one to the other. I'm sure you have already considered this, but faster tempos will need more measures to swap than slower tempos. In a pinch it's possible for most players to switch in perhaps 10 seconds or so, but more time is better to allow time to swap and prepare. Your comments about the sounding pitch of the piccolo being an octave higher than written are spot-on. When on piccolo, the player will play the written note and it will sound one octave higher.

[rmr1]

Thanks Pied Piper, appreciate the help, want to make it as clear as possible for players. By the way, I see the quote at the bottom - maybe I'm a little show, but why shouldn't you give a flute player a screwdriver? (This is probably very obvious, and I'm going to feel silly, but I thought I'd ask). Thanks!

[pied_piper]

My signature is "Never give a flute player a screwdriver" because with out experience and/or training, a flutist who takes a screwdriver to their flute is likely to end up with a flute that doesn't play very well, if at all.