Peculiar Piccolo Problem

[gogreen]

I'm working on a moderately difficult concert band score with a Flute 1 and optional piccolo part and a Flute 2 part. I want one of the Flute 1 players to double on piccolo in selected spots--there aren't enough places in the music to warrant a separate piccolo part.

What are the best ways to indicate:

1) one Flute 1 player doubles on piccolo. Should I asterisk the Flute 1 part in the score and indicate this specific instruction below? Or does it go without saying that the piccolo part is for only one player?

2) The piccolo player begins with flute and later switches to piccolo. Should I include an expression like "all flutes" at the beginning, and then where necessary add "flute to piccolo" and "piccolo to flute," or just alternate "piccolo" and "flute" in the appropriate places?

[motet]

(I don't know about concert band, but in symphony and opera orchestras it's usually the 2nd (or 3rd) flute that doubles, but of course, that not a rule set in stone. And sometimes the Piccolo part is put above the Flute in the score, which can be kind of confusing.)

I would make the full staff name Flute 1/Piccolo and use the Change Instrument utility to change between the two. The abbreviated name would then be either Fl. 1 or Picc.

When the part switches, put "to Piccolo" where the flute stops and then "Piccolo" where the piccolo starts playing.

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[N Grossingink]

Here's the way I do it, on the part. "+Picc." unparenthesized, "(-Picc.)" parenthesized, but wouldn't have to be.

N.

FlPicc.png (148.61 KiB) Viewed 1789 times

[gogreen]

Thanks, Motet and N Grossingink.