Nathan Furst – Notating music for different contexts

Music notation changes with context and intention. Obviously, with an orchestra you can’t leave anything up to chance. It’s all has to be there. When individual people come in then it varies, but if there’s a melody line or they’re supposed to fit in with the score in a very precise way I write it all out. With orchestral instruments, even solo, I write out every single note and articulation and give it to the player instead of putting them on the spot. When you have great players you often want to leave a little bit of room, because they might do something really interesting and you want to be able to capture that. Especially with world instruments, guitars, or other instruments where improvisation is indigenous, it’s good to have the idea written down, but not so precisely that you contain them.