Helpful Hints for Orchestra Librarians: Receiving the Best Material and Good Service from Publishers of Orchestral Music

By Clinton F. Nieweg

Spring (April or before) is the time when quotes for your orchestra’s following season should be obtained for rental music (if the orchestra administration has cooperated and sent final programs to the library). Only with accurate and current rental quotes can you create a library budget.

The information below is a composite reply from the rental librarians of several publishing houses when asked, “How can your customers receive the best service from your company?” Here are some of their answers:

Time is of the essence. Many orchestras and schools begin their seasons in mid-September so having your orders prepared and submitted by April, or before, will help to ensure better service. Rental requests submitted early will also help to reserve a set for your organization. This is especially true of the many items from publishers and rental agents that are imports and must be obtained well in advance of performances from our foreign counterparts.

Publishers are flooded with calls and requests four to five weeks before the opening of a standard season and you may find it difficult to reach a rental agent personally. For this reason, many publishers make available website forms for submitting orders; in fact many large publishers are only allowed to accept your request in writing or email. This is wise, as retaining a paper trail of your orders can prove vital should something go awry. If a form, e-mailed or faxed, is sent, it is reasonable for a you to expect verification within four to five business days with confirmation of the order.

Many publishers apply a rush fee to an order if it is submitted late. Sending a rental request at least three months prior to a performance is the safest rule of thumb and six months prior if you suspect an item is from a foreign publisher and might need to be imported. Also, titles that must be imported may have extra shipping charges added. Ask for the status of the material when you ask for the rental quote.

Pay attention to the details. If you need multiple scores, materials in advance (such as choral parts), extended rental time, or if you have other special circumstances that need to be addressed, be sure to note these at the time of your original order. The more succinct and comprehensive your requests, the faster they will be processed. For fastest service order the standard rental set of 1 score, wind set, with string parts 9/8/7/6/5. Ordering extra parts slows down the order filling.

The use of standard rental request forms (which appear on many publishers’ web sites) will expedite your order. Some publishers offer a basic rental period of one month; some offer two-months, or part thereof, and one concert performance for the initial rental fee. Most send materials approximately two weeks prior to the required date for receipt of materials so always supply a calendar date on the rental form, listing the actual date when you need to receive materials. Never use “ASAP” in your request, as it does not convey any useful information.

One of the worst things you can do is: send the form, then e-mail an identical request, then send it again by fax, and then call about the same title. This only makes the rental librarian look up the request several times which is a waste of their time. Send the form and give the rental librarians time to answer. Remember, rental agents get hundreds of requests a day. Needlessly adding to their workload will not be appreciated.

In an effort to eliminate the ritual of trying to retrieve or replace marked-up full scores that conductors wish to keep, most publishers can sell full scores of rental works when possible. Librarians may request a price quote to see if a score can be purchased; this should be sent when asking for the rental price quote. Then a conductor can, and probably should, own that score to mark to their heart’s content. Marking rental scores and then asking to keep them after the performance is not an accepted business practice.

A link that contains current information for many publishers’ rental office contact information can be found at http://www.mola-inc.org/cgi-bin/fudpaddb/fudpadndx.cgi

Other publisher links can be found on the MPA site: http://www.mpa.org/agency/publishers.html http://www.mpa.org/agency/imprints.html

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Further Publisher Information

It may take more time for orchestra librarians to fill out individual forms for each company, but by following each rental library’s guidelines, they can ease the publishers’ workload and enable orchestras to receive rental music in a more timely manner. The publishers listed below have their own forms that they prefer librarians use for quote or rental requests.

Boosey & Hawkes (www.boosey.com/usrental)
Boosey will only accept quotes and rental orders via their online quote and rental order forms. Their standard rental period is ten (10) weeks. This can be extended to twelve (12) weeks at no extra charge if necessary. Rental Order/Quote Request form can be accessed at: http://www.boosey.com/pages/licensing/defaultUS.asp

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European American Music Distributors LLC (http://www.eamdllc.com)
EAM’s standard rental period is six (6) weeks prior to the first performance date. Their rental quote, rental order and grand rights forms can be found at http://www.eamdllc.com/rental.cfm?form.

Important Note: See the “General Notice Regarding Importation Charges” at the bottom right of the EAM rental form.

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C.F. Peters Corp./ Oxford University Press (http://www.edition-peters.com)
Peters will ship the rental material to arrive four (4) to six (6) weeks prior to the first performance. Rental orders, quotes, and other rental information is available at: http://www.edition-peters.com/hire/hire.php and http://www.edition-peters.com/pdf/Rental_Reservation_Forms.pdf

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Theodore Presser Company/Carl Fischer Music (http://www.presser.com/Rental)
Presser’s standard rental period is two (2)  months prior to performance with materials sent two (2) weeks prior to the delivery date, where possible. Presser has several online forms:

Concert Performance Rentals: http://www.presser.com/Rental/order.cfm
Grand Rights Performances and Licensing: http://www.presser.com/Licensing/grandrights.cfm

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G. Schirmer, Inc. (http://www.schirmer.com)
Schirmer materials are shipped six (6) weeks prior to performance.

Rental and Print-on-Demand Order Forms: http://www.schirmer.com/Default.aspx?tabId=2423
Fee Quote Requests for Rental Works: http://www.schirmer.com/Site/Schirmer/ModuleData/HtmlModule/Docs/Quote-Request.pdf
Rental Requests for Performance Materials: http://www.schirmer.com/Site/Schirmer/ModuleData/HtmlModule/Docs/Schirmer-Rental-Form.pdf
Opera and Ballet (Royalty) Form: http://www.schirmer.com/Site/Schirmer/ModuleData/HtmlModule/Docs/Schirmer-Opera-and-Ballet-Form.pdf

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Clinton F. Nieweg, retired Principal Librarian of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is owner of ~Proof Purr-fect Research~ and freelance consultant for conductors, librarians and performers.