How are Band Scores and Piano Scores Similar or Different?

Question

There are two sites I'm looking at that for a the same music book (same ISBN), one lists it as a 'band score' and the other a 'piano score'.

I want to buy music for the piano, so if it's really a band score, it might not have music for the piano. However, I don't know what constitutes a band score. Are band scores like short scores in that the music is playable by all instruments or does it have music for piano with accompaniment staves for other instruments in a band (or is it something else entirely)?

Furthermore, is it safe to imply that all 'band scores' within this context have music for piano players?

Answer 1

I think in this context, "Piano Score" is a mistranslation. That would usually indicate an arrangement that has been condensed from an original instrumentation down to piano plus solo instrument or voice.

Carl Witthoft's link contains the following image:

The instrumentation is drums, guitars, and voice (and I would call this a "Band Score"). If the products you're looking at all have the same ISBN, they're all the same book -- if the Piano Score version was actually different material, it would have a different ISBN.

This doesn't mean that all Band Scores don't have keyboards in them, but it appears at though this one doesn't, or at least the song that is included in that product image. Perhaps other songs in the book do have a keyboard part, but clearly the music is not being condensed down for a single piano player.

Answer 2

It depends on what book/score it is, as each is different.

If the “band score” only has 1 copy, I would assume it’s a complete list for all instruments, sort of like a conductor’s score, which shows all instrument notes at once.

The “piano score” likely is a shortened, piano-only version of the band score.

This will vary from piece to piece. It might even mean the piece was originally not written for piano (but rather a band), and re-written for piano in the correct clefs.