Orchestral score file organization

Having an organized file system is crucial. If you’re like me, your file system always needs work. Think of the score and all the parts required. It’s important to know where each score’s elements are. I have a long list of files I continually move between when working on any orchestration. I have so many folders to create one orchestral score it’s sometimes overwhelming. Right or wrong, here is how I organize my files. 

The first folder contains the templates for my title pages and back covers: 

1. Conductors front cover front
2. Conductors front cover back
3. Conductors back cover front
4. Conductors back cover back
5. Part front cover
6. Part back cover
7. Conductor score staging diagram

I keep the front and back cover templates separate in case I need an additional blank page; in that case, I erase a few words and have an empty page.

Next up is the project or album folder, which contains the following folders and files:

1. Conductor front Cover (folder)
   1. Piece 1 front cover word processing file
   2. Piece 2 front cover word processing file
   3. Piece 3 front cover word processing file
   4. PDF covers
2. Conductor back cover (folder)
   1. Piece 1 back cover word processing file
   2. Piece 2 back cover word processing file
   3. Piece 3 back cover word processing file
   4. PDF Covers
3. Conductor score and part (folder)
   1. Piece 1
      1. Piece 1 Sibelius files
      2. Piece 1 Conductor score PDF
      3. Piece 1 parts PDF
   2. Piece 2
      1. Piece 2 Sibelius files
      2. Piece 2 Conductor score PDF
      3. Piece 2 parts PDF
   3. Piece 3
      1. Piece 3 Sibelius files
      2. Piece 3 Conductor score PDF
      3. Piece 3 parts PDF
4. Part front cover (folder)
   1. Piece 1
      1. Part 1 front cover word processing file
      2. Part 2 front cover word processing file
      3. Part 3 front cover word processing file
      4. PDF Part covers
   2. Piece 2
      1. Part 1 front cover word processing file
      2. Part 2 front cover word processing file
      3. Part 3 front cover word processing file
      4. PDF Part covers
   3. Piece 3
      1. Part 1 front cover word processing file
      2. Part 2 front cover word processing file
      3. Part 3 front cover word processing file
      4. PDF Part covers
5. Completed PDF scores (folder)
   1. Piece 1
      1. Conductor score completed PDF
      2. Parts score completed PDF
   2. Piece 2
      1. Conductor score completed PDF
      2. Parts score completed PDF
   3. Piece 3
      1. Conductor score completed PDF
      2. Parts score completed PDF

In the final step, I take all of the word processing files and convert them to PDFs. I assemble the PDFs into the final conductor score and parts using a PDF editor. Once I complete this stage, I send the scores off for distribution. As with most filing systems, my system is no exception; each time I use it, I refine it. Thanks for reading; I’m just a music teacher having fun; catch ya on the next one.