Even though many notation apps are quite good at many defaults, bracketing tend to be a hit and miss and something you should keep an eye out for.
In general it’s good practice to bracket each section like this:
- Woodwinds
- Brass
- Percussion
- Strings
If there are multiple staves for each instrumental family – e.g. two or three staves for flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons – you can bracket in two ways:
- bracket the entire woodwinds and draw sub-brackets for each instrumental family
- bracket each family separately as demonstrated here:
In either case there are these points to keep in mind:
- Timpani is not bracketed – it’s located between brass and the rest of the percussion
- Braces are old practice as sub-brackets and only used for harp, marimba, organ, piano and any other instrument where one player reads several staves.
Otherwise bracket away 🙂