Last time I talked about a method of putting a Piano Sketch into Finale and then adding staves for other instruments. Some people work with a three or four stave piano sketch. I prefer to work with a two stave piano sketch. So, if you have a two stave piano piece how can you make it fit a quartet?  You can do this a couple of ways. Adding chord tones is one way. This method ensures that you have four voices, although they may all be moving in the same direction. A second method of fitting your piano sketch to a quartet expands on the adding chord tones method by making sure there is musical interest by adding moving lines or counter melodies. This can be done at the piano sketch phase or it can be done in Finale. Either way, incorporating independent moving lines that have at least some contrary motion is a good way to move beyond the chorale-type block-chord arrangement that results from adding chord tones to the piano sketch.

There may not be a magic bullet for writing quartets or other ensemble music but being inventive with your piano sketch can save you time later as you edit and refine your piece. Ideally, you should have your overall concept for your piece before you start writing but sometimes that doesn’t happen and working from the piano sketch is the best way to go.