Why you need Tasteful Titles
Supertitles have become a virtual necessity in concert halls, recital halls, and opera theaters around the world. The ability to read and understand simultaneously what is being sung (or said) in another language, or even in poorly-articulated English, provides your listener with a whole new realm of enjoyment and appreciation that goes a long way toward bringing them back for more. If you're still unsure, take a look at this blog by Henry Fogle, past president of the League of American Orchestras.
We call our supertitles "Tasteful" for a couple of reasons. We got into this business when our local orchestra was preparing Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and wanted a translation of its earthy lyrics that wouldn't offend patrons and chorus members. Since then, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Kansas City Symphony, among others, have compared various translations and chosen to use ours.
Most of our projects haven't presented the challenges to propriety that Carmina Burana did, but every translation deserves to be done tastefully, with care and artistry. Our fresh, modern translations dispense with archaic wording and obscure language, with the goal of making the text clear and understandable to contemporary American listeners, many of whom may not be devoted operaphiles or scholars. When different voices overlap, singing different texts, as in Puccini's La Boheme, we take special care to display text from the more-prominent voices, or that which can help to clarify the action or emotions on stage.
Finally, our loose-leaf printed cue books are piano-vocal scores showing the supertitle text with slide-numbers and colored, translucent cue markers, making our cue books the clearest and easiest to follow of any in the field.
Did you know?...
- Donors are often eager to provide funding for supertitles.
- Cue book normally arrives about two weeks before first performance.
- Pre-paid return-postage labels make for easy return of cue books.
- Payment is not required until after last performance.
- Schools, low-budget orchestras, and free concerts without commercial sponsorship get 1/3 discount.
- Rent three or more titles in one season and get a 10% discount the entire following season.
- Precise, printed cue marks, highlighted in yellow, make for the easiest-possible user experience.
- Page protectors enclose cue-book pages to facilitate page turning and minimize wear. ...less
Feedback
"We enjoyed working with your supertitles, the Stage Director was very complimentary of them." —Operations Manager, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra
"Your booklet and titles are wonderful! Hope to work with you in the future!" —Naples Philharmonic Orchestra
"The Supertitles were awesome! Thank you for all your help." —Director of Artistic Operations, Kansas City Symphony Orchestra
"The supertitles were fabulous. Very good work. Many people commented on their appropriateness." —Allan Pollack, Director, Mendocino Music Festival
"You were an invaluable asset—from providing an excellent contemporary translation of the piece to determining how the difficult overlapping quality of the passages could be clarified for our audience." —Lary B. Etten, Stage Director for South Dakota Symphony Orchestra's La Boheme ...lessRental agreement
TastefulTitles.com (Provider) will provide:
- A digital file in PowerPoint format, comprising white-on-black titles in English; or such other format as agreed upon.
- A piano-vocal score, keyed to the titles, to facilitate synchronization of the titles with a live performance of the work.
- The right for Presenter to make temporary copies of both the digital file and pages from the score, and to make changes to them as necessary for the production.
- An appropriate screen and projector (including any spare bulb or backup equipment deemed necessary) for showing the titles; or such other display equipment as needed for the agreed-upon format.
- A computer linked to the display, with appropriate software for feeding the titles to the display.
- A knowledgeable Operator, familiar with both the music and the equipment.
- To remit full agreed-upon rental price within ten days of final performance.
- To return Cued Score to Provider within ten days of final performance.
- To remove any copies of the titles file from Presenter's equipment, and destroy any copies of the linked score.
- To respect Provider's intellectual-property rights regarding the translation and titles.
- To inform Provider of any problems or discrepancies encountered in using the titles.
- That if Provider's score is lost or damaged during the rental, presenter will pay a replacement fee determined by Provider, not to exceed the original rental price.
- That absence or failure of Presenter's equipment or operator will not affect Presenter's other responsibilities under this agreement.
- An electronic copy of this signed agreement shall be deemed as valid as the original. ...more
About Pricing
Because we're eager to grow our catalog, commissioning titles for a new piece usually won't cost more than renting an existing piece.
Our prices reflect mainly the amount of work we have invested in them.
When we make an initial estimate, it is kind of a "worst case"
price. A number of factors may affect the final price: '
- Does it require translation?
- How difficult is the translation?
- Is there a lot of repeated text?
- Are there lengthy instrumental sections?
- Do voices overlap, singing different texts?
About Payment
Our preferred type of payment is a check enclosed with the cued score when you return the book.
We are working to develop a Payment page to send money via PayPal, where you can use a credit card or bank account, but it's proving more difficult than it looks. Meanwhile, you are welcome to use PayPal to send your payment to payment@tastefultitles.com.
We love to be paid in advance, but we don't require any payment until 10 days after your final performance.
This allows you time to realize gate receipts or collect sponsor pledges. Amounts not paid on time may be assessed a late fee
of 1% per month.
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About Translation
Our translations aim to provide the typical American viewer with a clear, comprehensible, and artistic rendering of the writer's intent. They are not intended to be word-for-word transliterations of the original.
We study each line of the original text, using our knowledge of several languages, as well as existing translations, various dictionaries, and other sources, until we are confident we understand what the writer intends to convey.
Then we write it in English as if we were the author writing in English. We are excited when our efforts reflect the artistry of the original, but writing poetry is not our goal.
We are, of course, writing specifically for supertitles, so sometimes the constraints of available space on a slide will mandate a different word or phrasing, but we try never to sacrifice clarity to space limits.
Clients sometimes ask to see our translation before commissioning supertitles for a new work. That is not possible because making the translation is closely integrated with creating the supertitles.
If, however, you choose to commission titles for a piece not yet in our catalog, we will work with you to make sure you are thoroughly satisfied. Only once, when translating The Magic Flute for the Indianapolis Symphony, have we had a disagreement over a couple of words. We published the translation as we believed it should be, and worked with ISO to change the words on screen for their production. Everyone was happy. You will be, too.
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About Shipping
We ship our cue books via USPS Priority Mail, to arrive about 2 weeks prior to your first performance. We will send a tracking code for the shipment to your email.
We will email a PowerPoint file with the supertitle slides to the address you provide.
The cue book must be shipped back to us within 10 days of your final concert.
We provide a prepaid return-mailing label, found in a pocket of the cue book.
We recommend opening the box carefully when our shipment arrives, so you can reuse the box for the return.
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About us
TastefulTitles.com is a new incarnation of a long-time partnership. Katherine and Jay met in their graduate-school orchestra, have been married since 1976, and have devoted most of their diverse lives to orchestral music.
received her first degree in French, followed by two more degrees in Fine Arts and Music. She played bassoon in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra for 20 years.
A life-long operaphile, she has often been called upon to give pre-concert talks, write program notes, provide supertitles for SDSO concerts, and read score for Public-Television concert productions.
played violin in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra for 33 years.
At various times in his life he has served orchestras as player, board member, conductor, librarian, stage manager, and operations manager.
His hobby, computer programming, and his part-time avocation, computer work for a small publishing company, have given him a strong technical facility useful for producing elegant supertitles.
TastefulTitles.com came about when Tom Bennett, Executive Director of the Boise Philharmonic, inquired about renting the Carmina Burana titles Katherine had recently done for the SD Symphony.
We discovered there seemed to be no ready source for quality supertitles, and concluded there was a void we could fill, if only we could get the word out. We're glad you found us, and hope we may be of service.
Please let us know what vocal works your ensemble is planning for the future, so we can add to our catalog.
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Katherine M. Peterson
received her first degree in French, followed by two more degrees in Fine Arts and Music. She played bassoon in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra for 20 years.
A life-long operaphile, she has often been called upon to give pre-concert talks, write program notes, provide supertitles for SDSO concerts, and read score for Public-Television concert productions.
Jay A. Reeve
played violin in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra for 33 years.
At various times in his life he has served orchestras as player, board member, conductor, librarian, stage manager, and operations manager.
His hobby, computer programming, and his part-time avocation, computer work for a small publishing company, have given him a strong technical facility useful for producing elegant supertitles.
TastefulTitles.com came about when Tom Bennett, Executive Director of the Boise Philharmonic, inquired about renting the Carmina Burana titles Katherine had recently done for the SD Symphony.
We discovered there seemed to be no ready source for quality supertitles, and concluded there was a void we could fill, if only we could get the word out. We're glad you found us, and hope we may be of service.
Please let us know what vocal works your ensemble is planning for the future, so we can add to our catalog.
...more
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©2021 by Jay Reeve. All rights reserved.email: Jay@TastefulTitles.com Ph. 605-940-5793
TastefulTitles, 2905 S Lincoln Ave, Sioux Falls SD 57105