For instance it can be perfectly feasible for one player to cover sparse triangle, tambourine and gong parts - but easy access to the sounds via actual printed music is well nigh impossible. So pity the poor player who gets the short straw. This is often my responsibility - and the heart sinks as I take a pencil, and after cleaning off all previous scribblings, mark three pieces of music accordingly, find two or three music stands and prepare for battle. Then whipping the page over on the second music stand and looking frantically for the next entry dodging from page to page, line to line. Every part looks different, and if there are any cues written in, they rarely synchronise on the three parts.
Copyists have a lot to answer for.
Y es, and speaking about cues, I would like to get some of the copyists to come and actually listen to the orchestra from where I stand. It is no good writing in a long and complicated cor anglais cue buried in a welter of orchestral tutti, if the percussion section can't even see, never mind hear the woodwind section. Yes, this really does happen. The solution is to do the forbidden thing and neatly write in the offending part IN INK at the top of the second page, not forgetting to delete the last line of the previous page. We have to be one step ahead at all times.