Lead sheet

A lead sheet may also specify an instrumental part or theme, if this is considered essential to the song's identity.

Since fake books and lead sheets only give a rough outline of the melody and harmony, the performer or arranger is expected to improvise significantly.

[example needed] Some 32 bar forms do not have a printed melody during the "B" section, as the lead instrumentalist is expected to improvise one.

Lead sheets are commonly used at informal "jam sessions" and at jazz shows at small nightclubs and bars.

In the music industry and entertainment law, a lead sheet is the document used to describe a song for legal purposes.

[citation needed] A predecessor to lead sheets was created in May 1942 when George Goodwin, a radio station director, released the first Tune-Dex cards.

[4] Goodwin also promoted the cards to professional musicians until 1963, when poor health forced his retirement.

In 1964, the FBI's Cleveland, Ohio, office observed that "practically every professional musician in the country owns at least one of these fake music books as they constitute probably the single most useful document available".

Usually chord symbols, titles, composer names, and lyrics were typewritten, but for a number of songs these were all photocopied along with the melody line.

During the school year of 1974–75, an unidentified group of musicians based at the Berklee College of Music in Boston published the Real Book.