> I, too, have heard that many instrumentalists (specifically violinists) prefer leger lines to 8va symbols. I can accept this up to 5-leger-line (and a half) c4. Do players really prefer leger lines even higher? I'm currently working on a passage for violin that hangs around e4 (6 leger lines in treble clef). Isaav Asimov used to say the human mind can only distinguish up to five items as a unit. Above that, we slow down and count sub-groups. This is certainly my own experience. So going past 5 leger lines has always seemed problematic to me (never mind the vertical spacing issues). > > Are there fiddle players here who would rather see 6 leger lines for e4? As a horn player I'm perfectly comfortable down to written pedal Bb with leger lines. Below that, I want bass clef (either new or old--just be sure to say which it is). But this may just be a function of what we're used to.
In my experience, pro-violinists are used to seeing and distinguishing 'up there' very easily. I can see your point re. the 5-ledger-line issue, but taking Asimov's principle into account, how it probably works is that anything higher than 5-lines is going to be a D if it's on the line, or E if above it - since they're really the only two notes above the C that are going to be used. I would only write it as an octave sign if it was a single, isolated note - certainly not passagework. Same with writing for flute, clarinet etc. Or else maybe if it was in a concerto or some such that I knew wasn't necessarily going to be sight-read. Matthew _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
