At 07:58 PM 1/8/04 -0500, Christopher BJ Smith wrote: >At 5:43 PM -0500 1/08/04, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: >> >>That's why I said this was a religious debate. There ultimately are no >>compelling arguments on either side. > >It's the same answer I give to my students when they ask why trumpets >transpose. It's not because it's easier to read (like alto clef for >violas, or a ninth for tenor saxophone, which puts their parts pretty >much in the staff). It's not even (any more) because Bb trumpets >sound better than C trumpets, which is the reason my orchestration >teacher gave to me. It's because it's a common convention that >everyone understands perfectly well (except for my students!) and one >should have a good reason to go against convention.
I did say religion, not convention. :) If a conductor really wants a transposed score, thank goodness for Finale, no? But then, I've never been asked. The question has just never even come up. Perhaps I was just born after the exodus from the, um, Church of Transposed Scores? I've heard lots of preferences expressed on this list from composers and conductors, but no horror stories. Has anyone actually encountered an in-the-flesh, contemporary objection to one or the other that resulted in a refused or aborted performance? Not some mid-career, confused conductor with no C-score experience, but something in, say, the last decade? I actually do have a few reasons why I prefer scores at concert pitch; here are two: 1. I had to copy parts for the Berlioz Funeral & Triumphal Symphony back in 1966 or so when we (Rutgers Wind Ensemble) were reputedly doing its first American performance. I was so sick of tracking obsolete transpositions on that horrid photocopy and turning them into modern ones that by the end of the job I resolved to write C scores so as not to put any future copyist or conductor in jeopardy. (Watching the conductor sweat the double transpositions was entertaining, but the rehearsals could be very tense.) 2. I write for many ensemble combinations -- including electronics and 'generic' parts -- where there are really no clues from the patterns or groupings you would find in standardized pre-20th century instrumental groupings. Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
