On 19 Mar 2005, at 5:45 PM, Christopher Smith wrote:
in a rehearsal. Say to the musicians, "I would like the rhythm section to break in bar 3." Which bar are they going to break on, the 3rd bar of the form, or the 3rd full bar (which is the 2nd bar of the form)?
If the chart had been properly copied (according to the standards of the New Real Book), there would be no eighth rest in the pickup measure, and there would be a boxed rehearsal letter [A] in the first full measure. So you could say, "There's a break in the 3rd bar of [A]" -- or, even, "There's a break in bar 3" -- without any confusion at all.
You would have to say "There's a break in bar FOUR" if the measure HAD the eighth rest, which is what I was arguing against.
No, not at all. You would say "There's a break in the third bar of A." If the chart had been properly copied, there would actually be a rehearsal mark "A" at the beginning of the "A" section, but people know what you mean even on a sloppily copied chart with no rehearsal letters.
Written measure numbers are not usually found on lead sheets anyway. We started this discussion talking about arrangements, and somehow we segued into lead sheets -- two very different situations.
I'm not sure musicians are aware enough of the rule about only numbering complete measures to make the distinction between the bar numbers with a 7 note pickup and an 8 note pickup. It's all the same to them (and to me too, pretty much, anyway.) Remember, most jazz musicians don't know that repeats are not supposed to occur on DSs, or that accidentals only apply in the same octave as they first appear in the measure, and they even have trouble keeping track of accidentals that have already appeared in the measure at times! A detail about the pickup bar being numbered if it is complete escapes them completely, I'm sure.
Okay, again, this is a completely different situation from a arrangement, where every complete measure is numbered (and labeled). Lead sheets usually don't have any measure numbers at all. When people are rehearsing from lead sheets, they usually use *relative* terms like "Let's take it from the bar before the bridge" or "Let's take it from the second bar of the last A." (When working from a 32-bar AABA lead sheet, I have never in my life heard anyone say "Let's take it from bar 26" instead of "the second bar of the last A.")
I AM arguing for consistency. I expect NO pickup measures to be numbered, no matter whether they are complete or not.
What's the difference between a "complete pickup measure" and a "one-bar intro"? And do you really want to spend rehearsal time splitting that particular hair?
In an arrangement, the rule is you number from the first complete measure -- intro or not -- and show measure numbers on every bar. I'm still having trouble understanding why you are apparently so dead-set against following this convention, which works extremely well and does not rely on subjective judgment calls as to what's intro material and what's not.
In a lead sheet, you don't need measure numbers at all, and even if you include them, people are vastly more likely to use relative terms like "third bar of the second A." So if you don't feel good about assigning a number to a complete "pickup" measure on a lead sheet, why not just omit the measure numbers entirely? There's no need to include measure numbers on a 32-bar AABA lead sheet.
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY
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