On 21 Jan 2006 at 17:07, dhbailey wrote: > David W. Fenton wrote: > > On 21 Jan 2006 at 6:21, dhbailey wrote: > > > >>If you're just placing the two meters beside each other at the start > >>of the work, how will anybody know when a measure is supposed to get > >>the 3/4 feeling instead of hemiolas in 6/8? > > > >>From my point of view this is not a very smart question. Hundreds of > >> > > years worth of music have been written without changing meters (and > > even without indicating the oscillation between two meters) where it > > is CRYSTAL-CLEAR which meter to use in which measures. > > You know, I could have sworn that over the years I seen people on this > list say "there are no stupid questions." Or is your ever so politic > "not a very smart question" your way of avoiding calling my question > stupid?
My original reply, which I edited, used the term "idiotic." > And how would it be handled if half the parts are continuing the > quarter-eighth rhythm while the other half of the parts are given > quarter notes only? Oops, that's probably another not very smart > question, despite having seen people conduct such music by continuing > the 2 beat of the 6/8. Maybe they aren't so smart either. Well, that wasn't the question being considered, but, nonetheless, here's my answer: I play in a group that performs music just like that, where some parts are in 3 simultaneously with other parts in 2, and NOBODY HAS ANY PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER. > I could have sworn there was even a musical term for the situation I > describe: hemiola. If we change the meter to fit the rhythm, then > there isn't any cross-rhythm going on, so why even have such a term? > > Sorry if my questions aren't so smart, David Fenton. I guess it's > because we can't all think of the brilliant questions to ask like you > do. > > Anyway, David, thank you for your condescension. The day just > wouldn't be right without it. This situation is not complicated. I think all the people in this thread who are arguing for expicit metric changes are vastly overthinking the problem. It's been around for hundreds of years and performers have navigated the issue quite nicely without any of the suggested notational complexities, or with application of simple subdivision and beaming rules. And, of course, you weren't asking a question -- you were suggesting an answer by virtue of asking it. You were suggesting that something needed to be done, when, in fact, anyone with any experience of music ought to be able to see that there was no necessity for anything special to be done in the case of alternating 3/4 and 6/8, which have belonged together and functioned together literally for centuries. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
