And that is where your control ends. The final decisions will be
reached by the conductor, concertmaster and/or section leaders, so
you MUST leave them with no other choice in the matter if you can't
accept the tradeoff. And the interesting thing (and don't ANYBODY
tell the orchestras' accountants this!) is that the reason it's
always done is that you can't hear the difference. Two violins are
not twice as loud as one violin, and 6 violins are not half as loud
as 12 violins. The section sound is not additive. It may be
logarithmic or something--I don't pretend to understand the
acoustics--but my guess is that it takes from 6 to 10 violins to be
twice as loud as one violin, always has, always will, unless they are
amplified. That's why string sections are empirically the size they
are.
John
At 11:07 PM +0000 2/18/06, John Bell wrote:
Because something is commonplace doesn't mean it's OK. I would
always rescore the music rather than allow half of a section drop
out for a few bars.
John
On 18 Feb 2006, at 22:52, Owain Sutton wrote:
John Bell wrote:
On 18 Feb 2006, at 22:38, Darcy James Argue wrote:
However, with string sections, you have a lot more leeway than
you do with winds or solo strings, as half the section can keep
playing while their stand partners turn the page.
No Darcy please! That is not acceptable!
John
While not ideal, it's commonplace in standard repertoire. Context
is all: if it's a long drawn-out passage, this method is fine,
because the turns will be staggered, or at least *can* be
staggered. If it's at an important moment, then avoid at all costs.
(I'm currently rehearsing the Holberg Suite, and there's a divisi
line in the 1st violins, at a climax, obviously put there solely to
make a page turn fit. Yes, I'm giving them photocopies of page 2
instead...)
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
