Tight vs. loose spacing is something that has concerned me in my own
work. I have written some complex piano vocal arrangements in which
this issue has become important, and page turns are certainly a
governing factor. I have tried to emulate the general density of
classical art songs (Debussy, for example), and that means I do a bit
of manual tweaking, especially when there are three or more
accidentals on chords. I just assumed that this kind of work was
necessary and have not considered the limitations of Finale's own
spacing, though the discussion in the last weeks has lead me to
understand that it could be better.
I use Bill Duncan's lyric fonts (Times Lyrics and Helvetica Lyrics).
I believe they are slightly condensed and/or have tighter kerning, so
they are easier to work with and are still plenty legible.
On the issue of wider spacing in pop and jazz publications: I wonder
if any of that is a holdover from the hand copying days when rates
were charged by page and the standard was (maximum) 4 measures on a
line. This made economic sense for the copyist, and even lined up
with the form of most popular and jazz music. I use tighter spacing
on my own parts, because I don't like making the reader's eye travel
so far to see ahead to the next measures, so I am careful to include
other clues to the form.
Chuck
On Oct 21, 2006, at 4:20 AM, dhbailey wrote:
Mark D Lew wrote:
[snip]>
It's not hard to guess why. The software doesn't figure spacing
very well, so the cost-effective way to (partly) avoid the problem
is to just set everything looser.
The problem seems to be worse with contemporary pop music, where
presumably less budget priority is given to engraving quality than
in other fields.
I always thought the looser spacing was so there would be less
music (fewer songs) in the same sized book, thus reducing the
amount paid in royalties while keeping the cost of the book the same.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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