On 3 Feb 2007 at 19:58, dc wrote: > David W. Fenton écrit: > >Any actual continuo player will tell you that with an > >unrealized continuo part, figures above the bass are more logical and > >much easier to realize and read (they are in the right place for > >normal scanning up and down of the score). > > Well, I've been playing continuo for over thirty years, and I prefer > to have the figures under the bass line. Anyone who's played the organ > knows that things aren't always in their "normal" place (a chorale > with the melody in the pedal part, for instance). Which goes to show > one can only speak for oneself, and not for "any actual continuo > player".
Uh, when a pedal part is not playing the bass line, it's, well, *not* the bass line. I've never seen figures in an organ part that was notated for explicit performnce on the organ pedal division. I've only seldeom played organ continuo on anything but an instrument without pedal. I really don't see how the pedal changes anything at all, to be honest. When playing gamba on a continuo part, I do like to have the figures, because the harmonic information tells me a great deal about musical realization of the line (e.g., a long 6 is almost always a highly active note, often swelling to the resolution). It doesn't matter in that context whether the figures are above or below, just that there's plenty of space to not confuse the lines, and to allow room for me to write in what I need to write in. I do agree, though, that I am ultimately only speaking for myself (as an experienced continuo player who has been doing it for a mere 25 instead of 30 years). That's why I pointed out that the A-R Editions directive gives the preference some authority. If I were preparing parts for other performers, I'd ask the continuo player what she prefers, and prepare the part accordingly. That's actually a lot of work to prepare both, though, as vertical spacing is not going to be identical. That said, most players will usually prefer a well-laid-out part without cramped figures and room to annotate and good page turns, and will adapt to the figures above or below since experienced continuo players have had to deal with both as long as they've played from modern editions (and many historical sources). -- 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
