Raymond Horton wrote:
...
I have to agree with Mark: figure out for yourself where the
diminishing returns begin and go with that. Besides, I still get
flummoxed by questions I never anticipate. For example, I sometimes
get asked if an accidental in one octave affects another octave.
(Where are these otherwise fine musicians taught anyway?) I find it an
especially strange question when the music is far from tonal.
...
-Randolph Peters
But, like it or not, there are composers, editors and performers out
there who try to abide by the 19th century rule on this. Yes, they are
wrong, but to avoid wrong notes in performances of _your_ music, the
best thing is for you to put in the accidentals in the other octaves.
It's not so hard, and it increases readability for musicians who may be
spending the rest of the week playing music written under the old rules.
(Just some advice from a performer in an orchestra that has played a ton
of new music written under all the different rules.)
In teaching my son to drive, the one point I kept pounding home with him
was "You always have to think, what's the stupidest thing some other
driver or pedestrian could do at any moment while you're driving, and be
prepared for that to happen."
As a composer, the same thing applies -- "What's the dumbest question
some musician could ask about my music?" and try your hardest to have it
answered before it gets asked.
Those questions come from two sources -- those who are genuinely
confused (rare as the level of the ensemble gets higher and higher) and
those who simply try to have a pissing contest with an unknown composer
(or a conductor they want to ridicule), to show them who is the
alpha-dog in the group and try to make the composer look like a bumbling
fool. These sorts of people are common at all levels of music-making,
unfortunately.
I was in a rehearsal last week (amateur community band) and we were
working on a commercially available publication of a medley of big band
tunes (for concert band) and we got to a particular section and my
drummer took off with the tempo. I stopped the band and said he was
rushing. His reply, which should have been "I'm sorry" was instead
"Don't you want to take it that fast?" as if I were a fool for wanting
to do it at any slower tempo. I simply said, "No, that's why I was
conducting it at a slower tempo." And we redid it at my tempo, but I
couldn't believe he would have said that, as if he obviously knew the
right tempo and I, the conductor, obviously was only there as a
showpiece who should have followed his tempo.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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