Carolyn Bremer wrote:
Here's my take.
I think all notation books will agree that accidentals apply only to
one octave. In usage, I find that players will play all octaves with
the same accidental. Perhaps your particular ensemble is used to
having an accidental show on only one octave while applying to all,
but it is technically incorrect. That said, in my book, the players
win.
The answer is - the second octave note should have a sign in front of
it, whether or not it agrees with the note in the first octave. Any
other practice is asking for wrong notes.
In a passage like this, where the small letters are in a higher octave:
G bA G e b a
it may be obvious that the composer is following the 20th century rule
(that the first A flat has no effect on the higher A), but I guarantee
that some players will try to follow the old rule they learned as a
child and play the higher one Ab. Also, a few editors out there still
follow the archaic old rule.
Raymond Horton
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