The modern texts I consulted are not in complete agreement. Both Ross and Stone say that you should use a double-whole in meters 4/2 and larger. I agree with them, and that is what I practice. You can see it for yourself in engravings of std. rep. pieces such as the Brahms Requiem.
Gardner Read (whose advice in "Music Notation" I usually find to be less useful than that of Ross or Stone) acknowledges the practice of using the double-whole in 4/2, but he claims this practice has been displaced by using a whole rest everywhere for empty bars (larger than 1/8 time). He then compensates for this (imo bad) advice by specifying that the whole rest may *only* be used for empty measures. In all three cases, the issue is that in 4/2 and larger times there is a need for the whole rest to serve as a partial-bar rest (aligned in time). There must be a clear way do distinguish between an empty bar rest and a whole rest. I would argue that by extrapolation one should use a double-whole rest in empty bars of meters 4/1 or larger. (At 8/1 we'd be in a pickle, but I have never written in 8/1 in any context.) As for centering double wholes, I don't know a great way. A not-so-painful workaround would be to turn off "Display Whole Rests in Empty Bars" (using a staff style if need be) in the 4/2 passage. Then apply the double-whole rest as an expression in the empty bars. You should be able to design one that autopositions correctly. If there is a better way than this, I'd like to know it too. On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Martin Banner <mban...@hvc.rr.com> wrote: > I am working on an 18th Century edition from an autograph manuscript (dated > 1769). The final movement of this choral/orchestral work is a fugue in cut > time (4/2 time). Although the autograph manuscript notates a full measure > rest with a double whole rest, I was wondering if I should use that in a > modern edition or go with the Finale default whole rest for a blank measure. > > Also, if I use the double whole rest for a blank measure, the rest is all > the over to the left. How would I go about centering the double whole rest? > > By the way, I'm using Finale 2008 on an iMac. > > Thanks. > > Martin > > > > > > > > > Martin Banner > mban...@hvc.rr.com > > http://www.alliancemusic.com/peopledetails.cfm?iPeopleID=22 > http://hinshawmusic.com/search_results.php?keyword=banner&search=Search > http://collavoce.com/search.php?cmd=search&mode=normal&words=Banner > http://sbmp.com/SeeItNowFolder/SeeItNowMen.html > http://carlfischer.com/Fischer/search.cfm?cfT=&cfC=Banner&cfID= > http://lorenz.com/results.aspx?srch=quick&cid=Martin+Banner > > _______________________________________________ > 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
