Dean M. Estabrook wrote:
FWIW, I've long been a proponent of (as an American composer) using
directions in English as much as possible. If it's been good enough for
the Italians, French, and Germans ... why not us? Let them come to us
for a change ... eh, it's just the curmudgeon bubbling to the surface
... I turned 69 this year ..
You're certainly not the first composer to feel that way.
I guess it matters more if you're trying to sell your music
and are hoping to find an international audience.
Those who have written in French and German terms were
composers of international standing and the music was
compelling enough that people figured out what the
non-Italian terms meant and bought the music despite their
nationalistic use of terms. The use of Italian terms goes
way back to when many composers traveled to Italy for their
musical education and were polyglots themselves, being able
to speak Italian fluently in addition to their native
tongues, so Italian became the "lingua franca" of the
musical world.
And since most of the world seems intent on learning
English, perhaps more and more they'll understand your
terms, should your music be compelling enough to attract
their attention.
In any event, if your music is only performed by people in
the U.S. you don't have to worry. Or do you? Hmm. . .
Let's see, now. If you were to see a phrase in a piece of
music which said "Wicked Fast" how would you interpret it?
I can see some poor non-English speaking person, or even an
English-speaker who didn't understand the colloquial use of
the word "wicked" to replace "extremely" looking it up in
the dictionary and deciding that the music should be
performed so as to sound "evil, sinister" or whatever
definitions the dictionaries give for "wicked." Whereas
most people in northern N.E. at any rate would understand
that it just means "very fast."
--
David H. Bailey
dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com
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