Yes, a brief note to TRANSPOSE DOWN (as Vaughan Williams used) wold help
avoid confusion.
Aaron J. Rabushka
arabus...@austin.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ryan" <ry.squa...@gmail.com>
To: <finale@shsu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Finale] [OT] hn trans up/down
Speaking of copyists slavishly following score clef changes; I'm playing a
few Szymanowski pieces (from the 20's and 30's) this weekend with the
orchestra. In one passage, the second part is notated in bass clef old
notation as D on the middle line. This is the same as treble clef D above
middle C. In my opinion, there is no reason to notate this in bass clef as
the treble version is more easily readable. I think it's because the 2nd
and
4th parts are written on the same staff in the score and the 4th's passage
is considerably lower, warranting a clef change.
Old notation is still alive and well, and players have no problem reading
it. A note from the composer/copyist would be immensely helpful to the
player.
On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 5:40 AM, Robert Patterson <
rob...@robertgpatterson.com> wrote:
I agree with those saying to put a written instruction in the score.
The player will likely infer wrongly if your part is low enough to go
below the staff. An example is the Rochberg Trio for cl, hn, pno. The
horn part rarely switches to bass clef, but when it does it is for
extremely low notes such as written E below the staff. I have heard a
recording by a world-class player with these notes in the wrong
octave. (The score is written in concert pitch, so determining the
correct octave is not hard, but the way the part is written it would
be easy to infer it as old notation and never bother to check the
score.)
As for whether there is in precedent for putting a written
instruction, there is plenty. An example is the Ligeti Trio for vln,
hn, pno. At the first occurrence of bass clef there is a note stating
that it sounds a 5th lower.
There is also plenty of reason for confusion. Composers like Strauss
continued to use old-notation right up to the ends of their careers.
(In Strauss's case, the 1940s.) The 2nd Viennese School parts all use
old notation, sometimes written absurdly high on the staves, which
leads to many players playing them an octave too *low*! All of
Shostakovich's parts use old notation, as I believe do all of
Prokofiev's. Prokofiev's use of bass clef is doubly confusing because
Prokofiev wrote all his scores in C. Apparently it was up to the
copiest to decide which clefs to use in the part, and sometimes the
copiests slavishly followed the clef-changes in the score, which also
leads to absurdly high notes on old-notation bass clef and thus to
wrong octaves being played.
A written instruction costs nothing and should minimize the risk.
On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 11:04 PM, SN jef chippewa
<shirl...@newmusicnotation.com> wrote:
>
> in a new orch work (new music played by an orch experienced with new
music),
> there is no need today to mention that regardless of clef the
transposition
> is down a 5th, correct? i.e. the up/down in treble/bass clef is to be
> considered "old school" and the horn players will assume the modern
standard
> because it is a new work?
>
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