Hi Dennis, > Certainly that sort of thing seems preferable to a confusing mismash of odd > beam groupings that require the performers to pencil in all the downbeats > below the part in order to be able to follow the conductor.
I should add that this was not my impression of the piece you posted, which was generally quite clear! I was more thinking about what my own music would look like if I tried to indicate phrasing using beaming. Cheers, - DJA ----- WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org On 1 Jun 2010, at 12:47 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: > Hi Dennis, > > I use accents, dynamics, and slurs as appropriate, but I also rely on the > musical instincts of the performers to find the lines and shape the phrases > appropriately. It's obviously easier when I am the one conducting the work, > but I also feel that performances of my work where I'm not involved in the > rehearsal process are more or less out of my hands anyway. > > I am surprised to learn that your experience is that performers "loathe" the > square bracket above, which seems to me the most obvious solution to your > problem! Certainly that sort of thing seems preferable to a confusing mismash > of odd beam groupings that require the performers to pencil in all the > downbeats below the part in order to be able to follow the conductor. > > It seems to me there are many ways to indicate "a shift in articulation or a > change of phrasing or a mere indication of lift" other than "ametrical" > beaming. > > Cheers, > > - DJA > ----- > WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org > > On 1 Jun 2010, at 10:42 AM, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote: > >> On Tue, June 1, 2010 10:28 am, Darcy James Argue wrote: >>> Don't you generally want bowing to coincide with phrasing? >> >> Generally but certainly not always. When the phrase is longer than the >> bowing, >> I will put in a phrasing slur and let the section leader figure out how to >> split the bowing among the players so there's no break in the sound. >> >>> I'm not sure what a "false" sense of beat placement even means. >> >> Because players often misconstrue accents as, well, accented notes. When all >> you want is the music shaped to the time or, say, to lift away from the >> rhythmic pattern rather than accent its beginning (not THUMP-bum-bummy), the >> choice of tools is very few: change time signature (doesn't work in multiple >> different parts), use one of the accent marks (which have different rules of >> execution), use slurs (which don't work if you don't want it legato), put in >> hairpins (which like accents might not be the right thing), use a square >> bracket above (which, having done that, I've learned performers loathe), or >> use rhythmic beaming. What are the other options? >> >>> I mean, for example: I have a piece called "Zeno" where at the beginning, >>> the >>> guitar sounds like it's playing in 5/4, the piano sounds like it's playing >>> in >>> 12/8, the percussion (pandeiro) sounds like it's playing in 2/4 with 10/8 >>> accents, the bass sounds like it's playing in 3/4, and the initial melody >>> (alto flute+bass clarinet+trumpet in bucket) needs to be played accurately >>> but >>> phrased in a flowing, floating way that disregards the time signature >>> entirely. This is all accomplished without recourse to individual time >>> signatures (everyone's part is notated in 3/2) or idiosyncratic beaming. >> >> How do they know what to do? You use no accent marks? How do they know what >> the rhythm is? Do you talk them through it? And what if it's constantly >> changing (as in my two examples)? >> >>> When I work with a new group of musicians (as I did last week), I do have to >>> remind them that any barlines are for ease of reading only, and to read the >>> accents on the page, not the accents they would expect based on the time >>> signature. But I would have to do that no matter how I chose to notate my >>> music. >> >> But accents don't mean the same thing if you want, say, just a shift in >> articulation or a change of phrasing or a mere indication of lift among >> intertwining lines. >> >> We might be dealing with the differences in musical styles or approaches >> here? >> >> Dennis >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
