I put my articulations at the note heads, and jazz players are not used to this. Still, it looks better that way to my eye (in most cases), and I don't think it impedes readability. However, going the other way and ignoring the conventions of string notation doesn't seem to be a good idea, and your experience reinforces this. Omitting key signatures at the beginning of the line is a hand copying shortcut for which one pays a price in rehearsal time, and I bet the key signatures end up penciled in on the parts anyway.
Chuck On Jun 30, 2010, at 10:17 AM, John Howell wrote: > Just a comment without discussion. First rehearsal Monday for a Broadway > show from the mid-'50s. Hand copied, generally VERY readable. But the > copyist put all the articulations above the notes, NOT at the noteheads, and > it drove me crazy! I simply don't look for them there, so in sightreading > they get ignored. I know, you should give people what they're used to > seeing, but string players are NOT used to seeing this, and the copyist > obviously didn't know that. > > (He also omitted key signatures at the beginning of each line, which is also > frustrating since there can be 3 key changes on any given page, but that's a > different discussion.) > > John > > > -- > John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music > Virginia Tech Department of Music > College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences > Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 > Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 > (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) > http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html > > "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition > of jazz musicians. > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale Chuck Israels 230 North Garden Terrace Bellingham, WA 98225-5836 phone (360) 671-3402 fax (360) 676-6055 www.chuckisraels.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
