To be fair, Kurt Stone is not addressing compositions of all periods. It is specifically a set of recommendations for notation of music "in the 20th century." (In his case, the 20th century seems on average decidedly more avant-garde than the 21st, so I accept it for 21st century compositions too.) Secondly, it is by no means a "rule book". It is, rather, a collection of recommendations. I find the most interesting recommendations in it are for notations of special effects: the more unusual the special effect the more interesting is the recommendation.
What Kurt Stone is decidedly *not* is a treatise about past notational practice, so any statements in it about past notational practice must be understood as ad hoc comments mostly related to a past that dates no further back than mid-19th century. Refuting the particulars of his statements about the past is almost never relevant to what Stone is trying to say. To the extent that he makes such statements, they serve only as a spring board for recommendations for future practice. I don't even think of something like Ted Ross as a "rule book". I think David's point is well-taken that every piece (and project) has a context for knowing how the "rules" apply. One can never view these texts as more than recommendations informed by a particular point of view. But I use the word "informed" purposefully. I find the recommendations are frequently excellent if they are applied in the right context, and sometimes they transfer very effectively to other contexts. "Completely disregarding" strikes me as a surprisingly dismissive attitude for such often valuable, pertinent, and time-saving advice. As to the specific point about slurred grace notes, I find myself in disagreement with Kurt Stone's recommendation. I guess I am a traditionalist, even if said tradition dates back only to ~1820. But ultimately performers will probably survive any notation you choose. As long as it requires no explanation, you are good to go. On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 2:44 PM, David W. Fenton <lists.fin...@dfenton.com>wrote: > > This is why, in general, I completely disregard all the notataional > rule books. I encounter way to many cases in real historical sources > where the modern engraving rules make a hash of what is crucial > information for the performer. > > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
