At 11:48 PM -0800 12/2/11, Mark D Lew wrote: > >Also, I would further suggest that "correct" >hyphenation per standard hyphenation rules is >occasionally not the best choice. Hyphenation >in vocal music should above all serve the >singer. Standard hyphenation will usually do >that, but I've run across a few cases where I >deliberately made a different choice. (I'd give >an example but I can't think of one off the top >of my head. The basic idea is that if the notes >are long, or across a page break, the singer is >going to see only one half of the word, and you >want to avoid a hyphenation which will even >momentarily tempt the singer into guessing the >wrong vowel. Even if they'll still see it in >time to not make a mistake, it's a distraction, >and choral music especially needs to communicate >as quickly as possible so as to let the singers >be less buried in their books.)
I agree with Mark in principle, but in practice it can be a real can of worms! The problem he cites with English words in long melismas is a real one, simply because in English each vowel had a number of possible pronunciations, unlike several other common languages, and the singer has to decide which one to use right at the beginning of the word. But it can create just as much confusion to "creatively" mis-hyphenate words in an ATTEMPT to write down what you think singers should sing. I run into this fairly often in my Vocal/Choral Arranging class, especially when the students are instrumentalists and not used to seeing vocal music or thinking about hyphenation. They try to "write it the way it sounds," and end up with gobbledegook that would confound ANY singers trying to sightread it! The fact is that hyphenation (for the printed word) is one thing, but the choice and placement of phonemes (individual sounds) in the spoken or sung word is often something quite different. Trying to transcribe Sinatra's songs is VERY instructive. Not only does he break the melodic rhythm into groupings that are very difficult to notate, he divides the words into individual phonemes, not "syllables" as we know them, and any attempt to actually write them down the way he sings them turns the words into some kind of Esperanto!!! (Actually Esperanto would be easier, since each vowel would have only one sound!) I've been writing vocal charts for upwards of 60 years, and I strongly advise using normal, dictionary hyphenation in ALMOST every case. It comes under "better the devil you know ..." And for anyone who hasn't worked with lyrics in other languages, guess what: the hyphenation rules are completely different!!! But there ARE rules. And I think my Mom knew them all. John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music School of Performing Arts & Cinema College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences 290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön." (Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!) --Johannes Brahms _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
