On Dec 2, 2011, at 9:30 AM, Doug Walter wrote:
On the subject of hyphenation, since whatever rules apply have always been
a mystery to me and I used to sit with a dictionary in my lap as I entered
lyrics, the Dictionary widget included with the Mac Dashboard turns out to be
pretty easy and convenient. Once you have it open, it stays selected when you
return to Dashboard from Finale, and you can just type the word in, hit
Return and, like a regular dictionary, you see both the definition and the
hyphenation.
No hyphenation algorithm can be perfect because some words have identical
spelling but hyphenate differently depending on how they are pronounced. (For
example, pre-sent vs pres-ent.)
Most standard hyphenation dictionaries are incomplete anyway, since they won't
hyphenate short words or one-letter syllables (eg, ev-er, e-ven), which is
necessary for music.
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.)
mdl
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