Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint - chord table

2008-10-23 Thread Christopher Smith
I made one using Dom Casual (or Dom Regular) but it can never be what you would call beautiful because of inherent problems with character thickness and spacing when the root has a sharp or flat (G#m7 doesn't space the same way as Gm7 or Gbm7.) I'll share it for free, but I'll have to send

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint - chord table

2008-10-23 Thread Marcello Noia
Picking up this thread and relating to chord, is there anyone in this list that built a beautiful, well readable jazz chord library and would be kind to share it (after payment of a fee, too)? I know about that beautiful font pack that one of the late contributors (sorry I cannot remember his na

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-22 Thread Christopher Smith
On Oct 22, 2008, at 11:59 AM, Daniel Wolf wrote: As an aside, I must admit to finding yet another discussion of vernacular chord notation somewhat puzzling. While, in principle, the intention would appear to be to create a notation for rather flexible extemporaneous realization, in practic

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Christopher Smith
On Oct 22, 2008, at 11:24 AM, Dana Friedman wrote: In my area b13 is the norm on Do you mean area of music? Area geographically? Culturally? Heh, heh! All three, but I was really referring to Montreal. I find some aspects of notation, especially in jazz, tend to be regional. Nice cat

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Dana Friedman
In my area b13 is the norm on Do you mean area of music? Area geographically? Culturally? Best, Dana ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Christopher Smith
On Oct 22, 2008, at 9:35 AM, Dana Friedman wrote: I always stayed away from the - because most people use + to mean augmented. Though I have seen some people stay way from the + by writing things like C7#5.. But..if I'm to to reduce the amount a player has to read, I wouldn't want th

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Christopher Smith
On Oct 22, 2008, at 4:33 AM, dhbailey wrote: Darcy James Argue wrote: You should *never* use just "M" or "m" for chord symbols, regardless of the font. I know Christopher disagrees, but I prefer either the geometric symbols ("∆" and "-"), or "MA" and "mi". I believe Christopher uses "Cmaj

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Dana Friedman
At 12:42 AM 10/22/2008, you wrote: Darcy James Argue wrote: You should *never* use just "M" or "m" for chord symbols, regardless of the font. I know Christopher disagrees, but I prefer either the geometric symbols ("?" and "-"), or "MA" and "mi". I believe Christopher uses "Cmaj7" (which is oka

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Christopher Smith
If you find the JazzFont too thick, then the Inkpen font from Sibelius is positively stubby. I find it next to unusable (though I haven't tried it in Finale, only in Sibelius). Christopher On Oct 22, 2008, at 8:49 AM, Marcello Noia wrote: Unfortunately Mr. Sigler got his Jazz font bundled

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-22 Thread Robert Patterson
shirling & neueweise wrote: shit... busted. verdammte Scheiße. I'd rather deal with that than verdampfte Scheiße. -- Robert Patterson http://RobertGPatterson.com ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/final

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread Marcello Noia
Unfortunately Mr. Sigler got his Jazz font bundled with Finale then completely dismissed the updates (and did not reply to emails about problems with his other Swingfont I bought many years ago). And think how beatiful are the fonts used in latest Sher Real Books Anyone has tried to use Inkpe

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-22 Thread YATESLAWRENCE
I think the worst example of misleading text dynamics I have ever seen appears on a piece set for one of the french horn exams of the Associated Board in the UK. A couple of bars from the end of the penultimate line it says "de -" . On the last line it says "crescendo" . I'll leave it

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread dhbailey
Darcy James Argue wrote: You should *never* use just "M" or "m" for chord symbols, regardless of the font. I know Christopher disagrees, but I prefer either the geometric symbols ("∆" and "-"), or "MA" and "mi". I believe Christopher uses "Cmaj7" (which is okay, though I *greatly* prefer

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-22 Thread dhbailey
shirling & neueweise wrote: Christopher Smith wrote: Maybe musicians read musical notation more easily than they read text indications. I noticed later that the marking "stacc." was largely ignored on the first reading (sight reading, of course, as prepared parts in an orchestral context woul

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-22 Thread dhbailey
Leigh Daniels wrote: And make the capital M and the lower case M look different! You mean we're supposed to read the letters, too? Wow -- the things I learn on this list! ;-) -- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Finale mailing list Finale@sh

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-22 Thread dhbailey
Richard Smith wrote: [snip] I have seen both do it and any engraver who puts out something like that should be ashamed! [snip] That's really what it all boils down to -- the engraver should take the time to actually make all the parts legible and clear and easy to understand. Most complaint

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-21 Thread Carl Dershem
Darcy James Argue wrote: You should *never* use just "M" or "m" for chord symbols, regardless of the font. I know Christopher disagrees, but I prefer either the geometric symbols ("?" and "-"), or "MA" and "mi". I believe Christopher uses "Cmaj7" (which is okay, though I *greatly* prefer CM

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Richard Smith
I really like the French parts also, except for those darn quarter rests. They really throw me! I agree that two parts on the same staff need to not cross and should be rhythmically similar. I should have been more clear. I am also a horn player and have the same reaction to the 1&3, 2&4 se

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread shirling & neueweise
I remember seeing this piece early on; it looks like a gas! yeah it was fun. a bit of a shocker to the oslo audience though. You would be doing the notation world a great service if you would put down in more detail your principles of graphic design as it applies to music. hm, thanks. i

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread shirling & neueweise
Did anyone besides me notice that Jef's fingers manage to find the shift-key for German but never for English? What's up with that? shit... busted. verdammte Scheiße. ___ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread shirling & neueweise
I forgot to reply to this. I have pretty much given up trying to find a font family that looks like the different point sizes were drawn with the same "pen". All fonts I see get thicker when they get bigger. I would love a matched set from 9 points to 36 points that look like they have the sa

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread shirling & neueweise
Christopher Smith wrote: Maybe musicians read musical notation more easily than they read text indications. I noticed later that the marking "stacc." was largely ignored on the first reading (sight reading, of course, as prepared parts in an orchestral context would most likely have been look

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Robert Patterson
Richard Smith wrote: I actually prefer 2 parts on a page; This is good practice if and only if the 2 parts appear on separate staves, as with, e.g., orchestral parts for French works. (I believe it was Durand who did this fairly consistently, but I am not certain.) However, some of the Fren

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Richard Smith
A very interesting observation. Back at the end of the last century, I remember thinking how precise and elegant my Finale work looked (Fin 98). But on one job, I found it difficult to read one my own works. My (nearly 50 year old at the time) eyes were having trouble distinguishing ledger lin

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research? Now jazz font natural complaint

2008-10-21 Thread Ray Horton
I laughed the first time I heard of the "jazz" font, myself, but I do understand the purpose of it working to overcome some of the prejudice against computer-printed charts in the commercial industry. I've even used it, on occasion, when I've retyped a missing page of a handwritten part, etc.

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Carl Dershem
Richard Smith wrote: I have never understood the use of the "jazz" fonts. When I was a hand copyist, the goal was to look as much like printed music as possible. I do find most of the "jazz" fonts very readable and understand that there may be some psychological advantage for jazz musicians. I

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Richard Smith
As someone who has performed lots of hand written music (and prepared a fair amount myself), I want to comment on this thread. I'm sorry I was unable to reply earlier. I have never understood the use of the "jazz" fonts. When I was a hand copyist, the goal was to look as much like printed musi

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Christopher Smith
On 20-Oct-08, at 20-Oct-08 12:01 PM, Daniel Wolf wrote: There is quite a bit of formal research into the readability of text fonts. For music copying and engraving, it appears that there is quite of bit of hearsay and very little research about readability, much of it fairly hardened int

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Randolph Peters
Robert Patterson wrote: Did anyone besides me notice that Jef's fingers manage to find the shift-key for German but never for English? What's up with that? dhbailey wrote: He didn't bother to read the explanatory notes about how sentences are supposed to start with capital letters? ;-) A

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Christopher Smith
On 21-Oct-08, at 21-Oct-08 11:14 AM, shirling & neueweise wrote: a simple example, the consistency of line thicknesses, shapes and style in my fonts are far more easy to deal with and process visually than the mixed fonts that plague most digital notation today. I forgot to reply to this

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Christopher Smith
On 21-Oct-08, at 21-Oct-08 11:14 AM, shirling & neueweise wrote: i also apply basic principles of graphic design to the layout (over and above traditional notation standards that i feel are still relevant) and have learned a lot from typography. i approach score info in layers. one the

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread dhbailey
Robert Patterson wrote: Jef has hit on a very key point (illustrated perfectly in his example), that any additional instructions or level of detail must be fully integrated with the basic "Beethoven notation". My experience coincides with his that musicians will ignore prefatory notes or explanat

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Robert Patterson
Jef has hit on a very key point (illustrated perfectly in his example), that any additional instructions or level of detail must be fully integrated with the basic "Beethoven notation". My experience coincides with his that musicians will ignore prefatory notes or explanations longer than a phrase

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread shirling & neueweise
Now, guys who prepare music for a living like Darcy and jef chippewa probably know this stuff like the back of their hands and more. Whether there is actual research to back it up, well, who knows? musicians don't read, you have to draw pictures for the bastards. seriously though (not that t

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread Christopher Smith
On 20-Oct-08, at 20-Oct-08 5:50 PM, John Howell wrote: At 6:01 PM +0200 10/20/08, Daniel Wolf wrote: There is quite a bit of formal research into the readability of text fonts. For music copying and engraving, it appears that there is quite of bit of hearsay and very little research about

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-21 Thread John Howell
At 6:01 PM +0200 10/20/08, Daniel Wolf wrote: There is quite a bit of formal research into the readability of text fonts. For music copying and engraving, it appears that there is quite of bit of hearsay and very little research about readability, much of it fairly hardened into rules about no

Re: [Finale] Notation readability research?

2008-10-20 Thread Noel Stoutenburg
Daniel Wolf wrote: There is quite a bit of formal research into the readability of text fonts. For music copying and engraving, it appears that there is quite of bit of hearsay and very little research about readability, much of it fairly hardened into rules about notation style, particularly