John Howell
Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:48:38 -0800
At 7:17 PM -0500 2/6/10, Aaron Sherber wrote:
Hi all,Given an instrumental part that plays for 20 measures or so at mf with the occasional rest thrown in, is there a rule of thumb (or something more formal) about when the dynamic should be restated?
Any time there might be a question. When, for instance, other parts get louder or softer, as a reminder. I often run into that.
It's in my head that if there are two or more full measures of rest, the dynamic should be repeated when the instrument comes in again, for clarity. If there's only a single measure rest (even if there's a beat or two of rest on either side of the empty measure), it's assumed that the last stated dynamic is still in force.I took a quick look through Ross and Read, but I didn't see anything pertinent.
Probably because there isn't any such "rule," just common sense. It's situational, and a rulebook won't help. But the rule of thumb I'd use is to include a dynamic at any restart when there might be a question, and certainly after a substantial number of bar rests, but not after just two!
Personal opinion; not a rule. 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