Darcy wrote: > >the contractor seems to think it is necessary to take money >out of the budget (money that would otherwise go to me) to hire someone >to put bowings and string fingerings on the string parts. [...] >The contractor tells me this >is actually standard procedure for Pops work -- rehearsal time is so >limited that fingerings need to be specified in the parts. I have a >hard time believing this. Has anyone out there ever heard of this?
When I toured in the 70s with Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, and John Denver, there were no fingerings in any of the parts, unless they had been added by a previous player, and we would have been insulted because pre-fingered parts are associated with educational music, not professional. Bowings were always given, and it takes an experienced player about 10 seconds to figure out whether a given chart was bowed by a skilled player or a pianist who thinks "phrase markings" are important. If the bowings are good and appropriate, we'll use them. If they aren't we'll watch the concertmaster and try to match bowings. And since the music is used until it falls apart, when the bowings have been corrected in pencil we'll follow the pencil, thank you. (A really smart contractor would take those worn parts and incorporate the bowings into the master before printing the next set of parts.) The exception to inserting fingerings would be passages that are so dependent on a specific set of fingerings that they are unplayable otherwise. But such virtuosic passages CANNOT be sight-read, and anyone who would put such passages into music that by its nature MUST be sight-read is a complete idiot! But again, it takes a highly experienced string player to know the difference. In our Mancini rehearsals he hit only the high spots where he knew there might be problems. We went on stage for the first concert not having played through more than 50% of the music! Yes, rehearsal time is limited. It is therefore necessary to put in everything that IS needed to aid sight-reading, and nothing that is NOT needed. That means bowings that are perfect, right out of the box, but fingerings would simply get in the way, clutter the page, and waste rehearsal time. You put fingerings into educational music, not pop music!!! (But, since this is the real world, if the contractor insists, comply and bill him for the extra expense!) The exception is in cases where a marking will change the sound of the music, such as "sul G" for a passage that could be played in lower positions on upper strings, but with a less rich sound. But I can figure out at sight how to finger that passage, thank you! John John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
