I, too, have heard that many instrumentalists (specifically violinists) prefer leger lines to 8va symbols. I can accept this up to 5-leger-line (and a half) c4. Do players really prefer leger lines even higher?
I don't feel strongly about this, but yes, I think we do. When you get that high what matters is not the relationship between the ledger lines and the staff, but the relationships among the notes themselves, and if the ledger lines are engraved accurately those relationships are still very clear. (That's why some Broadway show books are very difficult to read. Sloppy hand copying does not keep the ledger lines where they belong above (or below) the staff.) Using 8va instead puts another intellectual barrier between your instincts and your playing; you actually have to mentally transpose.
And there is the fact that string players--outside the recording gods who can sightread anything--are trained to prepare music ahead of time, not to sightread in rehearsal. Joe Gingold (former concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra) used to coach the violinists at Indiana to go to the first rehearsal with the music completely learned, unless you were the concertmaster. In that case, you go to the first rehearsal with the music memorized, so your eyes never leave the conductor.
Isaav Asimov used to say the human mind can only distinguish up to five items as a unit. Above that, we slow down and count sub-groups.
One of my very favorite writers and philosophers, and the acknowledged master of the simple declarative sentence! But that's exactly what string players (and I assume other players) do when reading not only high passages but all passages: read subgroups. That's why passagework by someone like Dvorak, who was a string player, reads easier than passagework by someone who was a pianist, because the subgroups are logical to a string player and fall well under the fingers.
Are there fiddle players here who would rather see 6 leger lines for e4?
Consistency is more important. There's nothing more confusing than jumping to 8va for just a few notes, because then you completely lose the note patterns. Same thing for lazy engraving of viola parts, jumping into treble clef for just a few notes, or carrying treble clef down too far. And the worst engraving sins seem to come out of the Contemporary Christian folks in Nashville. You know, the ones who use Finale just as it comes out of the box. On the other hand, their music is quite likely to be performed with only one rehearsal.
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://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
