On Jun 21, 2004, at 4:54 PM, John Howell wrote:
[On the traditional practice of beaming of vocal music to syllables]
Actually it originates from the early 16th century printing of music from individual pieces of metal type, each of which had a section of the 5-line staff and a single note or rest. (This single-impression method was worked out by Pierre Attaignant and probably other Parisian printers, and was more efficient than the triple- and double-impression methods used earlier by Ottaviano Petrucci.) There was no way to beam notes together until the practice of engraving on copper plates came into use in, I believe, the 17th century.
Thanks for the information. Even so, there must be an explanation why beaming practice for instrumental music evolved while beaming practice for vocal music did not.
Vocal music with no beaming is difficult to read at best, and almost impossible to sightread accurately. I have always used modern (i.e. instrumental) beaming for vocal scores, and I've never had a complaint about it.
I too prefer "modern beaming"", as does my primary client. I would guess that of the singers I know (overwhelmingly from the opera world), most of those who have an opinion at all prefer modern beaming. But I also know several individual singers, as well as one prominent coach/accompanist, who hate it.
mdl
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