Guy Hayden writes:
I wish to add a comment about vocal scores. As a choral conductor I am constantly obliged to tell and show the singers where to place final consonants and after sounds.
I hate working from a score engraved by someone who does not understand lyric diction.
Consider this example; a half note tied to an eighth note followed by an eighth rest. This notation means something different to the singer than to the instrumentalist. For the singer, the tied eighth indicates where the final sound is to occur. I can not estimate the number of times I have had to stop my singers and say "Put the final 'duh' on the rest" (all final Ds have an after sound.).
I constantly receive publisher's samples of new choral music. Since I can not possibly read every thing I receive, I tend to reject up front anything that is not engraved following traditional vocal/choral standards, particularly the practice of one flag per syllable with melismas beamed together.
Dear Guy,
Your singers are probably right more than wrong. Many composers, especially the Brits, tie a long note to an eighth note followed by rests when they mean for the final consonant to be located on the eighth note, not after it.
This practice began as a reaction to singers who routinely do not hold out the long note for its full value. The tie to a short note keeps them singing until the final consonant. I think most American choral composers (certainly not all), do not follow this convention. However, in Benjamin Britten's music, for example, the vowel sound should NOT hang over during the tied eighth.
As you can see, this problem has not been settled. If the syllable on the long note does not have a final consonant, should singers hang over on the eighth or quit?
I think you are unwise to reject modern beaming in choral music. It's here to stay, and it's much more logical. All you have to do is give a singer a fast moving recitative from a cantata or opera that has mixed eighth and sixteenth notes flashing by. In the old notation style, it's almost impossible to get the rhythm right. In modern vocal beaming, the beats and the beat divisions stand out clearly. In contemporary choral music, quick rhythmic passages in eighths and sixteenth benefit greatly from modern beaming.
My opinions here are based on over 50 years as a composer, choral conductor, and singer in small and large ensembles and as soloist - including music of all ages and styles.
Hal Owen -- Harold Owen 2830 Emerald St., Eugene, OR 97403 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit my web site at: http://uoregon.edu/~hjowen FAX: (509) 461-3608 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
