Several people have suggested that I am missing out on some great music by having a certain notational standard which I use to evaluate new or unknown works.
Of course you are right. However, I learned first from Dr. Roger Nixon, and had this lesson reinforced by many editors, professors, conductors and so on, that no one can learn everything. I have become selective. I established certain personal standards that I use to evaluate new music. If you want me to consider your new music or new editions, then you must meet my evaluation criteria. Most importantly, I want to see the notation reflect your knowledge of the singers' needs AND traditions. We all discriminate. We must have a method of evaluating new material or we will be overwhelmed by the volume. It is not necessary to reinvent the wheel. Unless you have a very good reason to fly in the face of convention you are probably better off learning and following the conventions relevant to your task. Chopin certainly did not "invent" the use of the thumb on black keys, nor finger glissandi. He had a reason for using them, he exploited the techniques, took a fair amount of 'heat' for so doing and changed those aspects of piano playing. Now both these skills are a regular part of keyboard technique. I think the same applies to vocal notation. Perhaps it will change. However, it is not broken now; why 'fix' it? Guy Hayden, Minister of Music St. Stephen's Episcopal Church 372 Hiden Boulevard Newport News, Virginia 23606 _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
