On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 06:28:04 -0400, dhbailey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Taris L Flashpaw wrote: > > Lately I've become rather heavily interested in serialism and > > pantonality (a la Second Viennese School). And as I write, I keep > > hearing my old composition prof in the back of my head saying that I > > should spell intervals as diatonically as possible (ie: write G-Bb > > instead of G-A#). > > I think that what you write should reflect your idea in the part.
I agree with David, more or less. However, I would lean a bit more toward the original proposition of keeping intervals "diatonic." I don't have much experience with this sort of thing as a composer (at least, anything atonal I've written has never been questioned by the players), but I recently engraved and edited the first draft of an atonal piece where the players at the first read-through evidently had a lot to say about accidental choice: First of all, don't worry about keeping things common between staves. I had tried, in a few spots, to keep the ensemble (clarinet, bassoon, piano) in the same "feel" and use flats for each intrument when it looked like they resembled a Db chord. The clarinetist, who was a professional composer as well, requested that the next draft have each part individually make sense as a "line" and not attempt to accentuate any incidental harmonies that appear along the way. Secondly, try to choose the notes that will "draw" the line on the page with a similar contour to the pitches. For example, if you've got a line with the pitch classes 2, 4, 6, and 9, write it as a D, E, F#, A. This accentuates the leap of a minor third, where if you used a Gb it would look like the second whole step was a leap. Finally, if you've got two notes in a line that are a half-step apart, try to notate it like a familiar (scale-degree) 7-1 or 4-3 movement. Players will be able to identify with this because they've seen it often before. Writing an ascending chromatic as Ab-An is really confusing. I hope this helps, Taris! But also know that every situation is unique. No single set of rules can tell infallibly what is clearest for *your* piece. -- Brad Beyenhof [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://augmentedfourth.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
