On Jul 31, 2004, at 9:25 PM, Crystal Premo wrote:
Okay, my ignorance is catching up with me again. I'm doing some jazz charts and have encountered a phrase that has what appear to be tildes over some of the notes. What are these? Some equivalent of a mordent? There are articulations that are similar, but they have two little curves in them instead of one. Is it the same thing?
Crystal Premo
There are three possiblities:
1) If they are tildes over (usually) eighths or quarters, then they are jazz turns, usually performed by adding an upper neighbour tone to the note. So a quarter note C with a turn on it might be performed approximately like a C-D-C triplet, but usually with a little more length on the first C, depending on tempo (more length in slower tempos). There is a turn in the JazzFont articulation set, but I find it looks too much like an S on its side, like a classical turn. I use the one that looks like a tilde.
2) If it has more than one bump, and it is over a longer note, then it is a jazz shake (lip trill), which is somewhat like a trill, but is usually played wider (minimum a third) and fairly agitated. You hear them in big band charts a lot. You don't usually see them in lead sheets, and they are pretty much useless on short note values. I don't suggest using the JazzFont articulation for this, as it doesn't space properly when it is over tied notes. Use instead the Smart Shape trill, (with no beginning "tr") which is stretchable and keeps its alignment.
Then again, if you are copying from a handwritten part, it is possible that it is just a messily-written turn. You have to judge from the context.
3) If there is a similar-looking glyph AFTER a LONG note, but before the next note, it may well be a flip. Looks about like this, one diagonal line rising, then vertical line descending:
/| / |
with the lines connected, and spread out more, like a sawtooth. It's played similarly to the turn, but you wait until the very end of the note to execute it, and the interval may be larger and smeared. It's usually lipped on brass instruments, fingered on reeds. There is one of these in the JazzFont articulation set, too, and it places itself by default, too! (very convenient!)
Christopher
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