on 1/25/05 12:20 AM, Chuck Israels at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I don't think I understand what the problem is with writing your bass parts. > If the correct transposition is set up in your template, then you simply write > the part just as you would normally write it - as if you were doing it by > hand. You write middle C, one ledger line above the bass clef staff, and that > sounds one octave below that - absolutely normal for bass parts. Even > "Concert" scores have certain octave transpositions built in (bass, guitar, > piccolo, orchestra bells, xylophone). Without those, there'd be no room > between staves for all the ledger lines that would be necessary. Am I missing > something in what you are saying?
We're shooting for the same thing in the bass part, but the rub comes when I view the score in concert pitch. That (as far as I know) is a command that affects an entire file. So if I want to see my transposed Bflat clarinet in concert (down one step from where written in the part), I also have to view my transposed contrabass in concert (down one *octave* from where written in the part) and worse yet with my current midi keyboard, finagle a way to enter it down there. Setting up a macro to toggle between concert score and transposed score will help some, but I'm between macro programs right now, having moved to OSX somewhat recently. (The recent discussions about iKey and Quickeys haven't exactly sold me on either program yet.) > I do work directly in Finale. [snip] > I write transposed scores. I got used to them when I first started > arranging/composing, and my NY copyists recommended it. There are some > advantages, if you can adapt to them. Most instruments "look" as they sound - > in their ranges, relative to the position in the staff, so that's a plus, and > you don't run into so many ledger line problems. Of course, if you followed > that logic all the way through, you'd write the trombones in the tenor clef a > lot of the time, and I don't do that. And I still have to decipher the alto > clef for the viola parts (shame on me for not getting used to that by now). > If I wrote more string music, I'd probably get to the point where that was as > transparent to me as the saxophone transpositions are. I am pretty fluent with transposed scores. I started out writing that way and also have my nose in study scores on a regular basis. If I could find a way to, *while entering* transposed notes on my midi keyboard, hear the concert pitches as they went in the score, I'd switch to writing transposed scores right now. That way I could still check my scores by ear on two different levels: individual parts as entered, and a playback of the full score. BTW, as a former trombonist I'd say don't sweat the ledger lines. Most players I knew handled them easily once used to them, and some preferred them. Also, they were sort of a badge of honor when we played stuff that looked so high. :-) > Please do send me Chris' drum mapping post. I remember seeing it when he > wrote it, but it seemed daunting at the time. I may be ready to tackle it now > - get it set up on my templates, so that I can use it when I get the jazz > version of GPO. I'm forwarding Chris' post privately. Thanks for your patient replies to my bullheadedness. Don Hart _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
