David,
Owain's question is actually quite clear. He has an orchestral piece that uses drastically different orchestrations from one movement to the next, and is wondering how much variation there should be in the system size from movement to movement. He's worried a drastic change in staff size between movements would make the work look like different pieces, instead of different movements of the same piece. (This isn't a technical "how do I do this in Finale" question, it's a "what approach should I take in this situation" engraving question.)
Some people have quite strict standards about staff size variation, both within movements and between them. IIRC, Andrew Stiller's rule of thumb is that the system reduction should not change by more than 5% from page to page, and also never deviate by more than 5% in either direction from the "default" system reduction. [I'm sure Andrew will correct me if I have that wrong.]
My own feeling is that sometimes a little more leeway is in order, *especially* in exceptional situations like the one Owain is describing. I would not hesitate to chose an independent default system reduction for each movement. If the second movement needs to use something like 45% system reduction to fit everything on the page, and the solo trumpet looks best with 65% system reduction, I'd say go for it. IMO, it's far more important that each movement be maximally readable in and of itself than it is to maintain a consistent staff size between movements.
But that's just me. Others may (and probably will) disagree strongly.
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY
On 24 Apr 2005, at 5:28 PM, dhbailey wrote:
Owain Sutton wrote:
I've got something of a dilemma with a piece I'm working on. The four movements are drastically different from one another: the first is a small orchestra (about 10 staves). The second is for a heavily-divided string section (a la Xenakis & Ligeti) that, by itself, would justify an oversized score. The third is a solo trumpet, and the fourth for percussion.
Obviously, there'd normally be no reason to change the system size or other aspects of overall layout for different movements. But with this piece, I'm going to have to. The trumpet and percussion movements look ludicrous when using settings that would be ideal for the string movement. And there's a limit of how much I can change the latter.
I'm wondering what people think about how much liberty from convention can be taken in such a situation, and where the inevitable compromises should come? My feeling is that I'd like to make the trumpet part seem as similar to the string movement as possible, while remaining 'logical-looking' in isolation. Part of me, however, wants to say "well, they're so different you can't make them alike", and do the trumpet & percussion parts as I would treat them if they were independent pieces.
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for advice on -- Why not make them independent files, if that's what you're after?
Personally, I'd make it one large file, with all staves defined as I want them, and them simply optimize out the ones that aren't necessary for the various movements.
What "liberty from convention" are you asking about? What convention?
Maybe more specific questions could provide more specific answers.
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
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