At 2:00 PM -0500 2/16/06, Andrew Stiller wrote:
As for crescs. and dims., there are long-established notations for these that work just fine, thanks, including not only hairpins but modifiers for them such as "molto" or "pocchiss." There are also, for the extremely finicky, other long-established expressions such as "un poco più forte." But I've never felt the need for these in my entire career.
What bothers me in practice is a cresc. or dim. indication with no indication of where the cresc. or dim. should stop or what dynamic one is aiming for. Especially in an ensemble situation, that simply isn't clear enough to be useful.
It also bothers me when a composer assumes that there ARE discrete dynamic levels, and writes, for example, mp in violin, cello and bass parts but mf in the viola part, intended to instruct the violas to bring out their part, when the violas have no idea what dynamic the other parts have. Yes, the conductor can see it, but it's an invitation to stop rehearsal to explain what could be easily indicated in the music by "bring out" or something similar.
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
