On Feb 19, 2006, at 12:52 PM, David W. Fenton wrote:
On 19 Feb 2006 at 12:21, Chuck Israels wrote:
There are times that I think reducing the staff size and increasing
the amount of white space around staves and other objects actually
might make the music more legible.
I'm presently struggling with a chronic eye problem (uveitis) that at
times greatly reduces my visual acuity (my ability to find typos is
vastly reduced, too, so you may have noticed less accurate typing at
times during the last few months), and I've noticed a number of
things about notating music that makes a big difference.
1. always make the space between systems larger than the space
between staves within a system. Of course, this only matters when
reading from score, or from a grand staff, but it's a huge thing.
Last week my viol consort was reading some music that was from hand-
written parts on garden-variety music paper. Thus, the staves (12 to
a page in systems of 3 each) were all a uniform distance apart. I had
difficulty finding the next system because of this.
Makes sense to me.
5. make sure your accidentals aren't unnaturally small. I think
Finale's are just fine, but lots of editions we play from use
accidentals that are relatively smaller than what Finale produces.
This results in the reader like me seeing a B with an accidental, but
having to guess whether to play a B flat or a B natural (the same
with cadential-figure leading tones, not just B flats).
This is a big issue with hand written music turned in by my students,
most of whom seem to think that it's alright to put a reasonably
sized note on the middle line of the treble clef with an illegibly
tiny accidental next to it.
The fist suggestion (above) seems like a good idea.
Thanks,
Chuck
Chuck Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone (360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
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